Sports law to force reform would be welcome

Uefa has signalled to the select committee considering the future of football that it would welcome a new sports law Uefa, Europe's ruling body, has signalled to the parliamentary select committee considering the future of football that it would welcome the introduction of a new sports law, giving encouragement to those who would like to see forcible reform of the Football Association (FA).

Under any new legislation one option being actively considered by the coalition government as it observes the progress of the Culture, Media and Sport select committee it could insist on certain standards of independence, representation and transparency from sports governing bodies.

Under one model, a licensing agency could be introduced, with only those that meet the required standards receiving public funding and government support for hosting major events.

The former FA chief executive Ian Watmore last week said the association should be forced to reconstitute its board. "Vested interests" should be ejected from the professional and amateur game, and the board split equally between FA executives and non-executive directors. He said the FA should no longer have to distribute income to the professional game and should reform its relationship with the FA Council so that it was not beholden to it.

Antiquated governance

An increasing number of people within the game appear to believe that only legislation, or at least the threat of it, will be enough to overhaul the FA's antiquated governance structures

In a letter to the committee and sports minister Hugh Robertson, seen by the Guardian, Watmore will argue that the government should set new strategic objectives for the sport, create an independent FA free of vested interests and give it clarity over its role.

"If there is one recommendation of mine that supersedes all others, it would be to create a totally independent FA board to lead the whole game in this country, free to spend its money as it thinks fit and with full transparency to the public," he said.

In a plea for urgent action Watmore added: "Each time the reputation of the FA appears to hit rock bottom, the next year it starts to drill. It is time to reverse that trend."

Fifa's distaste for government interference could be an obstacle to direct intervention but advocates of the legislative route point out that it would be a one-off action akin to the law changes that followed the Taylor report to bring the sport's stadiums and infrastructure up to date.

Specific legislation

Other European countries already have specific legislation and Uefa welcomes the approach because it creates a legal framework and enshrines sport's special nature or "specificity". The previous government made slow progress in forcing governing bodies to be more representative and accountable.

But it made little progress with the intractable problems at the FA. The culture, media and sport select committee has heard evidence from a string of witnesses including former FA chairman Lord Triesman and Manchester United chief executive David Gill and travelled to Germany for a fact finding mission.

It plans to deliver its conclusions next month and Robertson, who has called football "the worst governed sport in the country" and is understood to be doing his own parallel thinking, has promised to act after that.