Premier League CEO Richard Scudamore hails the inroads made by English football towards attracting more diverse crowds as new research shows that the EPL’s fastest growing fanbase demographics are women and ethnic minorities.

Research commissioned by the Premier League and carried out by research company Populous shows that of those who started attending EPL matches in the five years to the end of the 2008/9 season, 33 per cent were female and 16 per cent from black and minority ethnic (BME) groups.

Populous found that of the 13.6m fans who attended Premier League matches during the 2008/9 season, 2.6m (19%) were female and 1.1m (8%) were BME.

Despite criticism of high ticket prices pricing out families, the amount of children holding Premier League season tickets has also risen from 10 to 13 per cent in the five years to the 2009/10 season.

Scudamore described the figures as “encouraging” and vindication for the EPL’s work in making its stadia more inclusive and welcoming places.

“This research is hugely encouraging because it confirms the hard work that we and the clubs have put into improving the quality of experience both on and off the pitch,” he said.

“Football is increasingly attractive to more sectors of society, which is fantastic because it was only a generation ago that people used to look down their nose and see it as a rather narrow preserve for young, white males.”

The increased numbers of BME groups attending Premier League matches is said to be significant because many were initially drawn to following the Premier League by friends and their peers rather than by their parents – as is common with many other fans.

According to the Premier League, focus group research shows that “those attending Premier League matches have found it less intimidating to do so in recent years – certainly less intimidating in practice than some non-attenders from similar backgrounds still believe it to be in theory”.

The anti-racism Kick It Out campaign, which is supported and funded by the English game’s governing bodies, welcomed the report, describing the EPL as a “beacon of multiculturalism”.

“Much of the work we do is aimed at getting a wider representation of fans inside grounds across all four divisions, so this would indicate some of the work we’re doing is paying off,” Kick It Out spokesman Danny Lynch told INSIDER.



“The Premier League is a beacon of multiculturalism. It’s great to see this starting to be reflected in the stands.



“There’s still work to be done. Our work tells us some BME fans are still uncomfortable in a football environment.

“Organisations like ourselves, the authorities, clubs and perhaps most importantly, the fans, need to maintain momentum. But this is a good start.”

This article appeared first on worldfootballinsider.com

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