This is a good long read on the issues around diversity in Women's football in England, and puts the recent furor over the Arsenal squad photo in context. I am once again in awe of Alex Scott for how she's managed to thrive in spite of the barriers she's had to push past.

https://arseblog.news/2023/11/an-in-depth-look-at-arsenal-womens-lack-of-ethnic-diversity-why-it-matters-how-it-happened-and-how-it-is-being-tackled/

#mastodonfc #arsenal #awfc
@gunners

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[–] MHPengwingz@lemmy.world 1 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (1 children)

That's one of the systemic things that has to change or at least on the club level.

Hopefully this will change with the emerging popularity of women's sports.

Edit: I don't think the club actually addressed the fact that our senior squad isn't diverse, kind of deflecting that it's a wider issue overall. Now while that is absolutely true, but that's absolutely putting their heads in the sand now isn't it if you look at other more top teams huh?

[–] thatdosbox@mstdn.ca 2 points 1 year ago (1 children)

@MHPengwingz to be fair, RTC's were the FA's responsibility. The club does need to come up with a replacement of their own to ensure they're casting as wide a net as possible.

[–] MHPengwingz@lemmy.world 1 points 1 year ago (1 children)

I do like that Hale End had their own thing where the employees do a bit of groundwork themselves. I've also read about how tech is playing a role in it where aspiring footballers can upload their stuff on to scouting networks. That should be made more accessible.

[–] thatdosbox@mstdn.ca 1 points 1 year ago

That would certainly help with the scouting of players, but the bigger issue is getting kids into organized games and coaching in the first place.