THE FOOTBALL BLACKLIST (FBL) breaks new ground at the end of May when its hosts its first ever event in Birmingham. The popular event will take place at Villa Park, the home of Premier League Aston Villa on May 25.

The FBL was founded in 2008 by Leon Mann and Rodney Hinds and is aimed at shining a light on black professionals working in the industry – to inspire the next generation of leaders. The initiative is backed by the Premier League, PFA, FA, EFL, FA PGMOL, the League’s Manager Association, FARE Network and kick it Out

Next week’s regional event is supported by the Football Association and will pay homage to the football family in the West Midlands.

The idea behind the initiative is that by highlighting role models, young people will be more encouraged to think about how they can get involved in the sport beyond the field of play and it provides a chance to reflect on diversity within the football industry, discuss the under-representation and think of ways to address this issue

The list is published exclusively in The Voice newspaper every year to ensure it is rooted within the African and Caribbean community.

Regular FBL attendees should also look forward to the national FBL Celebration which is scheduled for later in the year and supported, once again, by the Premier League.

Matthew Chadder spoke to FBL co-ordinator and previous awardee, Andrew Bontiff. Andrew, alongside colleague J’nae Ward, is currently planning for the Birmingham event.

Below he talks about the importance of the list, it’s successes so far and why it is now time to take the event on the road.

MC: Explain and highlight the importance and need for the Football Blacklist.

AB: It is the number one event in our industry, where we can invite and get everyone together and celebrate black excellence in football. The majority of the public will know all the top names that are playing on the field, your Raheem Sterlings, Marcus Rashfords, but there’s a number of people that are working within the community that are doing great things too, whether that’s in coaching, whether it’s the administration, or working in schools.

This event, for me, is the number one event which brings everyone together, and we celebrate and highlight their successes.

Each year, the list has been published exclusively in The Voice, to ensure its rooted within the black community. Could you speak a little bit more on that decision and the thought process behind it?

Rodney Hinds is the co-founder, so I think it’s fantastic that The Voice continued to offer their support and promote the event. The Voice is a paper that we’ve all grown up reading, and now they continue to support the platform. If you look at people who are working in the industry, the majority of them have all started out, writing, and contributing to The Voice so it’s a great legacy to see people who have perhaps started out their careers at the paper, who have now gone on to work at other platforms. It creates that family vibe.

The most recent edition of the Blacklist had more names presented than ever before. Is this something that you want to try and increase going forward and perhaps each year make the list that bit bigger?

It’s more a case of there’s more black people in the industry now and I think that’s only a sign of progress. We know there’s a lot more work to do in terms of representation and diversity but at the same time, the list is bigger because of these events. It’s because of the support from The Voice, the Blacklist and what we do in terms of highlighting achievements, raising awareness.

We’ve had the Premier League and the FA back these events, and other stakeholders come down. So, it’s getting bigger because there is more access to the industry now. There’s a number of unsung heroes who are doing fantastic stuff in their community and the Blacklist allows people to nominate and recognise people.

So that’s the reason why I feel the list is getting bigger and I’m really, really proud of that. I’ve seen people who’ve been doing amazing work, and now this is the opportunity for them to be recognised and be highlighted.

The Blacklist has been around for 14 years now. Can you just speak about its success so far and how far it has come?

I think I’ve been to all but the very first event. I started out going there just as a member of the public, then I volunteered.

I then started working with Rodney and Leon on this event. I’ve always viewed it as the biggest event in the calendar, this opportunity for us all to come together to celebrate our successes and to network. For that, you’re not going to get a better event.

It’s been around for over 14 years now and I’m really proud of the journey, and it will continue to get bigger and better. I guess the fact that we’re now taking it on the road, and moving it to Villa Park, shows the level of progress, and it allows us to recognise people within that particular region.

This is the first time it’s going to leave London and go on the road, how important is that?

The industry is getting bigger and becoming a lot more diverse. It’s definitely a happier industry to work in then it may have been a few years ago. You know, we’re seeing people both on the pitch and off the pitch, and we’re getting opportunities. Like I said before, there’s still a lot of work to be done and we’re not quite there yet, but we’re in the right direction.

When we’re talking about the main celebration, it has been London, historically. However, we also recognise that not everyone can attend that one event so taking it on the road, allows us to engage with other communities and helps to build partnerships with football clubs.

A huge thanks to Aston Villa Football Club for supporting this, it’s fantastic that we’ve been able to engage really well with the Birmingham FA. You asked previously about why it’s getting bigger, it is because we’re now having discussions with local councils, who are telling us that there’s a particular part of Birmingham, where every Sunday there’s hundreds of people from the black community, refereeing games, coaching grassroots football.

So, to take the event on the road allows us to meet more members of the family. I guess part of the plan will be to take it on the road more often because we want to engage with our community. We don’t want to just be very London centric.

We want to be able to take it to other communities in the UK, who perhaps, may have felt slightly excluded. Now it’s an opportunity for us to come to them and celebrate local heroes as well.