FA adopting 'Rooney rule'

It's been a huge success in the NFL where the number of minority senior staff and coaches has increased substantially, and is an excellent model for many other sporting leagues. From what I've read, in large part it's effective because owners end up speaking to candidates they normally would not have and end up impressed and candidates get more opportunities to interview and see what they need to work on to be better candidates.
 
I agree with it in the NFL actually. Franchise owners are typically old white men who value black players for their athleticism, but wouldn't trust them to make decisions. For example, the wide receivers, running backs are typically black, the Quarterbacks (who make on field decisions) are white. And if somehow you do end up with a black QB, typically they are characterised as a "running QB," i.e. someone who uses his athleticism to succeed rather than his brains/decision making. Good white wide receivers are "scrappy," or "intelligent," whilst good black wide receivers are "freakish" athletes.

Also, the NFL and America as a whole, has a whole lot more black people playing the sport. Mike Tomlin, who is a very good coach, probably got the head coach job at the Steelers based on being given the opportunity by the Rooney Rule, and I honestly don't think he would have got the chance if not for that.

Conversely, in England, this is just gonna mean Paul Ince gets interviewed for the England Managers job once every 5 years. A better solution would be to implement the rule at Championship and below level, giving black managers the opportunity at a club, to make their names for themselves from there.
 
Why is it called "Rooney rule" and who could be the possible candidates that fall into this category?

Also, would fans like the same rule to be applied to Manchester United and who do you think deserves a chance at an interview for the manager position, but hasn't been given the opportunity yet due to their skin colour?

It's named after the bloke who encouraged the adoption of a similar rule brought in by the NFL.

It's misleading to talk about this as something that can (yet) change things at the very top. When United recruited after SAF left, I'm sure only well known names like Guardiola, Mourinho, Ancellotti and of course Moyes were on the list. If we'd been looking a few years earlier maybe Rijkaard would have been there as well.

However, there's still no harm in asking United to interview a black candidate - even if the only outcome for the candidate is that he becomes a name in Woodward's head for the next vacancy, or a name that Woodward might suggest to some other chairman with a job to fill (and a less exalted shortlist).
 
The point of the Rooney Rule is to increase and widen the talent pool, and increase the level of coaching (and thus football on show) as it's been proven to do in other sports.

If you're happy believing that the only human beings capable of managing a PL team are white, middle aged men, then so be it.
Maybe you have misunderstood my comment, as my questions were totally genuine. You completely ignored them and went straight away into assessing an opinion I haven't even given yet. I feel kind of offended of how quick you made a deduction about me personally, without even knowing me in real life.
It's named after the bloke who encouraged the adoption of a similar rule brought in by the NFL.

It's misleading to talk about this as something that can (yet) change things at the very top. When United recruited after SAF left, I'm sure only well known names like Guardiola, Mourinho, Ancellotti and of course Moyes were on the list. If we'd been looking a few years earlier maybe Rijkaard would have been there as well.

However, there's still no harm in asking United to interview a black candidate - even if the only outcome for the candidate is that he becomes a name in Woodward's head for the next vacancy, or a name that Woodward might suggest to some other chairman with a job to fill (and a less exalted shortlist).
Thank you for answering my first question and I understand you points completely. However, I would seriously like to know specifically who are the managers that could fall into this category. Will it be done on some sort of random-based choice from people, who have their professional coaching licences, would it be sportsmen with some pedigree and a CV to show for before such an interview?
 
People don't want to imagine that racism, personal or institutional, is a factor in recruitment. Which is odd really, because people have no problem believing that the PL chairman always go for the same handful of relegation-saviours and no problem believing that crap managers get hired, off the back of the old boys' club and who they know, rather than what they know.

I've just googled the board members of the FA to see whether the people implementing these rules live by their own standards, and as it turns out they've actually appointed two women to the board in 2017, one of them also seems to have Indian roots. At the same time realistically it's not that much of a development if you take into account that one female appointment was a replacement of another female, but still I guess it's better than doing nothing. I can definitely understand the cynical reactions of some people though.

http://www.thefa.com/about-football-association/who-we-are/structure

"The Council approved the appointment of Kate Tinsley as a new independent non-executive director of The FA in October 2017."

"Rupinder Bains joined The FA Board as our third Professional Game [PG] non-executive FA Director, appointed jointly by the Premier League and the EFL, in November 2017."

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/football...-fasfirst-asian-director-joins-board-english/
 
A better solution would be to implement the rule at Championship and below level, giving black managers the opportunity at a club, to make their names for themselves from there.
How do you enforce such a rule and is it even democratic to do so? Do the clubs have to fire the manager so another can take his place, or is it when they are recruiting a new one? And what if the owners of the privately owned football club believe another person is more qualified and since it's their money it depends on, would rather hire him?

There are so many problems that such a legislation could create, the biggest being the state meddling with the private sector and basically totally diminishing the idea of a free market, which is especially true for the EU.

But I really sympathise and understand the problem, just not sure this is a competent way to solve it.
 
Rooney rule will do nothing unless all the clubs adopt it and the FA make changes for minorities to enter the sport at a coaching and managerial level

At the end of the day any pro can become a coach and take their experience the manager's seat for lower level clubs there has to be a reason why there are so few minorities there and I think that's the area the FA should prioritise along with adopting the Rooney rule for all football league clubs and not just the national team
 
The point of the Rooney Rule is to increase and widen the talent pool, and increase the level of coaching (and thus football on show) as it's been proven to do in other sports.

If you're happy believing that the only human beings capable of managing a PL team are white, middle aged men, then so be it.

Come on man, you know that isn't what he said.
 
Do you seriously think that's happening at the moment? Or has ever actually been the case for that matter?

But how would forcing a minority in the pool of applicants help, if they won't get the job anyway because they are somehow discriminated against?

Agreed, I really don't understand how people act as if employment is currently completely meritocratic and this rule will somehow discriminate against more qualified candidates.

The most qualified person will get the job - however, hopefully the rule and similar measures will inspire a more diverse group of candidates to work to attain the job

I'm not saying it's going to discriminate against the most qualified, what I tried to say is I doubt there's a big system in place to disallow minorities the opportunity to manage football teams based on their skincolour. Based on that, and the (apparant?) lack of minority managers, they might not be the most qualified, or is my logic wrong?
 
But how would forcing a minority in the pool of applicants help, if they won't get the job anyway because they are somehow discriminated against?

Not all discrimination is intentional or conscious. I remember there was a study showing that people with foreign sounding names are less likely to go from the CV stage to the interview stage - even when everything else is the same on the CV. However it doesn't mean that the employer is looking at the name and thinking "that sounds foreign, I'm not giving them the job". It might be more subtle than that.

Anyway what it means is that more minority candidates get the opportunity to prove themselves at the interview stage.

As for how it might help, it seems obvious to me that if more get interviews then that will have a direct impact over time. Not only that, but it's likely that potential candidates are more likely to put themselves forward if they think they will have more of a chance. Thinking longer-term, the same principle should also make it more likely that young people will do the necessary qualifications etc.

EDIT: I think this was the study I mentioned. https://www.theguardian.com/money/2009/oct/18/racism-discrimination-employment-undercover. There have been a few in different countries and as far as I know they all had the same result.
 
Rooney rule will do nothing unless all the clubs adopt it and the FA make changes for minorities to enter the sport at a coaching and managerial level

At the end of the day any pro can become a coach and take their experience the manager's seat for lower level clubs there has to be a reason why there are so few minorities there and I think that's the area the FA should prioritise along with adopting the Rooney rule for all football league clubs and not just the national team
What changes? Are there any barriers for minorities to enter the sport at a coaching level currently? What are they? Where are they?

We're calling for solutions here without naming any specific problems, it seems to me.
 
Does anyone really believe any black managers will get a job as a result of this scheme? It’s just another tick the box exercise from the FA. What are they going to do 5 years down the line when they are getting interviews but not getting the jobs?

Also, what is Paul Ince currently doing to help his cause other than moaning? I’ve just glanced over his managerial career and I can understand why clubs are avoiding him.
 
Seriously, Britain is full of organisations in which the ultimate priority is to cover their arses.
And I'm not talking about Jippy.
 
Exactly.

When you interview, you don't call every single person who simply meets the person spec - you could end up with 100 people to see. You sift the applications, look at the CVs and tend to put a shortlist together based on all sorts of factors, some of which are intuitive.

I think it's widely accepted that removing names from CV's as well as the names of the schools they attended, has the effect that they're looking for.

It's elegant, simple and fair.

But it promotes absolute diversity and removes all possibility of prejudice. So nobody does it. Then people look for hackneyed solutions like the ridiculous 'Rooney Rule' to claim that they're trying.

The world is a joke.
 
In fairness Rooney is pretty equal opportunities in his approach to who he shags.
 
What changes? Are there any barriers for minorities to enter the sport at a coaching level currently? What are they? Where are they?

We're calling for solutions here without naming any specific problems, it seems to me.
As I said in my post there has to be a reason why so few are in coaching roles

I don't know that reason but the FA should look into it because the Rooney rule on it's own will not change anything if minorities are not entering coaching roles to begin with
 
Does anyone really believe any black managers will get a job as a result of this scheme? It’s just another tick the box exercise from the FA. What are they going to do 5 years down the line when they are getting interviews but not getting the jobs?

Also, what is Paul Ince currently doing to help his cause other than moaning? I’ve just glanced over his managerial career and I can understand why clubs are avoiding him.

Why is it when this question comes up certain people start naming specific black managers. This rule is not to help Paul Ince. It's much more likely to help the person we haven't heard of who might not even have done his qualifications yet.
 
I think it's widely accepted that removing names from CV's as well as the names of the schools they attended, has the effect that they're looking for.

It's elegant, simple and fair.

But it promotes absolute diversity and removes all possibility of prejudice. So nobody does it. Then people look for hackneyed solutions like the ridiculous 'Rooney Rule' to claim that they're trying.

The world is a joke.

I'd imagine that the CV approach doesn't quite work for the specific job of England's national football team manager.
 
Why is it when this question comes up certain people start naming specific black managers. This rule is not to help Paul Ince. It's much more likely to help the person we haven't heard of who might not even have done his qualifications yet.

?

I was referring to the BBC video with Paul Ince in that somebody else posted in the thread.
 
Regardless of whether this needs addressing or not surely promising to interview someone is a pretty pointless rule. If they weren't going to hire that applicant before this rule, they aren't going to now.
 
As I said in my post there has to be a reason why so few are in coaching roles

I don't know that reason but the FA should look into it because the Rooney rule on it's own will not change anything if minorities are not entering coaching roles to begin with
Right. I understand. But what does "few" mean? The number of black coaches is more or less proportionate to the number of black people in England (even higher if you take into account other countries that managers most often come from). Are we certain there's a real problem here?

I don't see the rule as actively harmful or discriminatory, by the way. It creates the idea that there is a problem I'm not sure exists, however, for mostly PR reasons, the way I see it. It's not a big deal but I don't love it.
 
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This is farcical, interviewing managers should only be on merit, not on what colour your skin is.
 
That's going to be a barrel of laughs for the ethnic coaches out there.

"We'd like to invite you to an interview for a coaching position".

"Is this because I'm black and you have to?"

"No, we're very interested in your credentials".

"OK, sure"

....


"We regret to inform you that you were not successful on this occasion".

:lol:
 
Right. I understand. But what does "few" mean? The number of black coaches is more or less proportionate to the number of black people in England (even higher if you take into account other countries that managers most often come from). Are we certain there's a real problem here?
Yes i'm not sure either I don't have the statistics but i'm just giving my opinion that the Rooney rule on it's own is useless unless wider changes aren't made to get more minorities in coaching roles

If the proportions are on par with the amount of minorities then I don't see the problem either

My opinion is the job should go to the best candidate not what colour skin they have the gender they are or where they went to school but who is the best person to have that position

Females are at an advantage in today's society because of "equality" when in reality females are giving positions based on gender and the need to have more women which only makes modern society more sexist

Easyjet want more female pilots for example which means they will will most likely overlook better candidates that are male just to balance out the numbers that is the world we are living in today unfortunately where the jobs do not go to the best person but to the person who ticks the right boxes
 
I haven't read all the comments in the thread, but isn't it slightly racist to interview minorities just because they are minorities? Whatever happened to simply employing the most qualified person for the job regardles of gender or ethnisity?
I agree with this. I’m 100% in favour of BAMEs getting more chances at all levels of the game but no club or organisation should hire someone just because of their ethnicity.
 
Always found these ‘positive discrimination’ things absolutely pointless and insulting.
Positive discrimination involves intentionally disadvantaging non-minority (i.e. white) candidates. This isn't.
Instead of forcing people to interview someone who is not good enough for the job just because of their skin colour, how about doing more to teach tolerance and understanding in schools?
The purpose of it is to force people to interview someone who IS good enough for the job but wouldn't otherwise be interviewed owing to not belonging to the right golf club, or whatever.
Does anybody even want to be the token minority at a job interview? How degrading is that?
Well yes, but I suppose that, looking at the bigger picture, even being present as a token minority might be better than not being present at all.
 
I agree with this. I’m 100% in favour of BAMEs getting more chances at all levels of the game but no club or organisation should hire someone just because of their ethnicity.


Who is asking them too? They are being asked to give everyone a fair shot which somehow is annoying certain posters here.

Anyone has a problem with this needs to take a good look at themselves before they head off to their national front meetings

Also the next person thatmentions Paul Ince or Paul Parker should be banned .The fact you cant think of another black manager might just be the point of this
 
Jobs in all walks of life, if you aren't good enough for a job you don't get the job it's as simple as that (nothing to do with skin colour) and you aren't qualified enough for the job then don't apply for the job, why waste your or other peoples time?

If there's only a handful of good black managers in football, why should a black person, if clearly not qualified or experienced enough for that position get a interview, taking up an interview spot over someone more qualified (irrelevant to skin colour) for a Manchester United or any other top club in England just because they are black and have passed their coaching badges?
 
And another 10 years after that must interview at least 1 gay and 1 transsexual.

Have you ever been discriminated against on the basis of your sex, race, ethnicity or sexual orientation? Because its easy to make a laugh and a joke about such things and be facetious, but these are very real issues in our society that need addressing.
 
I think it is in terms of definitely giving someone a job based on ethnicity. This kind of rule, no.

You can do things like encourage more candidates from certain backgrounds, have workshops, that kind of thing as well as this as far as I know.

I believe you can also offer unpaid positions, training, or maybe lowly paid internships (not not sure on internships) specifically to people based on ethnicity, disability etc. with the chance of getting a job at the end of it. That's a bit of grey area for me as if there's a job up for grabs at the end of it advertised to all then that particular candidate will already have a foot in the door at the organisation and would be more likely to get it compared to an outside applicant.
Ok, I see.

This all seems like a token gesture. Are there even enough BME managers who satisfy the criteria to be shortlisted for the the England positions? If the FA is serious about this, they would fix the pipeline of BME managers.
 
This is a good step. The replies in this thread suggest how so many of you are still unaware of how difficult minorities have it. The playing field for minorities is not level right now. That has to be happen. Until it is, minorities should get preferential treatment with getting hired.
 
Right. I understand. But what does "few" mean? The number of black coaches is more or less proportionate to the number of black people in England (even higher if you take into account other countries that managers most often come from). Are we certain there's a real problem here?

I don't see the rule as actively harmful or discriminatory, by the way. It creates the idea that there is a problem I'm not sure exists, however, for mostly PR reasons, the way I see it. It's not a big deal but I don't love it.

Not really. The FA talks about a BAME background candidate being interviewed - "Black, Asian, minority ethnic" - that's roughly 10% of Britons. You could argue that we don't actually see many Indian or Chinese heritage players I guess, if you want to look at football demographics. But if you do look at football demographics you'll certainly find that more than 10% of the British born pro players are black.

So, no. It's not proportionate. Plus, a move like this is about telling potential candidates to get the coaching badges and apply for the jobs as well as about telling association boards, local FAs and clubs to take recruitment more seriously.
 
Have you ever been discriminated against on the basis of your sex, race, ethnicity or sexual orientation? Because its easy to make a laugh and a joke about such things and be facetious, but these are very real issues in our society that need addressing.

Gender there's equal rights now for women in all walks of life and racism in football (at least in England) as come on a long way, as for a persons sexual preference.

The big push by the LGTB community for a gay footballer to come out as 'gay' annoys me, it's as almost if they are wanting a straight player to say he's gay (even if he's not), so they can put a rainbow flag around them.

What difference does it make and what as it got to do with anyone else (and football for that matter) what a person likes to do in the bedroom in the privacy of their own home?