Appendix 2 - Reply from the Football Association
The FA welcomes this report from the Culture, Media
and Sport Committee. We are very proud of what has been achieved
in women's football in recent years under our leadership, and
are therefore grateful to the Committee for choosing to hold an
inquiry into this subject. We are particularly pleased with the
increased Parliamentary and media attention on women's football
which has resulted from this inquiry.
Football is now the most popular sport for females
in England, with more players competing in affiliated competition
than any other team sport. There has been a huge increase in the
number of players, clubs, leagues and competition since 1993 when
The Football Association assumed governance of the game. In 1993
there were 10,400 registered players and today there are over
131,000. Compared to netball, the traditional favourite sport
of girls which has 56,000 registered players, football continues
to grow at a fantastic rate, since becoming the top female sport
in 2002. In 1993 there were just 80 girls' teams. In season
2004-05 there were over 8,000 teams. These figures show a huge
growth in participation, a growth which brings its own challenges,
many of which were identified by the Committee.
Given the number of the Committee's conclusions and
recommendations which are aimed wholly or partly at The FA itself,
we believe that is worthwhile responding publicly to these recommendations,
as a shadow to the Government's own formal response. We have
set out below The FA's response to all of these conclusions and
recommendations.
We strongly endorse witnesses' praise for the
more recent efforts of the FA to develop and give higher profile
to women's football. Without these efforts, it is likely that
far fewer girls and women would now be participating in football.
(Paragraph 4)
The FA is proud of its record in developing the women's
game in recent years, and welcomes the recognition which the Committee
and the inquiry's witnesses have shown to our work. We look forward
to working with clubs, players, Government and other parties to
build on our efforts to develop and promote women's football in
the years to come.
We are extremely concerned that the disparity
in funding for boys' and for girls' Centres of Excellence existed
for eight years. All funding bodies for sport - not just for football
- should ensure that there is equitable access to funding streams
for both genders. (Paragraph 9)
The girls' Centres of Excellence programme is funded
entirely by The FA, and we invest over £1 million per annum
in this programme. The boys' Centres of Excellence programme
has been funded by Sport England at £2.5 million per annum
for the last eight years, although Sport England has not provided
any funding for the girls' Centres. The FA supports all efforts
to increase funding for the girls' Centres of Excellence, and
agrees with the Committee that the public funding of these bodies
should be more equitable.
The decision by the Football Foundation to reduce
funding for Women's and Girls' Football Development Officers is
perverse and detrimental to the development of women's football,
and we have written to the Football Foundation to ask that the
decision be reversed, particularly in the light of significant
historical under-investment in the development of women's and
girls' football. (Paragraph 10)
As The FA made clear in its oral evidence, we believe
that the Active Sports programme which funds Football Development
Officers should be fully-funded by all partners. The FA is pleased
to note that since the completion of the Committee's inquiry,
the relevant decision has indeed been reversed and we would like
to thank the Committee for their support of our position.
We recommend that the absolute prohibition on
mixed football over the age of 11 should be removed and that an
informed assessment by team managers and coaches of individuals'
capacity to play in mixed teams should govern selection policy.
(Paragraph 13)
The current ruling is based on the age where puberty
(which will have begun in all youth players at that age, to varying
degrees), will alter the strength and other physical characteristics
that differentiate males from females. The FA places the safety
of players as its overriding concern. The advice we have received
is that the muscle strength and power differentials between boys
and girls, which may be compounded by early-v-late development,
could lead a girl to an unacceptable risk of injury. In addition,
The FA supports the setting up of girls/women's football teams
in order to promote and encourage female participation.
The FA is aware that the pace of change in the girls'
game means that technical differences between boys and girls are
constantly decreasing. We recognise that this issue inspires
a number of differing viewpoints, and while we understand the
Committee's particular interest in the area, we have some concern
that the Committee's position has been decided based on a small
number of strong opinions, which may not be representative of
views around the country. The practical impact of such a rule
change would have to be carefully considered.
As a result, The FA is currently consulting with
a large number of children, coaches and parents across the country
- as well as the Office of the Children's Commissioner - on the
possibility of amending or removing the law which states that
mixed football should not be allowed over the age of 11. As
part of this process we will consider the impact of any regulatory
changes, such as legal liability and potential funding. We will
be in a position to update on the consultation in October 2006.
We would hope that the FA would combat prejudice
against women in the same way as it has successfully tackled racism
in football. (Paragraph 15)
The FA is proud of its tireless efforts in working
to eliminate racism from football in England. We believe the
lack of racist incident at football grounds in recent years -
and the good behaviour of England fans in Germany this summer
- to be testament to our success in this area, although we recognise
that there is still more work needed to kick racism entirely out
of the game.
We are committed to eradicating any form of prejudice
or discrimination from the game in England. We believe football
must be open to everyone in our society - football truly is the
national game and abuse of any kind is unacceptable. We have made
clear our opposition to discrimination on the grounds of ability,
race, religion, gender or sexual orientation in football and have
undertaken a number of initiatives to prevent such discrimination.
The FA's Diversity and Sports Equity workshop, currently
being implemented throughout grassroots football, celebrates the
successes so far in developing the women's' and girls' game. It
also encourages clubs to involve and develop female participants
in the roles such as coaching, refereeing and team management.
The FA's free phone 'Abuse and Discrimination Line'
(0800 085 0508) is widely promoted through this workshop and several
other means, to ensure that women feel confident to report any
concerns they have about being treated unfairly in football.
The FA is also working on a 'Women and Leadership
Development Programme', in partnership with the CCPR, UK Sport
and the British Olympic Foundation. The programme aims to improve
the skills and increase the number of women in leadership positions
in sport, and will be launched at the England vs Holland international
match at Charlton Athletic FC on 31 August.
We therefore believe that we are already well on
the way to realising the Committee's "hope" that The
FA is working to eradicate prejudice against women in football.
DCMS should examine the scope for using section
84 of the Equality Act 2006 to guide local authorities in taking
a stronger line in achieving a more equitable allocation of their
pitches between men's and women's teams. (Paragraph 17)
The FA fully supports this recommendation. Pitch
allocation is a very real problem for grassroots women's and girls'
teams, and we believe that reminding local authorities of the
public gender equality duty would be a very clear way for the
Government to ensure fairer access to facilities around the country.
We believe this to be both a creative and practical solution
to this issue, and have already written to the Secretary of State
urging her to accept this recommendation and work towards achieving
a more equitable pitch allocation.
The provision of adequate pitches and facilities
is essential if team sports are to prosper. The Football Foundation
is undertaking valuable work in improving that provision, and
we support wholeheartedly its approach in making financial support
for facilities and pitches conditional on equal access for men
and women. (Paragraph 19)
The FA entirely endorses the Committee's support
for the Football Foundation's approach to funding facilities.
As a funding partner of the Foundation, we work closely with them
in a number of areas and believe that their work is invaluable
in improving the provision of facilities.
We believe that local authorities have a social
responsibility to provide sports facilities fit for use by all
sections of the community. The Government should lose no opportunity
to remind local authorities of their responsibilities in this
field. (Paragraph 20)
The FA wholeheartedly supports this recommendation.
Around 80% of all sports facilities are provided by local authorities,
and we believe that local authorities have a social and moral
duty to ensure that they provide high-quality facilities to everyone,
regardless of gender or any other factor. Furthermore, it is
our view that good provision of sports facilities is in the interest
of local authorities and communities, as poor facilities frequently
result in negative societal outcomes such as anti-social behaviour,
falling educational standards and public health problems.
While we can see significant benefits in the FA's
proposal for a Super League for women's football, we do not believe
that the case has yet been made for this to be resourced from
public funding, and we expect the FA to make a financial commitment
in line with its emphasis on women's football as one of its priorities.
(Paragraph 22)
The FA welcomes the Committee's 'in principle' support
for a Women's Football Super League. However, we disagree with
the contention that this League should not be publicly funded.
The FA has created a working group to look at establishing
a new Super League. The working group includes key FA Directors,
and is driven from the top by The FA Chief Executive, Brian Barwick.
The group is looking at how to address fundamental issues at the
top of the women's game.
We believe, given the historic lack of gender-equitable
public funding in football (which is itself criticised, rightly,
in the Committee's recommendation 2 above), that it is the duty
of Government to address this funding gap at the elite end of
the women's game. We believe that it is necessary for the Government
to create a new funding programme for women's football. With
public investment of only £3m per year, over five years,
the Government would be able to harness the profile, popularity
and social role that a Super League would offer, while allowing
the women's game to develop beyond all current recognition.
We recommend that the FA should encourage professional
men's clubs to make it standard practice to share training pitches
and facilities and grounds with elite women's clubs. It is in
the interests of professional clubs to be more imaginative in
their approach to building links with women's clubs and publicising
their matches in match programmes. By doing so, clubs can expect
to increase their support base. (Paragraph 28)
The FA shares the Committee's belief that professional
clubs should do all they can to develop the women's game through
their own structures, facilities and support base. However, The
FA has little control over the commercial and strategic decisions
of individual clubs. We have contacted both the FA Premier League
and the Football League to draw their attention to this issue,
and would hope for their support in encouraging the clubs to take
a positive view.
The FA should demonstrate that it recognises the
value of drawing women into governance and promoting female role
models as a way of increasing recognition and widening the fan
base, thereby benefiting the sport as a whole. (Paragraph 29)
There are a number of women in senior executive positions
at The FA, across all divisions ranging from those involved in
the women's game, to equality, child protection and human resources.
Kelly Simmons, who gave evidence to the Committee, is Head of
National Football Development with overall responsibility for
grassroots football in England.
The FA recognises that its current democratic structure
does not include enough female representation. A structural review,
carried out by Lord Burns in 2005, is nearing implementation at
the time of writing, and representation of all areas of the game
is an issue that is being addressed within that process.
We take the promotion of women footballers as positive
role models very seriously, through organised campaigns such as
our Get Into Football initiative and the Euro 2005 Education Pack
described in our written evidence to the inquiry.
England Captain Faye White and Kelly Simmons were
specifically chosen to act as our witnesses to this inquiry in
order to showcase the importance we place on expert women at the
highest levels of our organisation.
Women's football needs to carve a niche for itself
and establish its own territory where it can shine and attract
support. A women's summer league, when teams would face limited
competition for pitches and spectator support, seems a promising
way forward. A home nations championship would also raise the
game's profile and might well be attractive to broadcasters and
sponsors. (Paragraph 31)
The FA has created a senior working group to look
at establishing a new Women's Super League. As set out in our
written evidence to this inquiry, this group is looking closely
at the possibility of holding this Super League over the summer.
We will consider the Committee's backing for a summer league
as we develop our thinking in this area.
Given the current issues around fixture planning,
and England's preparation for major tournaments such as FIFA Women's
World Cup 2007 in China, The FA has no plans to establish a home
nations championship. Current world and European rankings would
also suggest that such matches would be very uncompetitive and
therefore potentially counter-productive to the development of
the sport.
We therefore urge that every effort should be
made to ensure that our top women players have the opportunity
to compete in the London 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games. We
very much hope that the success achieved in developing women's
football over the last ten years will continue for the next ten
years and beyond. (Paragraph 31)
The FA agrees with this recommendation, and we have
been leading the drive towards football teams representing Great
Britain, for both men and women, at the London 2012 Olympic and
Paralympic Games. Discussions with the other British football
Associations are ongoing, but The FA's commitment remains as strong
as ever.
The FA has also held preliminary discussions with
the Commonwealth Games Federation, regarding the possibility of
including women's football in the future.
It is recommended that a task force be set up
involving the Department for Culture, Media and Sport, the Department
for Education and Skills and the football authorities, to produce
a blueprint for the future of women's football. (Paragraph 32)
The FA has already written to the Secretary of State
for Culture, Media and Sport and the Secretary of State for Education
and Skills setting out our enthusiasm for such a task force, and
our willingness to be involved should the Government decide to
accept this recommendation.
While we believe that The FA has a good record of
developing women's football in England, we accept the Committee's
recommendation that we now require support and backing from Government
if we are able to realise the full potential of the game in future
years. Close work with both DCMS and DfES will be vital to ensure
continuing success in this area, and The FA has offered to chair
and manage the running of this task force if the Government believes
that to be useful. We have also recommended that both Sport England
and the Youth Sports Trust would be able to play a valuable role
in this group.
The FA is grateful for the Committee's efforts to
support its work in women's football by engaging Government departments
on this issue.
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