Derby’s Rai calls for action on diversity ahead of City Ground trip

Derby County Women’s trailblazer Kira Rai says “a lot more work” needs to be done to make elite girls’ and women’s football a level playing field for everyone.

Sikh-Punjabi attacker Rai is one of the highest-profile British South Asians in women’s football, and has weighed in on the issue after Lionesses captain Leah Williamson told BBC Sport the England squad have probed FA chiefs about what they are doing to make the game more diverse and inclusive.

Speaking to Sky Sports News during ‘National Inclusion Week’, two of football’s leading female voices in the fight to create a more diverse and welcoming game, ex-England striker Lianne Sanderson and QPR’s Manisha Tailor MBE, expressed their concern about the situation, with Tailor stating: “I don’t think that the female pathway in the elite game is diverse. I don’t believe it is representative of the demographic of England.”

PFA figures released earlier this year revealed just 9.7 per cent of footballers at the elite level of the game are from diverse ethnic backgrounds, with the number of British South Asian professionals in the top division of women’s football standing at a paltry 0.3 per cent.

Speaking ahead of Derby’s clash with rivals Nottingham Forest at the City Ground, Rai added her voice to those demanding action to address widespread inequalities in the girls’ and women’s game facing people from diverse ethnic backgrounds.