Did you see that the Football Association has unveiled ambitious diversity targets as part of its 2024-2028 strategy, aiming for 25-30% of England men's team coaches to hail from Black, Asian, and Minority Ethnic backgrounds by 2028, with an even loftier 50% goal for the Lionesses' coaching staff.
In the 2023 - 24 season the FA shoehorned into a hand full of matches, in the Premier League, a white, female Referee. I won’t disclose her name here but ardent footie supporters will know who I am referring to. This was a deliberate box ticking exercise in the name of DEI. This female Referee had previously only, up until this point, officiated at lower league games. Well, one of those Premier League fixtures was AFC Bournemouth v Nottingham Forest. She was absolutely appalling, it was blatantly obvious that she had been fast tracked to a level that was beyond her capabilities. She was weak, blowing her whistle far too often disrupting the game, which then led to frustrations both on and off the pitch. An experienced official would have permitted the game to flow. This female Referee was totally out of her depth resulting in the supporters booing and shouting at her in disgust. Chants such as “you’re not fit to be a referee” “the referee is a w****r” etc….could be heard from far and wide. The noise from the home crowd was deafening, I know because I was in attendance at this match. This female referee, sometime afterwards, made the decision to step down from officiating at any further live matches, taking an office based position instead.
What beautiful game? People have been indoctrinated to believe this game is something special when in fact it is very ordinary with limited strategic dimensions.
This will prove, very quickly, whether diversity is our strength or not.
Lost interest in football when they started kneeling. I'm waiting for Joey Barton and Matt Le Tissier to get wind of this.
In the 2023 - 24 season the FA shoehorned into a hand full of matches, in the Premier League, a white, female Referee. I won’t disclose her name here but ardent footie supporters will know who I am referring to. This was a deliberate box ticking exercise in the name of DEI. This female Referee had previously only, up until this point, officiated at lower league games. Well, one of those Premier League fixtures was AFC Bournemouth v Nottingham Forest. She was absolutely appalling, it was blatantly obvious that she had been fast tracked to a level that was beyond her capabilities. She was weak, blowing her whistle far too often disrupting the game, which then led to frustrations both on and off the pitch. An experienced official would have permitted the game to flow. This female Referee was totally out of her depth resulting in the supporters booing and shouting at her in disgust. Chants such as “you’re not fit to be a referee” “the referee is a w****r” etc….could be heard from far and wide. The noise from the home crowd was deafening, I know because I was in attendance at this match. This female referee, sometime afterwards, made the decision to step down from officiating at any further live matches, taking an office based position instead.
What beautiful game? People have been indoctrinated to believe this game is something special when in fact it is very ordinary with limited strategic dimensions.
Agreed