Premier League’s Black Lives Matter shirts labelled an ‘empty gesture’ following FA board decision

Football Association board have effectively blocked a review of the diversity of its members, chairman Greg Clarke has claimed

The Premier League’s Black Lives Matter shirts have been labelled an empty gesture following the claim that the Football Association (FA) blocked a review into the diversity of its members.

FA chairman Greg Clarke has written to FA Council members to say the board met last week and a number of options were discussed with a view to making the board more diverse.

“We discussed a number of options including: making the chair of the inclusion advisory board (Paul Elliott) a director and giving the professional and national games an extra board seat each that could provide the flexibility to allow appointment of diverse candidates should they be the best qualified person for the role,” Clarke wrote. “Both our independent directors offered to stand down to create opportunities for a more diverse board but the board was united in declining their offer.

“The professional game were against such a review, believing the changes introduced in 2017 were sufficient.”

The professional game representatives on the board are Peter McCormick, the chairman of the legal advisory group of the Premier League, English Football League chairman Rick Parry and Rupinder Bains, who jointly represents the Premier League and the EFL. As a result of Clarke’s claims, the Premier League has come under fire.

Piara Powar, the executive director of the anti-discrimination Fare network, tweeted: “Hey @premierleague you used your veto to block a qualified black person joining the FA board.

“We know you support #BlackLivesMatter it appeared on the backs of players shirts. Show that wasn’t an empty gesture, let qualified people sit around the top table. Share power.”

Black Lives Matter shirts were worn upon the return of the English top flight this spring, with the death of black American George Floyd at the hands of a white police officer in Minnesota sparking worldwide anti-racism protests.

While the jerseys with ‘Black Lives Matter’ on the back were only used for the opening rounds of Premier League games, BLM patches remained on shirts through to the end of the season.

Players also continued to take a knee at kick-off, having first done so in the first game back in June.