Honest question: I’m a longtime premier league fan from the US. In my over 10 years of watching English football, I’ve never seen a person of color as the center referee in a premier league match. Does anyone know why this is? A significant percentage (majority) of premier league players are not white, and given research around subconscious bias, you have to imagine the league and refereeing body would have an interest in having their game officials be representative of the players they officiate? With the quality of officiating being in the news so much recently, increasing diversity in the ranks of game officials could be one idea. I imagine it’s just a big old boys club though…
Always had the same question about fans in attendance! London is 54% white but I swear the stands are at least 90% white, probably more, even for London based clubs.
Is there not a lot of interest in soccer from other ethnicities in London, even though it’s such a worldwide sport? What’s the answer here?
English football was primarily created for the white working classes of the uk, a large portion that still attend games.
Also large numbers white people moved slightly outside of London and commute in to games.