The FA "faces being outlawed in its current form" after five of its most senior former execs wrote a "damning letter" to U.K. Parliament saying the body was "unfit for purpose," according to Ben Rumsby of the London TELEGRAPH. U.K. Culture, Media & Sport Select Committee Chair Damian Collins "confirmed a draft bill was being prepared which would strip the FA’s council and shareholders of their decision-making powers" and transfer them to a "newly-constituted board of directors." Collins was "also seeking a vote of no confidence" in the FA -- currently "engulfed by its worst crisis in the shape of football’s child sexual abuse scandal" -- following its "failure to modernise" its governance structure in the five years since the select committee "published a report calling for it to do so." Collins revealed his plans in a reply to a joint letter from the FA’s first three independent chairs, David Triesman, David Bernstein and Greg Dyke, and former execs Alex Horne and David Davies, who said that the governing body "was effectively arcane" and being paralyzed by the "power of the Premier League." The U.K. Government "has already threatened to strip the FA of millions of pounds of public funding unless it appoints more women to its board," something it is "all but powerless to do without stakeholder cooperation." The letter to Collins also describes an FA board "paralysed by vested interests, including those of the Premier League" (TELEGRAPH, 12/12).
'ELDERLY WHITE MEN': The BBC reported the five former execs said that the FA is outdated, held back by "elderly white men" and "unable to counter the power of the Premier League." They asked Parliament's Culture, Media & Sport committee to "propose legislation to reform the FA." Collins said that "time has run out" for the FA. He said, "It may well move us to redressing the woeful lack of English players or managers and the embarrassing failures of our national team for the past 50 years." Among the points made:
- The Premier League's financial power has a "knock-on effect 'right through the football pyramid.'"
- The FA is compelled to contribute tens of millions of pounds to the Premier League, "rather than the grassroots of the game."
- The majority of those in senior positions "are under-qualified to deal with the complexities of the FA structures."
- The FA Board is "neither an independent board nor an independent regulator."
The letter also highlights "the domination of the Premier League" because of its "financial might," and added that "worse still, there are some 25 life vice-presidents on the FA Council -- all elderly white men -- who do not represent anyone but block even the most minor of changes." The authors of the letter added, "It is little wonder that English football is out of balance. The FA has neither the modernity of approach nor independence required to counter the EPL juggernaut, or to modernise its own governance." The Manchester United Supporters Trust, the largest supporters trust in British football, said that FA reform was "decades overdue" and "demanded" that the Government "step in and make this happen." Women in Sport -- "which calls for a target of 30% women on the boards of sporting bodies" -- said, "We want to take this opportunity to stress the importance of change that enables women to play a full role in the leadership of football" (
BBC, 12/12). In London, David Conn reported while calls for a government-appointed regulator "have been made with some regularity by supporters' groups throughout the past 20 years," this is the first time such senior former insiders have "collectively argued for it." Collins said that draft legislation "is already being prepared." Any such bill "would have almost no chance of becoming law unless the government supports it, and there is no sign this government is any more inclined to legislate" than all governments since the '92 breakaway of the Football League’s First Division clubs to form the Premier League. Governments have viewed the Premier League as a "great success" and int'l advertisement for Britain and been "more inclined to seek reflected glory from it than legislate for a more equal distribution of money and power in football." Summing up the "financial imbalance of English football," the former FA execs said, "Twenty clubs are in receipt of billions whilst the FA is under threat of losing millions which it gives wholly to grassroots football. To make matters worse, under the bizarre funding formula of the FA, not only does the FA not receive any of the EPL billions, it is compelled to contribute tens of millions to the EPL, also money which could go to the grassroots of the game" (
GUARDIAN, 12/11).
WENGER HITS OUT: In London, Paul MacInnes reported Arsenal Manager Arsène Wenger "hit out at calls for a regulator" in football, saying sports and politics "should not deal together." He said that he was against the creation of an independent regulator and that it would put at risk the "values of our sport." Wenger: "Football is a very special activity that should be ruled by football people and our target is to be adult enough to rule our own activity. Football and politics should not deal together" (GUARDIAN, 12/12).
MIXED FEELINGS: Conn opined in a separate piece there are, "inevitably, mixed feelings" about seeing past FA execs "speaking out now about the need to curb the Premier League’s power, given their propensity mostly to do nothing about it when they had the chance, in the actual job." That "might be unfair" to Triesman, who was "savaged by the Premier League during his unhappy stint" for daring to "assert the primacy of the FA," but the reform proposals of Bernstein and Dyke, "which they failed to secure, always seemed aimed more at the FA itself," and in office they were "not noted critics" of the Premier League. The five former execs "should nevertheless be listened to because they are clearly speaking from experience about the inability" of the FA to govern the Premier League "juggernaut." The "most insightful point" in their letter to Collins is that even the money the Premier League does now distribute, which is only around 6% of the £8B ($10.15B) being reaped by 20 clubs from the latest '16-19 TV deal, "is wielded to assert beneficial positions for the Premier League." The crumbs for the Football League "have regularly been given with an ultimatum" from Premier League Exec Chair Richard Scudamore that if the 72 clubs did not accept rules, "all the funding would be cut" (GUARDIAN, 12/12).
