Kolkata: Greg Clarke, the current chairman of the Football Association (FA), has promised to step down if he fails to convince the UK sports minister Tracey Crouch that the governing body will be serious about reforming itself. The Culture, Media and Sports committee debate will take place at the House of Common on Thursday February 9.
In a 700-word open letter published on Tuesday, Clarke wrote, “Our governance needs changing. We do need to be more diverse,more open about decision making and we do need to better represent those playing the game.” The FA has set up a proposal to improve the governance which will ratify and then take to the minister of sports in order to get her approval. Clarke confessed that the change won’t be an easy task but he is confident that there will be a change. Clarke also added that if the government were not supportive towards the changes, then he would fail and he would in due course step down from his role as a chairman of FA.
Clarke has been in the post for only 5 months and refers the upcoming debate on the reformation of the government as “challenges.” Crouch has asked the FA and other leading national governing bodies, to come back with reform proposals by the end of March. This part of her approach will make the leadership of British sport more accountable, transparent and diverse.
There are 5 former seniors FA executive who have criticised the organisation for failing “self reform.” David Bernstein, David Davies, Greg Duke, Alex Horne and David Triesman said FA was outdated and held back by “elderly white men” and unable to counter the power of the Premiere League.
The FA received £30m from Sport England between 2013-17 for grassroots football but has so far been given only £5.6m to support its disability and women’s programmes for the next four years. A decision on the rest of its grant hinges on Crouch’s approval of its reform plans. Clarke and his team have tried to keep those under wraps but it is widely believed he would like to add two women to the board, bringing the total number of board members to 14, three of whom would be female. Four of the total would also be independent directors, providing more balance to the perceived power of the professional game.
Reform of the FA’s 120-strong council has proved to be beyond a long line of FA chairmen and its unwieldy and antiquated structure remains an open goal for the FA’s critics. But the FA believes the criticism is overdone and Clarke rejects Collins’ claims the governing body is no longer fit for purpose. In a report Clarke said that he was hoping those who would attend the Thursday meeting made themselves aware of the FA’s duties and the great work FA was actually doing.
(With inputs from PTI)