Organisations from across the game convened on Wembley Stadium this week as part of the fourth Inclusion Advisory Board (IAB) meeting.
The group, now fully constituted with the arrival of Paul Elliott as its final member, saw a series of presentations from the Football League, the PGMOL, the PFA, LMA and Kick It Out respectively, all of whom updated their progress on actions assigned to them from the Inclusion & Anti-Discrimination plan.
“We spent time hearing about some of the excellent work taking place right across the game,” said IAB chair Heather Rabbatts.
“The theme of role models came across loud and clear. The appointment of a female on the Football League board in Debbie Jevans, is an important step for the role of women indecision making positions in the game.”
“Similarly the presence of Darren Moore from the PFA’s equalities team up at St George's Park and the appointment of Noel Blake at Blackpool is great to see.”
The PFA has also launched a 24 hour helpline for players seeking support with their mental wellbeing and The FA will roll out a new Women’s Leadership programme during the 2014-15 season.
Rabbatts also commented positively on some of the positive work being undertaken behind the scenes.
She added: “We’re seeing a general increase in the number of discriminatory incidents reported to The FA, this is largely due to the development of better and clearer information on how to report.
"The Kick It Out app continues to spawn positive results, and we’ll be continuing to profile this as we lead into this next season.
“As a group, we’re helping to shape the communications plan for next season so we can develop clear messages about the wealth of work the IAB will be helping to promote.”
The next IAB meeting is scheduled to take place in October.
