How to smash the white ceiling in refereeing? Start by allowing beards

When David Elleray told a group of aspiring referees that there were “too many beards, tattoos and beer bellies” in the room, it was brushed aside as a general comment about appearance.

Later, when asked to explain what had been said, Elleray put it down to remarking “on the importance of appearance as there is a general expectation that referees look smart [and] athletic etc…” The “et cetera” there suggests that there is a general expectation referees don’t have beards. Which is problematic, to say the least.

After one instance, you might be able to let that go. Indeed, at the time, Elleray’s comments made little impression beyond the odd headline. But after speaking to a growing number of figures in the refereeing community since first revealing that a fresh complaint had been lodged with the Football Association concerning an allegation of historical racism against Elleray, I learned of another example of beards being brought up with another group of referee hopefuls dreaming of one day officiating in the Premier League and landing a £100,000-plus salary.

It occurred around the mid-2010s, and, this time, there is no suggestion it came from Elleray. During a conference held at St George’s Park, the group were told to stand up and were then separated based on appearance. People with dark suits stand over there, people with ties stand there, etc. And then those with beards were asked to stand to one side.

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Once everyone was in place, one group was pointed out as representing how the FA wanted referees to look. And they didn’t have beards.

Now, if this has been repeated multiple times, there’s a huge problem, however it was intended: it perpetuates a perception that ostracises aspiring referees who may have a beard due to their faith, including Muslims, Sikhs and Jews.

Kick It Out’s chief executive described it as indirect discrimination when I asked the anti-discrimination campaigners about it. “Clearly the beard is important for many people from different religious faiths,” Tony Burnett said. “To advocate the banning of beards is indirect discrimination and will undoubtedly have had a detrimental impact on a number of under-represented groups in football. Kick It Out would never support such a position in any area of the game.”

So where did the idea originate from that bearded referees is not the look English football wants? Did it come from Elleray, who has been found saying it since? He did not respond when attempts were made to reach him via the FA last week. And an FA spokesperson said only: “We are not in a position to comment at this time.” So, currently, who knows?

At 66 years old, Elleray is the most powerful officials in football. As technical director at the International Football Association Board, he gets to literally make football’s rules. As chairman of the FA’s referees committee, many consider Elleray as the gatekeeper of English referees. And people are afraid that speaking against him, even privately, may have consequences for their career.

But the diversity statistics of elite refereeing make for grim reading. There are 40 elite referees who officiate in the Premier League and Championship – all of them are white. In fact, the last time a black referee took charge of a Premier League game was 13 years ago, when Uriah Rennie refereed Liverpool against Tottenham.

Further down the pyramid and in grassroots football, where the next hopefuls will be officiating on perhaps £30 a game, roughly 10 per cent of the 24,000-plus refs are minority ethnic. Curious, then, that successful black referees proliferate the grass-roots game, but are nowhere to be seen among the beardless professionals. They are trying to work their way up but – for some reason – they appear to hit a white ceiling near the top.

It points to a problem with the referee observers, whose job it is to watch grassroots games and choose the next pros. And that’s a glaring problem – one that the FA has quietly admitted to recently. Last week, as we published more stories about allegations of a cover-up regarding the previous investigation into a racist comment made by Elleray to a black FA employee in 2014, the FA sent out an email seeking referee observers from “historically underrepresented ethnic communities”.

“As part of an ongoing commitment to improve diversity and representativeness of the referee workforce, the FA has recognised that its observer panels do not currently reflect the match official community they serve and as such are implementing a training programme designed exclusively for prospective observers from historically underrepresented ethnic communities,” the email said.

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“The FA Referees’ Department is therefore keen to hear from existing or currently inactive match officials of all experience and from all levels of the game, who are from historically underrepresented communities and are interested in training as a match observer.”

How has it been left until now? And why on earth has appearance had anything to do with refereeing a football match in the first place? The current crop of mostly clean-shaven, clean-cut white refs are hardly doing a stellar job at avoiding controversy.

Famously tattooed former Premier League official Mark Clattenburg was arguably the best referee England has produced in decades.

Clattenburg was seen as a maverick. He did not get on with Elleray. And when he allowed his facial hair to grow occasionally, it didn’t seem to get in the way of his job at all.

from Football – inews.co.uk https://ift.tt/3yCpkSR