Diversity - Is it going too far?

[the other bob wilson]

I don’t believe it’s diversity going too far - it appears it gone the other way but whether it’s unintentional or whether somethings going wrong in the recruitment process is the question.

They have a Swedish manager and have done for the past few years. 3 of the first team players are from Sweden. They have a mix of players from Denmark, Austria, Netherlands, Switzerland, Norway, England, Scotland, Republic of Ireland, Australia, Spain, Canada, USA and Brazil. It would suggest diversity is there when it comes to players from different countries but in terms of black players and also players from Asia there’s none. If you look across the entire women’s super league and championship it’s also an issue but in the men’s game it’s doesn’t appear to be a problem for many of the top clubs. The subject has also been raised with the England women’s squad too but the manager can only pick the best players from those who she has access to.

I would think and hope that it will be something that will improve opportunity wise over the next few years with many opportunities reaching girls from different backgrounds. That said in the past Arsenal women have had many black players in the squad before the rise in the women’s game.

Whilst on the subject of women’s football I’ve been watching them for the past few years and I absolutely love it. Once you get into it and you have your favourite club and you get to know who’s who it’s really great fun. There are rivalries but not on the same level but for example Arsenal women this season have has massive attendances. 55k on their first match and I think it was 35k on their 2nd home match. Obviously when they don’t play at the Emirates stadium they can’t get those crowds as the capacity of Meadow Park is on 5k odd but they always sell out. I think it’s only a matter of time before the top clubs share the men’s stadium full time.

I would recommend it to anyone - give it a go. Many matches for the top teams are also on tv for example BBC or ITv and some are on Sky. The Lionesses (England women) are playing this Friday evening live on ITV4 and the again Tues in the nations league. Whether they win or not is another thing but the gap has closed a lot now so you don’t get the massive score lines as much - there’s a lot of competition out there.

Glad someone has acknowledged my point that Arsenal had a representation of black players a decade and more ago. This is the thing that makes that photo something of a concern and rather debunks the theory that the women's game is struggling to keep up with representation for all colours and creeds in light of the huge rise in popularity of the women's game in recent years.

A search for the percentage of BAME players in the WSL brought back the following quote;-

"During the 2021-22 season, the Professional Footballers' Association (PFA), the trade union for English professional players, estimated that around 10 per cent of players in the top-flight Women's Super League (WSL) were from Black, Asian or minority ethnic (BAME) backgrounds."

According to the Szymanski Report published this year.

"This is against a background, highlighted in our 2022 report, where 43% of Premier League and 34% of Championship players are Black."

So, it would appear that while the WSL is light years ahead of the Premier League in acknowledging and accepting sexual diversity, the same is not wholly true when it comes to racial diversity (the Premier League and EPL still tend to have a problem with black managers mind). It would seem therefore that the line about the WSL struggling to keep pace with it's growth has some truth to it, but I'd also say that by rights there should be two or three non white faces in that team picture even under the lower BAME rates of their league and, when you think of the area they represent, it should really be higher still - given the figures, it's hardly surprising that questions are being asked.