Rio Ferdinand and Roy Hodgson to join FA commission
Days after the FA is criticised for appointing an all-white commission, Greg Dyke enrols England manager Roy Hodgson and Manchester United defender Rio Ferdinand. Jordan Jarrett-Bryan reports.
The FA’s England commission was set up to try and improve the England team.
But the FA’s Heather Rabbatt, the only woman on the board, critised the all white make-up of the commission’s first eight members.
The appointment of Manchester United defender Rio Ferdinand will go some way to answering that criticism. He was also an outspoken critic of the handling of the John Terry racism case.
But Greg Dyke insisted that the FA had been in talks with Ferdinand and United for some time.
“Rio’s vast experience as a player developed through West Ham’s successful youth system, winning Premier League and European titles with Manchester United and representing England at World Cups means he has a huge amount to offer to the debate,” he said. “We have been speaking to Rio and Manchester United for some time about him joining the group – before we named the other members of the commission.”
Where is the premier league?
Hodgson is a needed and obvious choice, writes Sports Reporter Jordan Jarrett-Bryan. Rio Ferdinand’s inclusion is one that will surprise many – but it is a credible one: Ferdinand’s experience and pedigree is comparable with very few and will add insight and an injection of energy and vigour into the panel.
Questions will be asked about whether Rio and Roy can work together after a sour end to their relationship when Hodgson decided not to select Ferdinand for the 2012 Euros. But they’re both professional enough to put that to one side and have a mutual love for England and the national team.
However the fundamental flaw is still the lack of involvement from the Premier League. The whole point of the commission is to address the faults of English football and devise a structure and plan that will produce more home-grown talent, thus strengthening the national team. But if the league those young players are playing in have no responsibility to English players, how can the FA push this movement forward?
The appointment of England manager Hodgson had been delayed until after the end of the World Cup qualifiers.
Dyke said that the commission will now start to gather evidence and canvass opinion on the national team from “numerous people in football and sport”.
He added: “It is important we do not lose sight of the commission’s main purpose. That is – finding a way of delivering long-term success for the England men’s senior team, particularly by identifying ways to increase the number of players available to the national team playing regularly at the highest level of English football or abroad.”
