The motion reads to the next meeting of xxxxx Council (xx xxxxx 2023):

Motion – Time for a fairer future for football. Time for Fair Game

Council believes that football, the national game in the UK, is currently in crisis.

COVID-19 devastated the revenue of many lower-league clubs, and the cost-of-living crisis could be the knock out blow for dozens of clubs.

Frequently bad management has gone unnoticed or ignored and clubs are run unsustainably, putting at risk all the history, heritage, and economic benefit they bring to an area – often in pursuit of short-term gain.

Council believes that football clubs are not ordinary businesses; they are historic sporting institutions that are both a civic and community asset, and a source of pride and unity, in their hometown or city.

Council therefore supports Fair Game, a national campaign that seeks reform of the way football is managed and run, specifically its call for: 

  • A truly independent regulator for the sport free of vested interests.

  • A refocus on ‘values’ rather than profit.

  • Football clubs to be recognised as key parts of local communities.

  • The establishment of a Fair Game Index, which will reallocate the payments made to clubs to reward those which are run well, respect equality standards and properly engage with their fans and their community.

  • The regulator to ensure fans are given the final say on any proposed change to a club’s ‘crown jewels’, including the club’s name, nickname, colours, badge and the geographical location from where the club plays.

  • Council also notes that the Government has published a White Paper developed from a Government-commissioned fan-led review into football governance led by former Sports Minister Tracey Crouch MP, and that a vast majority of its findings mirror Fair Game’s aspirations.

 

Council therefore resolves to:

  • Declare its support for Fair Game, and call on other councils to join us in our support.

  • Ask the Council’s representatives to encourage other like-minded councils to support Fair Game

  • Ask the Chief Executive to write to the Minister for Sport, our local Members of Parliament, and the Chair of the Local Government Association Culture, Tourism and Sport Board, to lobby for the following to be included in the new remit of the Independent Regulator:

Football’s financial flow (particularly over: proportion of broadcast revenues given by the Premier League, the abolition of parachute payments, and the allocation of funds from the Premier League);

Owners’ and Directors’ Test to include an ‘ethics’ dimension, particularly around human rights;

Implementation of a Fair Game Index to accurately measure club’s progress;

To include National League North and South clubs under their control;

To have stronger powers to implement and enforce governance; and

Measurement of equality standards and environmental standards.

Proposed by:

Seconded by: