The first index to track race representation across UK sport has led to 43% of national governing bodies being handed the lowest three available grades. A trio of England’s biggest sporting administrators – the Football Association, the England and Wales Cricket Board, and the Rugby Football Union – failed to even take part.
The inaugural Race Representation Index, commissioned by the sport monitoring advisory panel via charity Sporting Equals, was motivated by the Black Lives Matter movement following the death of George Floyd. It aimed to provide a baseline on racial diversity across the sector, allowing progress to be tracked year on year, and was initially delivered to 52 national governing bodies on a voluntary basis. Two, the FA and the RFU, declined to participate.