British Soccer Officials Intrigued by N.F.L.’s Rooney Rule
Hearing the words Rooney Rule and English soccer in the same breath may lead to this question: What has the Manchester United striker Wayne Rooney been up to now?
Wrong question and wrong Rooney.
As hard as it is to believe, English soccer is hoping to mimic American football, especially the N.F.L.’s so-called Rooney Rule. Implemented in 2003, the Rooney Rule (named for Dan Rooney, the former owner of the Pittsburgh Steelers who pushed for its adoption) mandated that teams interview at least one minority candidate for coaching and managerial openings. At present, there are six8 minority African-American head coaches (one Hispanic) in the N.F.L.
On the other side of the Atlantic, of the 92 teams that comprise the English Premier League and the Football League (the three tiers below the top level), only two managers — Charlton Athletic’s Chris Powell and Birmingham City’s Chris Hughton — are black. Earlier this month, representatives of the Football Association (the sport’s governing body in England), the Premier League, the Football League, the players union and the managers association listened to a presentation by an American, Cyrus Mehri. Mehri, a partner in the Washington law firm of Mehri & Skalet, was one of the architects of the N.F.L.’s Rooney Rule.
