The Standard, which was reviewed by the Premier League in 2015 to replace and build on Kick It Out’s Equality Standard for Professional Football Clubs, has been designed to reflect current equality legislation and case law, and provides a framework to guide professional football clubs towards achieving equality.
Nine Wolves staff members, in a range of roles from across the club, presented to the Premier League's Equality Standard panel at its headquarters on Gloucester Place.
The panel was presented with a wide range of evidence documenting the club's commitment to equality and diversity in its communications, workforce and actions, and also the equality journey it has been on since promotion to the Premier League.
The club’s submission was considered by an independent assessor and the Premier League Equality Standard Panel made up of independent experts and chaired by Garth Crooks.
Included in the highlights that were commended were:
- The launch of the Wolves Official LGBT Supporters Club
- The development of the Wolves Women and Girls’ programme
- Equality and diversity training for all staff and stewards
- Wolves Women and Sporting Chances players used in the 2018/19 kit launch
- The formation of an Equality Working Group
- The #NoBarriers video for the Walter Tull 100 Project
- Wolves' support of the 'On The Ball' Period Poverty campaign
- The appointment of a dedicated Disability Access Officer
- The launch of Autism Hour in the Wolves Megastore
- The launch of Wolves Help, the place for all information and enquiries
- The development of the Equality section of wolves.co.uk
Wolves chairman Jeff Shi said: “As a Premier League football club, and an influential and important part of the community we live in, we have a responsibility to lead the way in equality and diversity.
“Since our promotion to the Premier League we have been taking a more strategic approach to these responsibilities, and we are delighted that our hard work has been formally recognised by the award of the Premier League’s Preliminary Standard.”
Premier League Executive Director Bill Bush said: “Promoting equality and tackling discrimination are priorities for the Premier League and the Equality Standard requirements are a challenging benchmark against which clubs’ work is assessed.
“Wolves used the framework to review their policies and practice and to help them become more effective in embedding equality across the whole club.
“Achieving the Equality Standard Preliminary level illustrates their genuine commitment and a real drive to progress. We look forward to seeing their continued efforts as they work towards the higher levels of the Standard.”
