Eni Aluko calls for new enforced targets to increase BAME representation in boardrooms of UK sport

Former England international Eni Aluko has backed the introduction of a target to ensure 30 per cent of sports boards are made up of BAME individuals.

Aluko addressed MPs at a hearing of the Digital, Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS) committee on Tuesday morning and insisted there is still a 'glass ceiling' for people from ethnic backgrounds in management and in the boardroom.

Her comments come after a report in the Daily Telegraph in June which found only three per cent of board members in taxpayer-funded UK sports governing bodies were black.

She pointed to the introduction of the homegrown rule in football as an example of how mandatory regulation can bring about real change.

"I take heart in the fact we have progressed but there are still some ceilings," she said.

"It's about saying when we are looking for the best talent are we fishing in a wide enough pool to find that talent, or are we doing what we have always done which is safe and nepotistically recruiting from the same people that we all know and that look like us?

"Once you fish in a wider sea you'll be surprised what you find in terms of the pool of talent."

Asked whether targets were necessary, she added: "At this point we have to. There has to be something intentional about change. When you rely on self-regulation and people doing it themselves, they tend to fall back into a comfort zone of what they have always done.

"We do need a target, I know the 30 per cent target was mentioned earlier, that's a good one in terms of it being something you can always strive and achieve towards.

"When you look at other areas of football, there are mandatory rules which are put into place that challenge and change very quickly recruitment behaviour.

"(The homegrown player rule) was a mandatory rule which instinctively changed recruitment behaviour, changed investment behaviour.

"That is what needs to happen in terms of representation of black and ethnic minorities, it needs to be something that whether owners or directors like it or not, this is what the game needs to do."

Additional reporting from Press Association

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