QPR1st has written to Andy Slaughter MP asking him to attend a meeting, to be held at the Houses of Parliament on February 5th, beginning at 4:00pm in the Jubilee Room.
The event is being hosted by Supporters Direct (SD), of whom QPR1st is a member; and features contributions from Penny Mordaunt (Conservative MP, Portsmouth South), John Leech MP (Liberal Democrat Sports spokesman) and Clive Efford MP (Shadow Sports Minister).
Following the 2011 Football Governance inquiry undertaken by the Select Committee for the Department of Culture, Media and Sport, Supporters Direct, with the support of the Trust movement’s 300,000 members in the UK, has been working towards ensuring that the Committee’s key recommendations are adopted by football’s authorities and the Government. This is a major opportunity to deliver increased engagement between Supporters’ Trusts and clubs.
There is a clear need for greater supporter involvement at football clubs, a point emphasised by the Committee in their July 2011 report; endorsed by the Government in its October response; and recognised by the football’s authorities (The FA, Premier League and Football League) in their February 2012 joint response.
However, the issue of constitutional reform at The FA appears to be facing a blockage, which is impacting on the wider reform process. Supporters Direct believe that now is the opportune moment for the Committee and the House as a whole to back the efforts being undertaken by the Trust movement to ensure that supporter related agendas that do not require constitutional reform or legislation are realised.
As such, there are three key recommendations from the Governance review that we would like to see implemented in a timely fashion, all of which are broadly supported by the key stakeholders:
• The establishment of a Government Expert Group to explore methods of removing barriers to increased collective supporter share ownership in their football clubs;
• The inclusion of a clause in the League’s rulebooks that underpins a Structured Relationship between supporters’ trusts plus other supporter groups and their clubs;
• The designation of sports stadia as Assets of Community Value as prescribed in the Localism Act 2011.
We will update our members on the outcome of the meeting.