Mayor Welcomes Football Regulator Plan

Mayor of Kendal, Cllr Doug Rathbone has welcomed the government’s announcement that there will be a Regulator for Football. ‘Kendal Town Council publicly backed the Manifesto for Football two years ago. It called on the Department for Culture, Media and Sport to implement the recommendations of the fan-led review of the game. An independent regulator was one of those recommendations. We hope this begins to draw a line under the casino economics of the Premier League, and to redistribute some of the proceeds of our national game to the grass roots and communities that make it so special. Every fan of every club dreams that their team will one day ascend the dizzy heights of the football pyramid. But recent moves by some of the biggest clubs have attempted to pull up the drawbridge. We hope this new role will counteract that. We hope that even here in Kendal, the fruits of the football’s fantastic success might be tasted, in better investment in the grass roots community game, which is still the very lifeblood of the sport.’

Chris Hogg, from Heron Hill, who championed the Manifesto for Football whilst serving as a Town Councillor, and now advises Fair Game, was equally optimistic. ‘This is a positive white paper and a really encouraging start. We should praise government for following up on the fan led review of football and Tracey Crouch’s report. However, what would really make the extra difference in creating a fairer game is to include the sustainability index as suggested by Fair Game.’

The Manifesto for Football was developed through the fan-led review, headed by Tracy Crouch MP. It is promoted by Fair Game Fair Game (fairgameuk.org), an organisation of football clubs, academics and supporters of the game.