English Football

Baroness Grey-Thompson Excerpts

Wednesday 8th May 2019 Lords Chamber

[Baroness Grey-Thompson (CB)]

My Lords, I thank the noble Baroness, Lady Taylor of Bolton, for tabling this debate tonight. Sport often thinks of itself as different because of the role it plays in people’s lives. However, this does not mean that it can behave differently. Sport is entertainment; it engages people; it changes our lives; and it provides volunteering opportunities, where children can learn about risk-taking in what should be a safe environment. It is that safe environment that will be the basis of my contribution.

Football is a huge business and holds in its hands the hopes and dreams of many young men and women. That is why the whole sport—and all sports—needs good governance. I know from my time in sport that football has been the bane of many a Sports Minister’s life. My personal view is that some of the national governing bodies have had to be dragged kicking and screaming into the modern world of good governance. That there are good parts of sport does not give it an excuse to not behave in a transparent, open and ethical manner. Governance in football is not a new issue. Over many years there have been repeated calls for, among other things, better representation for women and fans.

I am delighted that Sport England recently launched a talent plan which has strong links to duty of care issues. However, it is only the girls’ game that is publicly funded in England, not the boys’ game, and I would like to ensure that both sides have to take the matter seriously.

It is a shame that the noble Baroness, Lady Brady, is not in her place at the moment. I would have loved to congratulate her on the West Ham women’s team making the FA Cup final. Sadly, they were beaten by Man City, but they are an exemplar of how football can be used to develop women’s sport in an incredible way. The Women’s FA Cup final was watched by more than 2 million people.

I have spoken many times in your Lordships’ Chamber about disabled fans at football matches, and while it is true that many clubs have improved, some are still taking their time to truly engage and make adequate seating available for wheelchair users. Wrexham AFC is one club that has grasped the idea.

While the sports governance code was published in 2017, it was merely a step forward. At the time, the FA’s Greg Clarke said that he did not want to “just be compliant”. We have to continually work to ensure that there is not tick-box compliance for major issues and that major issues are not hidden within sport. I believe that part of good governance is a duty of care to everyone involved.

Back in December 2016, the then Sports Minister, the right honourable Tracey Crouch, asked me to review duty of care in sport in the UK. I was asked to look at grass-roots sport in England, elite level, where lottery funding kicked in, and also professional sport. Football as a sport was incredibly helpful: several areas submitted information in different ways, and representatives attended meetings. As far as I am aware, the Premier League is the only governing body that has an action plan against each of the recommendations I made in the report.

When I was asked to do this—and I need to be clear that it was not someone from football who said this—I was told that there was nothing to see and that the duty of care towards those in the system was great. The turning point in my work, however, was November 2016, when those brave footballers waived their right to anonymity and talked publicly about being abused by former coaches and scouts in the 1970s, 1980s and 1990s. I have no doubt that some of that is still happening now.

We have to understand how hard it is for any athlete to raise such issues, then and now, even when there are policies in place. A young person in sport may be making a complaint against the very person who holds the key to the door of them representing their club or country, or it could be the coach’s best friend. What happened in football highlighted that some unscrupulous people will go where there are young people—in this case sport—and that there are horrible people holding positions of trust. Although I do not believe that every adult in sport is vulnerable, the very nature of being involved in a sports pathway gives a certain sense of vulnerability. We need legislation to protect young people who have reached the age of consent. The current legislation is limited to schools, hospitals and care homes, and that is not good enough.

Through my work on duty of care, I work closely with the CPSU. The following was taken from its briefing:

“While a relationship may well not be a breach of the criminal law, and the young person involved may not always view it as abusive or exploitative, the existence of a significant power differential between an adult with authority, control or influence over a significant aspect of the young person’s life always raises the possibility that the relationship is unequal and constitutes an abuse of the adult’s position of trust”.


Any breach of trust needs to be clearly defined as a breach of the organisation’s code of conduct, but that code also has to have weight and penalties, and not just be written on a piece of paper that athletes and players are unable to access. Yes, we do have DBS checks, but it is merely a moment in time. It is at times like this that I miss the sensible approach taken by the much-missed Lady Heyhoe Flint, who did so much to campaign on not relaxing legislation in this area.

My personal preference is not just to look at 16 and 17 year-olds but to expand legislation to anyone who is on a player pathway, because that abuse of positions of trust is possible for anybody who is involved in sport and has the ambition to compete at the highest level. A young person in sport should never feel that they have to say that the abuse they suffered was the price they paid for competing at the top level, or be told that the person in the position of trust is “just that way”. I have heard both those things said to me in this very House. CPSU research in 2011 of young athletes’ experiences of sport found that 29% of respondents had experienced sexual harassment. The Ministry of Justice has requested a meeting with me at the end of the month, which I am very much looking forward to. I wonder whether the Minister would support legislation that covers position of trust in sport.

Currently, NGBs are left to deal with issues such as poor practice and breaches of code of conduct. They have to have their internal processes, but there should be an external, independent one. Fundamentally, I believe that sport should not be marking its own homework.

One of the main recommendations in my report called for a sports ombudsman who could deal with issues such as this. What is Her Majesty’s Government’s current thinking in this area? Another recommendation is to have an induction process at each stage of squad development. Many governing bodies had or now have this in place, but we need to check whether that actually works. It is an important part of the process and should include educating young people on the relevant rules, assuring them of their right to enjoy and engage in sport freely and without pressure to comply with adults’ sexual requests.

Finally, does the Minister agree that this is a sensible approach not just for the good of football but for the wider good of sport and society?