The U.K. Government was on Monday afternoon "ready to block England from hosting future World Cups, European Championships and Champions League finals" if the FA continued to resist reform, according to Ben Rumsby of the London TELEGRAPH. The Government’s "willingness to sabotage any England bid for the 2030 World Cup or Euro 2028" was announced at the launch of "A Code for Sports Governance," a set of strict criteria with which all sports governing bodies in the U.K. "must comply in order to receive public money." They include a requirement for those bodies to move to ensure women make up at least 30% of their boards "by the end of the financial year." They "also contain a clause effectively ordering the FA’s council, which has only six female and four ethnic minority members out of a total of 123," to surrender its decision-making powers to the organization’s board, something it has "repeatedly resisted." Continued non-compliance will result in not only in the FA being stripped of the £30M ($36.7M) of public money it is given every four years but in the Government "refusing to provide the backing necessary for England to stage major events." Sport England Dir of Sport Phil Smith confirmed the withdrawal of support for "bids for events" was on the table for "any governing body which failed to comply with the code." Smith: "Our discussions with ministers have suggested that they would be keen on the withdrawal of Government help per se. The withdrawal of that help is definitely on the table" (TELEGRAPH, 10/31).
HIGH STANDARDS: A new Code for Sports Governance sets out the levels of transparency, accountability and financial integrity that will be required from those who ask for Government and National Lottery funding from April. The code can be downloaded here. It has three tiers and will apply to any organization seeking funding from Sport England or UK Sport, regardless of size and sector, including national governing bodies of sport, clubs, charities and local authorities. The code is proportionate, expecting the highest standards of good governance from organizations requesting the largest public investments (Sport England).
