Honest question: I’m a longtime premier league fan from the US. In my over 10 years of watching English football, I’ve never seen a person of color as the center referee in a premier league match. Does anyone know why this is? A significant percentage (majority) of premier league players are not white, and given research around subconscious bias, you have to imagine the league and refereeing body would have an interest in having their game officials be representative of the players they officiate? With the quality of officiating being in the news so much recently, increasing diversity in the ranks of game officials could be one idea. I imagine it’s just a big old boys club though…
I mean black people have had it rough historically, why would they want to go into a profession where you’re automatically hated and abused every week?
Jokes aside, idk the answer tbh maybe there is an element of you know you’re instantly gonna put a target on your back and fans are gonna track you down if you make a marginal or inconsistent call.