Public lecture: Levelling the field?

Despite the longstanding racial diversity of the playing workforce in (men’s) elite level football in England, there has been a minimal throughput of racially minoritised players into senior coaching positions at professional clubs. This lecture will draw on research undertaken by Dr Bradbury (and other scholars working in the field) to identify the key factors which have limited the realisation of equitable opportunities, experiences and outcomes for racially minoritised coaches. It will also evaluate the scope, implementation and effectiveness of new targeted ‘positive action’ measures designed to diversify the professional football coaching workforce.

The lecture will conclude by suggesting that such measures should be more strongly interventionist and transformational in their policy intentions and ideological scope, and that key stakeholder bodies should work collaboratively to adopt a more holistic legislative and pedagogical approach to tackling racialised inequities in football coaching.

Finally, the talk will also outline some potential prospective priorities for broadening the multi-levelled and intersectional focus of future research in this important scholarly field.

The findings from his research have been published as reports, book chapters, and articles in peer reviewed journals and presented to a range of academic, practitioner and governmental audiences in the UK and Europe. In particular, in relation to research examining the under-representation and experiences of ethnically diverse players, coaches and governance staff and the effectiveness of measures to address racialised inequities in football and other sports. He is also the co-editor of a new book entitled ‘‘Race’, Ethnicity and Racism in Sports Coaching’ as part of the Routledge Critical Perspectives on Equality and Social Justice in Sport and Leisure series.

This public lecture is free to attend and is open to anyone with an interest in the topic. The event will take place online via Zoom and will last for approximately an hour. To book your place please complete the online booking form, you will be emailed joining details the day before the talk.

This talk will be recorded and the recording will be made available online a few days after the event.

If you have any questions please email NCSEM-Education@lboro.ac.uk.