Sports law to force through reform of FA would be welcomed by Uefa

Posted Thursday, March 24, 2011 by theguardian.com

• Call for government to create FA free from vested interests
• Legislation seen as the only way to overhaul antiquated FA

Sports law to force through reform of FA would be welcomed by Uefa
'Each time the FA's reputation hits rock bottom, the next year it starts to drill,' says former chief executive Ian Watmore.

Uefa, Europe's ruling body, has signalled to the parliamentary select committee considering the future of football that it would welcome the introduction of a new sports law, giving encouragement to those who would like to see forcible reform of the Football Association.

Under any new legislation – one option being actively considered by the coalition government as it observes the progress of the Culture, Media and Sport select committee – it could insist on certain standards of independence, representation and transparency from sports governing bodies. Under one model a licensing agency could be introduced, with only those that meet the required standards receiving public funding and government support for hosting major events.

The former FA chief executive Ian Watmore this week said the association should be forced to reconstitute its board. "Vested interests" should be ejected from the professional and amateur game, and the board split equally between FA executives and non-executive directors. He said the FA should no longer have to distribute income to the professional game and should reform its relationship with the FA Council so that it was not beholden to it.

An increasing number of people within the game appear to believe that only legislation, or at least the threat of it, will be enough to overhaul the FA's antiquated governance structures.

In a letter to the committee and sports minister Hugh Robertson, seen by the Guardian, Watmore will argue that the government should set new strategic objectives for the sport, create an independent FA free of vested interests and give it clarity over its role.

"If there is one recommendation of mine that supersedes all others, it would be to create a totally independent FA board to lead the whole game in this country, free to spend its money as it thinks fit and with full transparency to the public," he said. "The menu should be seen as a table d'hôte menu, rather than à la carte. As we found after the Burns review, allowing each recommendation to be considered on its own and then either ignored or implemented in a piecemeal way leads to glacial progress or distorted change."

In a plea for urgent action Watmore added: "Each time the reputation of the FA appears to hit rock bottom, the next year it starts to drill. It is time to reverse that trend."

Fifa's distaste for government interference could be an obstacle to direct intervention but advocates of the legislative route point out that it would be a one-off action akin to the law changes that followed the Taylor report to bring the sport's stadiums and infrastructure up to date.

Other European countries already have specific legislation and Uefa welcomes the approach because it creates a legal framework and enshrines sport's special nature or "specificity".

At Uefa's congress in Paris this week, the president Michel Platini pleaded for political help across Europe in tackling illegal betting and hooliganism and called again for legislation to define government's role in relation to sport.

One option could be to roll reform of sporting governance in with other pressing issues, including the introduction of legislation covering the hosting of major events and reforms to sports betting, that would increase its chances of winning political support and parliamentary time.

Uefa has previously argued that the FA's role could be strengthened and pointed out that the UK lacks "enabling" sports legislation that could define the limits of government intervention while also eliminating the risk of duplication and empowering the governing body.

In his report last year on Sport England, Timothy Dutton QC said legislation would be required if sports governance arrangements did not markedly improve. The Supporters Direct chief executive Dave Boyle also made a case for a new sports law in his submission to the committee.

The previous government made slow progress in forcing governing bodies to be more representative and accountable, largely using the public money they receive for grassroots sport as both carrot and stick.

But it made little progress with the intractable problems at the FA, repeatedly calling for at least the introduction of two non-executive directors recommended by Lord Burns in 2005 to little effect.

The culture, media and sport select committee has heard evidence from a string of witnesses including former FA chairman Lord Triesman and Manchester United chief executive David Gill and travelled to Germany for a fact finding mission.

It plans to deliver its conclusions next month and Robertson, who has called football "the worst governed sport in the country" and is understood to be doing his own parallel thinking, has promised to act after that.