Football Governance Bill [HL]

Debate between Lord Watson of Invergowrie and Lord Bassam of Brighton

Report stage
Tuesday 11th March 2025 Lords Chamber

[Lord Watson of Invergowrie (Lab)]

My Lords, I would like to say a few words on Amendment 17 just moved by my noble friend the Minister. I tabled an amendment in Committee to try to ensure that the players appeared in the Bill, as originally they did not.

I very much welcome the fact that my noble friend has listened to the representations, not just by me and my noble friend Lady O’Grady but by the Professional Footballers’ Association and others, who have made the very reasonable case that, with the insertion of a reference to players as a group in this section, the regulator is expected to,

“so far as reasonably practicable, co-operate, and proactively and constructively engage”

with players. In effect, they become statutory consultees of the IFR, which is only appropriate because there is of course no football without the players. I very much welcome the wording that the Minister has come forward with; it meets my concerns and those of others.

The other part of this is the fans. I also put forward an amendment in Committee proposing that the fans should be defined in some way. I have had discussions with my noble friend the Minister. It was always going to be difficult. I assume that it will soon become the job of the regulator to define what a fan is. I still hold to the belief that you need to have some address for a fan if you are going to consult them. That is why I proposed in Committee that season ticket holders should be the best way of deciding who the fans are for consultation purposes, but I accept that it has not been possible to reach any kind of consensus on that.

I welcome the wording in this amendment. Again, I commend my noble friend and the Government on listening to representations and coming up with wording as a result.

[Lord Bassam of Brighton (Lab)]

My Lords, I will not add very much to what my noble friend has already said about the importance and value of having players and fans recognised in the consultation process, except to say that it is probably the most important part.

I was worried at the outset of the legislation—with the Bill that the party currently in opposition put in place before the election—that there was absolutely no reference to players or fans. They are an essential part. Without them, where would the game be? We might not be able to define what fans are, but they are many things, in many different ways and places. We sort of know what they are without being able to define them.

My noble friend Lady Taylor and I also signed up to Amendment 18, because I think it is important that there is a clear statement in the legislation to the effect that the best way forward is usually without recourse to excessive bureaucracy and regulation. If the IFR can find a way to do things that does not have to resort to that, then all for the good. For that reason, while I am encouraged by the amendment of noble Lord, Lord Pannick, the noble Baroness, Lady Brady, and the noble Lord, Lord Birt, and it certainly touches on a rather important point, I think the Government have matched that point with their amendment. I am not sure it is easy to define “light-touch”—no doubt, the noble Lord, Lord Pannick, will tell me that it is—but it is not a term that is commonly used in legislation, certainly not regulatory legislation.

I am pleased that this issue is being properly surfaced, and I am delighted that the Government have responded to it in a really positive way. I hope that both fans and players will be pleased to see that they have been written into this legislation.

Football Governance Bill [HL]

Debate between Lord Watson of Invergowrie and Lord Bassam of Brighton

Committee stage
Wednesday 18th December 2024 Lords Chamber

[Lord Watson of Invergowrie (Lab)]

My Lords, I would like to say a few words in support of my noble friends Lady Taylor and Lord Bassam, some of whose amendments I have signed. I also want to pick up on the point that the noble Lord, Lord Harlech, has just made. He mentioned Coventry, who moved to Northampton, which is about 35 miles away and obviously not at all convenient for fans. My noble friend Lord Bassam’s club, Brighton, moved to Gillingham, which is, what, 70 miles away?

[Lord Bassam of Brighton (Lab)]

Seventy-two.

[Lord Watson of Invergowrie (Lab)]

Some 72 miles and a few chains, I am sure.

Even a club such as Bristol Rovers, who were obliged to move to Bath, which is only about 15 miles away, had to play there for 10 years until their new stadium was built—and even then, I think they ended up sharing with a rugby club.

Amendments 227 and 233 are really “the AFC Wimbledon amendments”, because they refer to that club in which I have an interest, which I have stated on a number of occasions in consideration of this Bill. On the figure of five miles, it may not surprise noble Lords to know that, when Wimbledon FC were obliged to move because their ground had been sold from underneath them, they went to Crystal Palace, which is about six and a half miles away. It still was not convenient for a lot of the fans.

It has been said that, when Wimbledon moved to Crystal Palace, the crowds increased. Factually, that is correct—and I see the noble Lord, Lord Moynihan, nodding—but they increased because there was a far greater ability for visiting fans to go to Crystal Palace. It was not at all unusual for Wimbledon FC to play home games where their own fans were very much in the minority. So that was not a benefit—okay, in financial terms for the club it was, but it is not a system that anybody would advocate.

My final point is to reinforce Amendment 234, about taking reasonable steps to ensure that the club’s fans do not consider arrangements for any change to be unsatisfactory. That should be a very basic consideration. I think it is in the Bill, but it is helpful to have that stated quite clearly and I hope that my noble friend will take that on board and, if she is not able to accept it today, which I would not expect, that we might come back to this to get something more solid on Report.