The Rooney rule, put simply, would require teams to interview minority candidates for advertised vacancies. Some think it is the answer, “It’s quite clear we’re not getting the best talent available and we have to look at this concept,” said Brendon Batson a representative of the PFA and Arsenal’s first black player, “‘We don’t have enough coaches from black and minority ethnicities who have very high levels of qualifications because the appetite to appoint black coaches and managers is just not there. We seem to be going backwards.”
But how valid is Batson’s claim that there isn’t the “appetite to appoint black managers”? Jason Roberts, who has plans of going into management, thinks it is, “”My uncle Cyrille did his badges and found he wasn’t even getting interviews at non-league clubs.” Cyrille Regis was part of The Three Degrees along with Batson at West Brom and has failed to make a name for himself as a manager.
That’s just one example though and not all fantastic footballers have made fantastic managers. However Sol Campbell feels that black managers will be denied opportunities because of their race, “Why the hell is Paul not in work? Have you looked at his career?” Well, yes Sol, I have; it’s not great and Jason Euell agrees, “Paul Ince was the right man for the job at Blackburn at that moment in time.
But it doesn’t work out. Lots of managers get the sack.” Whilst he was at Blackburn his win ratio was a measly 28.6%. Paul Ince is out of a job because he hasn’t conserved the form he once hit at MK Dons, not because he is black.
So why aren’t there more black managers in English football? Well the racism that players receive during their on the pitch career may be the answer; it places a glass ceiling on ambitions to go into management for black players. Yet, for those like Blissett who may argue that we’ve made progress as a country, and a view that recent victim Offiong echoes, “We’ve come a long way as a nation,” the cause must be something other than racism.
It’s a sad state of affairs that ex-players feel that they cannot go into management but it seems that there is nothing holding them back; it has become a self-fulfilling prophecy where black players aren’t going into management out of routine. We haven’t before, so why would we now. That is the problem, though; there is a distinct lack of role models for players wishing to go into management. There isn’t a black Sir Alex Ferguson for players like Euell to look up to and think, “I’m going to be like him.”
It will take a few pioneers to break the self-defeating circle like it did with The Three Degrees at West Brom in the late 70s; they were by no means the first black players in England, but before them they were sporadic. Jason Euell and Jason Roberts won’t be the first black managers, but it is their generation that can bring black managers into the game as a norm, not a point to address in a race campaign.
Written by Jordan Florit for www.maycauseoffence.com/ For more articles like this visit my website or my Twitter @JordanFlorit
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I don’t think we will ever stamp out racism and thats a great shame in whats supposed to be a modern and diverse country. There are too many reasons why it will never disappear to go into but fundamentally humans dont have it in themselves to accept everyone as an equal. Sad state of affairs.
Good article which might make some people look inwardly at themselves.
Mike that is a bit defeatist look at how far we have already come with tackling prejudice. It takes time for values to change as attitudes change across generations not overnight. Yes racism still occurs in the game from time to time and of course there are still many battles to be fought to tackle sexism and homophobia and to get more Asian players in english football etc but football is more tolerant than it has ever been even if attitudes in the game lag behind society as a whole.
I prefer to think i’m a realist. Look at all the wars going on across the globe, its 2011 and mankind is still trying to kill itself because of prejudices. We as a species have hardly evolved, all we have learnt is how to be more hateful to one another and how to kill each other in more advanced ways. Racism is everywhere and in every form. Even when we have tried to stamp it out we have gone so far that we have ended up positively discriminating.
That is where the debate over the Rooney Rule is. Roberts thinks it is a good idea because he argues that he has experienced, through his family, rejections when there was no qualification deficit; whilst Jason Euell thinks its a bad idea because it is suggesting he should have an advantage because he is black.
I’m not making a stereotype here, but having played in an Asian football team (as a non-Asian) I found that my team mates, no matter how good they were, were unlikely to ever play football at a high level for several reasons.
Firstly, his parents had high expectations of him to go through university and work in the city. He also expressed that he felt isolated playing in other leagues as he was often the only Indian in a team and he was often questioned on why he even played football.
Having a lack of role models and the myth that he isn’t going to play football purely because he is Indian, the expectation was he should play cricket, led to him setting up his own team that was predominantly Asian.
It is the mini-cultures or hubs of minorities that prevent full inclusion into the game, but it is something that has equal blame on both parts.
Some are channeled at an early age into other sports out of tradition, some have academic priorities and also they don’t see career paths in the sport. How many Asians do you see in key roles in football?
The team I played with were a really nice bunch of lads that were talented footballers, but I experienced first hand, being on a side that received racist remarks on more than one occasion.
For my friend it was much easier for him to set up his own team and play in an Asian league. His team now travel all over England just to play other Asian teams to avoid the racism and unfriendliness.
Mike – I don’t agree at all the world is more peaceful than it has ever been despite the conflict that does exist. Only 100 years ago war was seen as a necessary state by those with power, now clearly it is globally recognised that it is best avoided. Regardless of differences between countries the value put on human life is higher than ever before.
In most developed nations it is almost universally accepted that we are all born equal regardless of our differences and this is backed up by law. Whereas in the past society was organised in a way that clearly accepted that some had a greater value than others (admittedly this is still true in some countries today e.g Afghanistan).
Jordan – I agree that there are a variety of factors why British Asians are so underepresented in english football. However when there are only a couple in playing in the whole football league you have to consider more than just their own aspirations. Clearly prejudice is a major barrier as you mention with your comment on racism against the Asian team and the fact this made them feel forced to play in an Asian league.