ABSTRACT

The English Football League’s voluntary code of coach recruitment seemingly represents a step change in the approach of authorities to addressing the continuing underrepresentation of minoritised coaches in men’s professional football in England. Informed by Critical Race Theory, this article draws on qualitative data generated in 29 interviews with minoritised coaches, professional club chief executives and key organizational stakeholders to examine the code’s development, implementation and effectiveness. Findings demonstrate that the implementation of the code appeared largely performative, as an absence of compliance coupled with organizational scepticism resulted in clubs continuing to operate informal recruitment processes. This engendered little meaningful change in increasing the inclusivity of coach recruitment practices and the representation of minoritised coaches in the game. The study demonstrates that more holistic and interventionist organizational approaches to equality, sensitive to the continuing salience of ‘race’, are needed in men’s professional football coaching.

摘要

英格兰足球联盟的教练招募自愿守则似乎代表了当局在解决英格兰男子职业足球中少数族裔教练人数持续不足的方法上的一步改变。在批判种族理论的指导下，本文利用对少数族裔教练、职业俱乐部首席执行官和主要组织利益相关者的 29 次采访中产生的定性数据来检查守则的开发、实施和有效性。调查结果表明，该守则的实施在很大程度上似乎具有表演性，因为缺乏合规加上组织的怀疑导致俱乐部继续运作非正式的招聘流程。这在增加教练招募实践的包容性和少数族裔教练在比赛中的代表性方面几乎没有产生有意义的变化。该研究表明，男子职业足球教练需要更全面和干预性的平等组织方法，对“种族”的持续重要性敏感。