EQUALITY, DIVERSITY & INCLUSION

The FA and Lincolnshire FA are here to ensure everyone who is involved in football, whether as participants, team members, volunteers, coaches, referees, office-bearers or those within the County Football Association, are able to, with fairness and respect, have a great experience and be involved in football – regardless of gender, sexuality, ethnicity, ability or disability, faith or age.

Lincolnshire FA will ensure that everybody:

• has an equal opportunity to participate to the full extent of their own ambitions and abilities, without regard to their age, sex, gender identity, disability, marital or civil partnership status, pregnancy or maternity, religion, race or ethnicity or sexual orientation; and

• can be assured of an environment in which their rights, dignity and individual worth are respected, and in particular that they are able to enjoy football without the threat of discrimination, intimidation, victimisation, harassment or abuse.

Both The FA and the County FAs are working to ensure everyone has the opportunity to be part of the game.

We will all work together on our inclusion priorities over the coming years. These are underpinned by three principles of change:

• Ensuring governance and leadership is diverse and modern. The approach to diverse and effective governance is demonstrated through the Board committing to a minimum of 30% male and 30% female representation on the Board. The current position is 57% male and 43% female. Alongside this, the Board will ensure diversity of thinking is represented within our governance by appointing a board member of 24 years or younger by 2025.  The board will also endeavour to support diverse representation within our governance where possible.

• Removing any obstacles to access and progression in coaching, talent development or personal development pathways
• Embedding equality, diversity and inclusion in our day-to-day operations

In order to make a difference, The FA is running and supporting leadership programmes for women, BAME and young people and will adhere to the Government’s code for governance in sport. We will also examine pathways and promote inclusion and access for coaches, welfare officers, club officials, league officials, players, coaches and tutors. We will challenge ourselves with measurable targets that deliver on diversity and inclusion outcomes. We will also work with a variety of stakeholders on topics such as mental health and LGBT to ensure that people feel safe and included in football.

please click here to download Lincolnshire FA's Equality Policy

FIND OUT MORE ABOUT THE FA’S INCLUSION AND ANTI-DISCRIMINATION WORK HERE

board diversity statement

The Board of Directors of the Lincolnshire Football Association recognises that decision making is improved when a Board is able to draw upon and harness a diverse range of opinions. The Board is committed to ensuring that its makeup is diverse,  and as a minimum, reflective of the population of Lincolnshire and reflective of our football community.

As such, the Association requested that the Inclusion Advisory Group (IAG) outline the approach the Board should take in relation to Director representation. The targets put forward by the IAG have been fully adopted by the Board. The Board have set targets around gender, age and disability. The IAG proposed that an ethnicity target should not be set. The rationale behind this decision was that the ethnic population of Lincolnshire is overwhelming white (96% white, 2% Asian/Asian British, 1% mixed, 0.5% black and 0.5% other). Given that only 4% of Lincolnshire's population is ethnically diverse, the IAG wanted to underline that a more ambitious approach should be taken. The Board believe this shows diversity of thought where a "tick box" approach would be the wrong one. It is imperative that diversity and inclusion are embedded in the County's culture.

Whilst the ethnic population of Lincolnshire is overwhelming white, the Board is fully committed to being representative, where possible, of other protected characteristics, including ethnicity, dual nationality and English as a second language where possible. All protected characteristics will be front of mind when recruiting for all future Board members with data being collected to help monitor the reach of communications. If we find we are not reaching or attracting applications from an ethnically diverse background, we will review the channels through which we advertise our vacancies.

The current levels of ethnic minority representation on the Board are 18%. The Board is fully committed to having Directors who reflect the local demographic and are fully committed to maintaining and supporting current levels, but given the demographic it may not be possible to maintain as Directors reach term limits. 

In order to achieve, as a minimum, representation in line with our population demographic, the Board will:-

• Annually review Director representation through the Diversity Inclusion Plan.
• Work with the IAG to identify potential candidates from an ethnic minority background who have the relevant skill set, should a Director vacancy arise.
• Continue to implement a targeted approach to identifying potential candidates to apply for vacant Director roles.
• Continue to seek specialist external support to ensure the content and language of promotional information is inclusive of the communities we are seeking to engage with. 
• Continue to promote the work of the Association across our different communities, including, given the size of our County, utilising our expanded Council to support our community engagement.

The makeup of the Board of the Lincolnshire FA clearly demonstrates our diversity given our ethnic representation, our gender representation and our disability representation; we believe that nothing is as strong as seeing real diversity on the Board. This sends a strong statement about us as an Association and our commitment to diversity and inclusion.

PRELIMINARY Level of the Equality Standard for Sport 

In July 2023, Lincolnshire FA was successful in achieving the Preliminary Level of the Equality Standard for Sport.

The National Standard for Equality is a nationally recognised framework that helps address inequalities within the sport sector, by assisting Sports Governing Bodies to embed equality across their organisation, and communicate and share their commitment to inclusion with its staff, members, and partners. 

Read the full story here

LINCOLNSHIRE FA DIVERSITY AND INCLUSION ACTION PLAN

In July 2023, Lincolnshire FA announced our three-year Diversity and Inclusion Action Plan (DIAP).

The DIAP supports the County FA in refining and further enhancing our approach to inclusion, ensuring that we have a robust, evidence-based, and unified approach to driving EDI within football in Lincolnshire.

The Lincolnshire FA Inclusion Advisory Group have agreed upon 5 key objectives that underpin the DIAP and will direct the County FA in ensuring Equality, Diversity and Inclusion are embedded across our Organisation.

Objective 1 – Ensure a Policy framework that is reviewed regularly and ensures the Lincolnshire FA drives ED&I throughout its governance.
Objective 2 – Use of Research and Data in order to underpin and achieve our objectives, including to track and improve the reporting of discrimination and abuse.
Objective 3 – Develop a Wide Portfolio of Inclusive Playing Opportunities
Objective 4 – Develop our Internal and External Workforce to ensure ED&I is driven across the football landscape
Objective 5 – Utilise appropriate marketing and communications to engage with a broad and diverse audience

To view the Lincolnshire FA DIAP, please click here