Monday 16 October 2017 10:51, UK
Former England midfielder Ricky Hill, the architect of the Rooney Rule in England, is disappointed with the lack of progress around the initiative.
Pioneered by former Pittsburgh Steelers chairman Dan Rooney, the rule was introduced into the NFL in 2003 to help increase the number of ethnic minorities in coaching and senior operational positions.
All 72 English Football League clubs signed up to a pilot scheme requiring them to interview at least one qualified Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic (BAME) candidate for every academy coaching job in 2016. There were also 10 clubs that signed up to the voluntary code extending that to the manager's position.
But Birmingham City, Wolves and Coventry - three of the club's that signed up to the voluntary code - failed to apply the rule on five occasions between them last season.
"I'm really disappointed that at this moment in time in 2017 we have got a voluntary code that only 10 teams have signed up to," Hill told Sky Sports News at the Football Firsts Black History Month event in London.
"The mere fact that the word voluntary is included dilutes the issue in my estimation. And if you're going to sign up to something please adhere to what you have signed up to. That's the minimum we expect.
"For me, if you have joined up to something that is as worthy as this initiative is then please see it through and try to interview a minority candidate that has the capability and the requisite qualifications, and allow them to express themselves in front of the powers that be that make decisions."
Former Luton Town and Leicester City midfielder Hill was managing Trinidadian side San Juan Jabloteh when he saw reports of the introduction of the Rooney Rule in the NFL in 2003.
Hill flew to America and met NFL executive Belinda Lerner and the late attorney of OJ Simpson fame Johnnie Cochrane before presenting the idea to then-chief executive of the League Managers Association John Barnwell in 2004.
"When I finished my career in England at Leicester there were two, three maybe four black managers around at the time," he added.
"Now 25 years later there are still four black managers at the 92 league clubs so it shows there has been an issue.
"The battle is still ongoing. It's an issue close to my heart, it's something I would like to see implemented properly in this country before I die.
"It's not for me. My shelf-life might have gone in the respect of getting proper opportunities I believe I warranted. But at the same time I have people coming behind me that look like me that are on the journey like I am and I would like to see a better place for them to work."
Coinciding with Black History Month, Sky Sports' #MyIcon campaign brings you 31 exclusive interviews with top BAME sports personalities across the month of October. For more information click here.
