Refined inclusivity principles for club identity released by FFA

Today is a new step forward by Football Federation Australia who have announced the release of new Inclusivity Principles for Club Identity to replace the National Club Identity Policy.

The changes have been made to preserve club ethnicity and will promote multiculturalism.

Here are the key points from a recent media release by FFA:

FFA INCLUSIVITY PRINCIPLES FOR CLUB IDENTITY 

Creating an inclusive and welcoming environment for participants from all cultural and linguistic backgrounds. 

Football in Australia has a rich and diverse history which FFA wishes to acknowledge and celebrate. Many clubs were formed and have developed from particular local communities who have made significant contributions to the growth and reputation of the sport of football as a whole. These communities are reflective of the multicultural nature of Australia and the vast reach of the love for the “World Game”.

FFA celebrates diversity and multiculturalism in our game and wants to ensure that football in Australia is open, accessible and embracing of all participants from all cultural backgrounds. Every person should feel welcome, safe and included at their local football club.

The way a club identifies itself to the community (including through its name, logo, principles and actions) can have a significant impact on whether a person feels welcome and included at that club. It can also affect the broader reputation of the game.

Following consultation with independent industry experts, FFA recommends that clubs embrace broad identities that are not tied to a single specific culture. FFA understands the importance of clubs being able to respectfully recognise their heritage and the specific communities that were instrumental in establishing and developing such clubs. At the same time, clubs that celebrate diversity, promote inclusion and make people feel like they belong regardless of their cultural background are more likely to succeed.

FFA has developed the following Inclusivity Principles for Club Identity to provide guidance to clubs on how they can be more inclusive in the way they identify themselves as well as the practices and actions that clubs adopt in engaging with their members and the broader community.

Importantly, these Principles are only a part of the development of a broader FFA Inclusion and Diversity framework which will encompass other matters that are fundamental for our sport to create an open and inclusive environment, such as promoting gender diversity and accessibility for people with a disability (to name just two examples). The Inclusivity Principles for Club Identity also provide guidance on how clubs may wish to recognise their heritage in ways that are not inconsistent with these fundamental objectives.

Inclusivity Principles for Club Identity

(a) These Inclusivity Principles for Club Identity are not intended to be enforceable, strict regulations. Rather, they are guiding principles for clubs to refer to in seeking to be inclusive to people from all cultural backgrounds.

(b) Clubs are encouraged to consider various ways to recognise and celebrate their heritage while still respecting and welcoming people from all backgrounds. Clubs that identify themselves in an all-embracing and inclusive manner that is open to all participants may be perceived as more welcoming than clubs with branding that is targeted to one single culture.

(c) Club names that reflect the local geographical region they represent and do so in a way that is welcoming to people from all cultural backgrounds are encouraged.

(d) Clubs may be more attractive to a broader range of participants if their name is:

(i) in English rather than a foreign language; and

(ii) of broad appeal rather than solely associated with a particular cultural, political or religious group.

(e) Clubs are encouraged to celebrate multiculturalism and diversity and make it clear to the community that they welcome people from all cultural backgrounds. Club names that reference another country or region (outside their locality) may indicate to the community that only people from that country or region are welcome (or are more welcome) to participate at that club.

(f) Clubs are encouraged to use symbols and words in their logo or emblem that are of broad appeal to make it clear to the community that they welcome people from all cultural backgrounds.  Clubs that adopt a logo or emblem with a dominant reference which is associated with a particular culture, religion, or political group may cause people who do not associate with that background to feel less welcome.

(g) Milestone years for clubs present an opportunity for them to recognise their heritage and show the journey that the club has been on. This heritage could be acknowledged by displaying a temporary commemorative version of their old logo alongside their new current logo in marketing and promotional materials and on the club’s website.

(h) In seeking to acknowledge their heritage clubs should have regard to the FIFA Laws of the Game and relevant regulations in relation to playing kit which the club must adhere to, including any prohibition on political and religious slogans, statements and images.

(i) Clubs should be aware of their obligations under federal, state and territory discrimination laws (including but not limited to the Racial Discrimination Act 1975 (Cth)) and never give preference to one player over another on the basis of their cultural background or religious or political beliefs. The FFA Statutes (including the National Member Protection Policy and National Code of Conduct) also prohibit discrimination on these grounds.

(j) Clubs should encourage positive, welcoming and safe support at (and in connection with) Matches and take all reasonable steps to discourage rivalry with another club on the basis of any actual or perceived cultural, political or religious affiliations to that club, including in relation to their supporters.

Discrimination and other prohibited conduct

To be clear, FFA has a zero-tolerance policy in relation to discrimination, vilification, hatred and violence on all legally recognised grounds including race, nationality, ethnicity, religion and political views. FFA strongly encourages anyone who becomes aware of these behaviours, including by any club, to immediately report these incidents to their competition administrator. There are also applicable federal, state and territory discrimination laws that clubs must adhere to at all times.

Any incident of this nature may be dealt with by the appropriate body in accordance with applicable rules and regulations including any local or FFA rule or regulation, such as the National Code of Conduct. Clubs should note that, under the National Code of Conduct, they may be held liable for the actions of their supporters.

Accordingly, clubs have an important role to play in ensuring that football matches in particular are played in an open, safe and welcoming environment for all participants and spectators.

https://www.ffa.com.au/news/ffa-releases-inclusivity-principles-club-identity

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Liam Watson is the Co-Founder & Publisher of Soccerscene. He reports widely on football policy, industry matters and technology.

AFC and Visit Saudi team up for global sponsorship

AFC and Visit Saudi

The Asian Football Confederation (AFC) has named Visit Saudi as an Official Global Partner till December 2024. The collaboration will help Visit Saudi’s efforts to promote Saudi Arabia’s rising tourism options to Asian football enthusiasts throughout the world, as well as the expansion of football and sports in the Kingdom.

Beginning with the highly anticipated AFC Asian Cup Qatar 2023, the AFC will offer Visit Saudi with a new, world-class platform to promote Saudi Arabia to millions of enthusiastic Asian football fans across the world.

The agreement covers major AFC National Team competitions such as Asia’s flagship competition – the AFC Asian Cup Qatar 2023 – as well as the AFC U23 Asian Cup Qatar 2024, the AFC Women’s Olympic Qualifying Tournament (Final Round) for Paris 2024, the AFC U20 Women’s Asian Cup 2024, the AFC U17 Women’s Asian Cup 2024, and the AFC Futsal Asian Cup 2024.

The AFC General Secretary Datuk Seri Windsor John spoke on the deal and how the impact will reach different audiences.

“The AFC is pleased to welcome Visit Saudi as our latest Official Global Partner, which once again reiterates the ever-growing stature and profound impact of the AFC’s world-class national teams’ competitions in reaching audiences across the globe,” he stated via press release.

“We are grateful to Visit Saudi for underlining their belief in Asian football and we look forward to working together to create more milestone moments for all our stakeholders.”

The partnership will pave the road for the AFC and Visit Saudi Arabia to create a slew of remarkable activations and promotional initiatives across AFC National Team tournaments that will inform, engage, and delight Asian football fans.

The collaboration includes efforts within Saudi Arabia, during AFC events, and on other platforms around Asia to highlight the finest of Asian football and Saudi Arabia’s diverse and exciting sports and tourist offers.

Asia Football Group (AFG), the AFC’s commercial agency for 2023-2028, will administer this cooperation agreement.

SBS secure exclusive broadcast rights to the 2026 FIFA Men’s World Cup

FIFA World Cup Qatar

SBS have announced that they will exclusively broadcast the 2026 FIFA World Cup to Australian audiences, making the broadcaster the home of football for 40 years.

The deal means that SBS will broadcast all of the 104 games of the 2026 World Cup live across its SBS and SBS Viceland channels, and its SBS On Demand streaming platform.

SBS broadcast its first FIFA World Cup in 1986, when Mexico hosted the tournament and has become a major driver of revenue for the multicultural broadcaster, which is partly funded by advertising.

SBS Managing Director James Taylor explained how SBS were the perfect broadcaster for the world’s game.

“Football is in the DNA of SBS. We could not be more thrilled to announce that we will broadcast the 2026 tournament from North America, which will have more teams, more matches and draw more eyeballs than ever before,” he said via media release.

“We are bringing every match, live, free and exclusively in searing high definition.”

As for what’s further ahead on the horizon, it was also recently confirmed that Football Australia would not be putting in a formal bid for the 2034 FIFA Men’s World Cup, with Saudi Arabia becoming the only eligible bidder by the time the Wednesday morning deadline arrived.

It’s for sure a bitter blow for a country that showed the world that they are capable of holding a successful international football tournament, with the 2023 Women’s World Cup breaking attendance records and ticket sales exceeding the 1.8 million mark, another record that was smashed – football is well and truly growing in Australia.

However, this move by SBS to secure full broadcasting rights ensures football fans in Australia can continue to watch every World Cup game in an era where streaming services like Paramount+ and Optus Sport have handled many of the big domestic and international league and cup matches behind a subscription.

The broadcaster’s formula of providing full matches along with “mini match” and short highlights via SBS On Demand and the SBS sport YouTube channel helped drive millions of views and gave the fans a good amount of digital content to consume.

This broadcast deal is fantastic news for all Australian football fans who will benefit from not being restricted on watching the biggest sporting tournament on the planet in 2026.

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