On Monday, the Football Federation presented an ambitious new four-year strategy called “Inspiring Positive Change”. One of the stated goals to increase the proportion of BAME women (black, Asian and ethnic minority) playing football in England. Only two members of the existing team of 28 lionesses players are not white, compared to almost part of the men’s team.
One of those players, Nikita Parris, thinks the time has come to make a difference. “I am so passionate that we are offering BAME women living in urban centers the opportunity to seamlessly access their local centres of excellence,” she says. “so the vision of the new strategy for women and women is the right direction we take as merit to offer more opportunities to those who may not have had them yet. “
The 52-page plan proclaims: “There is much to be done to make football ‘for everyone’. Commitment to women in various communities is not what it deserves to be. We that the way to replace this is to identify, expand and help local leaders based on the lived joy of each of the women to help us facilitate football for all.
Parris, who grew up in liverpool’s Toxeth suburb, the daughter of a single mother who worked on three jobs to make the end of the month, is now a two-time Champions League winner, leading the line for Olympique Lyonnais, the world’s top hit club. However, as a child, I needed the investment of Sports Aid, a charity that aims to help the next generation of British sports stars. Looking back, he realizes how much he trusted others to get to education and games.
“I don’t think it’s the only way, but it would actually have been more complicated if I hadn’t had family, friends and other relatives on the team I played on,” he says. “The vast majority of the time (Everton manager) Mo Marley and (her husband) Keith Marley picked me up and took me to practice, forty-five minutes in each direction. We didn’t live too far from each other, but we’re not next-door neighbors, so the fact that they go out of their way to pick me up and take me to education says a lot about the other people I live in. ‘they are. In fact, it helped me become the player I am today. Without theirArray this would not have been possible. “
When Parris first called to form England at the youth level, the head coach was a black woman, Hope Powell, and up to a quarter of the team was black. Now Parris and his former Manchester City teammate Demi Stokes are the only black Paris players can see how a team with at least nine white footballers fails to inspire BAME women to say there is a long way for them in the game.
“Yes, it’s understandable,” he says, “but what I think is that Demi and I have models. My role models were Rachel Yankey and Anita Asante, so there have been and there are players who play for England than other people. “You can admire There are also many other models within the team.
“I think it is imperative that we move within those communities and try to make it available to other young people so that they can play the game. I’m a great advocate for saying that. Whether you know the Women’s Super League or the Championship Center of Excellence, they are not located in spaces available to downtown communities, and the vast majority of BAME athletes, or BAME players, will come. Areas. So I think the FA wants to see how moving centers of excellence affect opportunities for women to enter elite play: not just to participate in the sessions, because I know the FA supports a lot of activities that help players get into the game at the player level, however, I’m talking about whether you think you’re smart enough to start and become a long-term EnglandArray Lioness , you must have that elite support.
Speaking this week at a webinar on Football against Racism in Europe (FARE), Tziarra King, an American ahead of the Utah Royals, explained how things are a little different in the National Women’s Football League, stating: The formula of the game here in the United States makes it difficult for other low-income or downtown people to have those same opportunities. So there’s a lot to do.
King’s solution?” Honestly, redoing the whole system. How do we achieve this when prices are low?Are we adapting it to a population of other people who do not have the ability to pay X, Y and Z for travel, uniforms, registration fees?How can I dim it so that everyone is welcome and not an exclusive club?”
King also said the idea of how the game was selling deterred BAME women from following a career in the game. “Honestly, I think people, especially when they run ads, are afraid of inclusion, they’re afraid of another symbol of the typical, “It’s something I’m passionate about because I have short hair, I’m black. I don’t see many things and say, “This user looks like me. “
She added: “Representation is so, so important, especially for the younger generation to say, “I see it; She looks like me; Maybe I’m in his place. Maybe I’ll do what she does. ” There’s going to have to be diversity. Diversity is a hot word in those days, however, you want other people willing to make those classified ads fit a genuine population. Don’t just say, “That’s what other people want to see. “No, that’s not what other people want to see. People want to see the scope of diversity, which makes this world so amazing. I think we also want to replace that. “
Speaking to me on Monday, FA women’s football director Baroness Sue Campbell said, “Honestly, I don’t think we’ve had the most young people in school, so it’s a selective number of other young people who have so if we adopt the new strategy correctly, all girls, regardless of their origin, will participate in football. “
She added: “I think the path of skill has been too narrow, which means it’s been exclusive to be inclusive and accessible, which we’re looking to do over the next 4 years. We have 4 pilot clubs that are helping us in this domain – Tottenham, Aston Villa, Manchester United and Durham, and are in spaces where we expect them to succeed in communities and teams that have not been affected in the past.
“It would be a lie if I said I had it easy, but we’re committed to making a genuine difference. “
After traveling the world watching football for 20 years, attending matches in more than 80 cities in approximately 40 countries, I have covered the Men’s and Women’s World Cups and
After traveling the world watching football for 20 years, attending matches in more than 80 cities in nearly 40 countries, I covered men’s and women’s World Cups and European Championships as a journalist. I also write for The Morning Star and the anti-discrimination charity Kick It Out I graduated from the University of Manchester with a law degree.