by Our Sports Desk

Football’s anti-discrimination chief said yesterday that black people’s exclusion from football clubs’ boards and administration is more hurtful than racist abuse, while calling for more women at board level.

Kick It Out chair Herman Ouseley challenged clubs to change their recruiting practices to make sure they give fair opportunities to people from all communities.

An ITV News report in October stated there is not a single black director in the Premier League and 15 out of the 20 clubs have all-white board rooms, excluding honorary board members.

Meanwhile, Kick It Out research this month showed Liverpool’s Mario Balotelli has received 4,000 racist messages this season, mostly via social media.

Ouseley, who named Chelsea, Arsenal and Aston Villa as the three clubs who have been the best at dealing with equality issues, said the institutional culture of British clubs had to change.

Speaking at yesterday’s Raise Your Game conference, he said: “Being called a fucking black cunt is not the way in which racism is really hurts black people. It’s in the boardrooms, it’s in the institutions, it’s a combination of using your prejudice — which is what the name-calling is about — with power to deny people opportunities.

“The exclusion of minorities and women from football clubs’ boards is the real issue. The boards and the backroom staff, these are areas where opportunities are foreclosed.

“That’s at the heart of changing institutional cultures within British football.

“We need more women at the top of football. And we need to see that replicated across society.

“We want you as a club to recognise you are a community enterprise and that you need to open up your opportunities so that people from all backgrounds, women, disabled people, it’s not just black and minorities. You are denying yourself the opportunity to select from the widest field of talent.

“Clubs themselves need to say to people: ‘We want you to come, we want to choose from the best field available and we want to become inclusive.’

“You have to get clubs to open up their opportunities, to not deny that opportunity to candidates from different backgrounds.”

Ouseley went on to say that the organisation had developed since criticism from players including Jason Roberts and Rio Ferdinand following the John Terry racist abuse case.

He added: “I accepted that criticism. We accept that it’s not enough for football clubs to come out once a year and put on the badges and the T-shirts.”