Addressing the under-representation of BAME coaches in professional football club youth academies: an examination of the EFL mandatory code of coach recruitment

This chapter will draw on original quantitative and qualitative data to examine the English Football League’s (EFL) mandatory code of coach recruitment: a positive action intervention designed to address the underrepresentation of Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic (BAME) coaches in men’s professional football youth academies. More specifically, the chapter will examine the procedural implementation of the code in relation to four inter-related components (advertising, applications, interviews, appointments) and its’ measurable impact in increasing the levels of BAME coaches in academy settings. The chapter will also draw attention to the relationship between the procedural implementation of the code and the attitudinal approaches of senior academy staff to the interventionist and redistributive principles embodied within it. The chapter will conclude that the effectiveness of the code in engendering greater equitability in academy settings is more likely to be realised by adopting a more holistically considered and culturally reflexive approach to coach recruitment.