The English Football Association has launched a new equality, diversity and inclusion strategy, to run over three years, with the aim being to banish discrimination from English football.

There are three pillars to the ‘A Game For All’ initiative – to Lead the Change, Be the Change and Inspire the Change.

The campaign will be based on education and a commitment to tackling online abuse but also at enhanced reporting mechanisms and sanctions for when an activity that is seen as discriminatory is revealed.

Targets are being set to increase diversity across the organisation, with disability and ethnic representation in coaching one of the first priorities.

English football has been fractious over the past year with booing among a section of fans at players ‘taking the knee’ painting a very unpleasant picture of a small subset of fans but also the country.

This was exacerbated by the abuse suffered by the three players to miss penalties in the Euro 2022 Final defeat to Italy, all young and all players of colour, something that was evidently important to some.

“Tackling discrimination is not a new priority for The FA and we’ve made great strides in this area in recent years,” said Edleen John, Director of International Relations and Corporate Affairs.

“It’s core to our thinking as an organisation and we remain truly committed to using our influence to create a game free from discrimination.”

“We want to continue to partner with stakeholders across English football to unite behind a common purpose, because we know that no one organisation can do it alone. We want to break down any historical barriers within football and we know there’s a huge opportunity to drive real change when work across the game is united.”

A Game For All follows The FA’s previous strategy in this area ‘In Pursuit of Progress’.

That delivered an increase in the ethnic and gender diversity of the FA leadership, reduced the gender pay gap and created the Football Leadership Diversity Code, which was signed by more than 50 professional clubs.

 

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