Paul Daniels, head of Russell Jones & Walker's sports team, asks whether the Rooney Rule would bring positive change to UK football.
The issue of race in football remains very much a hot potato as the John Terry matter, where the Chelsea player is accused to racially-abusing Queens Park Rangers defender Anton Ferdinand, rumbles on.
How does football help end the under-representation of black managers and coaches in football? One answer still being touted by many is to bring in the “Rooney Rule”.
The Rooney Rule (named after the proponent of the change to the National Football League [NFL] appointment rules, not Wayne) would compel a football club to interview at least one black/ethnic minority candidate for a vacant managerial position.
The Rooney Rule has been very successful in the US. Of the 32 teams in the NFL, seven now have head coaches that are either black or from an ethnic minority. This compares very favourably with the two black or ethnic minority managers in the 92 clubs of the Football League. This figure is way below the proportion of players who are black, as well as way below the average numbers of black or ethnic minority people in the UK population overall.
A positive discrimination approach was adopted by the Labour Party in the late 1990s when all constituency shortlists for selecting an MP required a female candidate. This approach transformed the numbers of female MPs. The numbers doubled as a result. But the approach was deemed unlawful under the sex discrimination laws of the time as male candidates were disadvantaged. Hence, a specific amendment to the laws for selecting MPs only was introduced.
The law has moved on a little since then. The Equality Act 2010 in the UK permits what is known as “positive action” but not “positive discrimination” in employment. There is a distinction and it is an important one.
With positive action, employers are permitted to take proportionate measures to encourage persons with the relevant characteristic to enable their increased participation where they are disproportionately under-represented for example, to set targets for the employment of ethnic minorities or to improve training and mentoring.
They can also treat persons more favourably in recruitment or promotion, as long as they are "as qualified as" others. Positive discrimination, i.e. giving an advantage to certain groups in society which are often treated unfairly because of a protected characteristic like race, is on the other hand, still unlawful.
So a legislative change, like the one introduced for MPs, would be required to bring in the Rooney Rule in the UK. This is highly unlikely under the current administration. So despite all the talk, the Rooney Rule has little chance of securing legal force in the UK at present.
In the field of business, we are rather more used to employers setting out detailed job specifications and going through a formal and objective shortlisting process on who is most qualified for a role. When interviewing and selecting the best candidate, clear and objective scoring systems are more often used in business.
I suspect that if this model were adopted by more clubs, even without a Rooney Rule as such, this might make it rather easier for a broader set of candidates to be considered. Clubs are starting to go through a fuller process these days, but we still see quite a few where the job is filled, without any apparent process before the previous incumbent has even left.
I suspect it is not just young black potential managers, but young potential managers who are struggling in the current recruitment system. Maybe a more open and robust application process for coaching and management roles might result in more diverse candidates getting jobs with or without a Rooney Rule?
A commitment to take the issue of under-representation of black managers seriously by clubs setting informal targets for the numbers of ethnic minority staff, providing mentoring and subsidised training and ensuring zero tolerance for any discriminatory behaviour or racial harassment, may well assist a little. A better overall selection process will also help. But for some, this may not go far enough or work quickly enough to deal with the current under representation.
