EFL taking tougher stance on inclusion with new league table strategy

Charlton, Bradford and Blackburn are among just 10 per cent of EFL clubs doing enough to challenge discrimination and open football up to underrepresented groups, admitted the league’s diversity chair.

The EFL is taking a tougher stance on inclusion this season and hopes to double that number over the next five years, beginning with the introduction of a new system which will award clubs gold, silver, or bronze ratings – or none to those who fall below expectations – based on their success in meeting pre-agreed targets.

David McArdle, the EFL’s head of equality, diversity and inclusion (EDI), is optimistic the new process, which will see results published in a “league table”, will enforce more accountability across the EFL’s 72 clubs.

“At the end of the season we can say these are the challenges, this is why clubs are struggling, these are the trends we’re starting to see,” said McArdle, speaking at the launch of Together, the EFL’s new five-year EDI strategy.

“So we can then influence the next set of education material, the next set of challenges, do we need to go and talk to more communities at a different level, because this is where our clubs are struggling, so we can then do that.

“That accountability becomes that much more evident, there’s much more opportunity. But also it shouldn’t be seen just as a tick-box exercise, it should be seen as an opportunity for clubs to tell their journey.

“By moving from bronze to silver [or] from silver to gold they can tell a story, and really make it more of the progression, not just the status quo.”

McArdle has factored in the vast difference in resources and infrastructure between top Championship sides and those newly promoted from the National League, a gap that will be