Nigerian-born former Chelsea Ladies of England and Juventus Femena of Italy attacker, Eniola (Eni) Aluko will this week address members of Britain’s parliament, where she will speak against the lack of black, Asian and minority ethnic representation in sports leadership roles, megasportsarena.com reports.
Aluko, who is now Aston Villa’s women sporting director, has been known of recent to voice out against all manner of discrimination in sports and the former England international has been called on to lend her views at an evidence session of the parliament’s Digital, Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS) committee on Tuesday.
The lack of BAME representation at the upper echelons of UK sport has been highlighted by the focus on the Black Lives Matter movement and Aluko wants to speak out for a change with the session also expected to have Paul Cleal, non-executive director and adviser to several sporting bodies, including the Premier League where he sits on the Equality Standard Panel.
Paul Elliott, the chair of the FA’s inclusion advisory board, has established a voluntary Equality In Football Leadership code to improve diversity among football clubs and governing bodies at all levels while UK Athletics chief executive Joanna Coates has set out the work being done within her organisation, but concedes it is not enough and there is much more to do.
The athletics’ body’s governing committee is looking to appoint an ethnic diversity and inclusion (ED&I) advocate to highlight key issues in this area, to support ED&I lead Donna Fraser while also working to appoint an executive sponsor or ‘race champion’ to provide visible leadership on race and ethnicity.
