Inclusion Advisory Group

The group reflects the diversity within the county and it meets formally a minimum of four times each year.

Its role is to support the County FA to deliver our Equality Action Plan. The group has had a pivotal role in developing this Plan and overseeing its ongoing delivery and will check and challenge the work of the Association to ensure our policies and procedures are inclusive.

The IAG members are also there to support victims of discrimination and offer advice and support to under-represented groups. All our IAG Group members are here to support and advise you if you have any issues and if you would like to contact any of our team or get involved with the group, please do so through Charlie Mann (Charlie.Mann@BedfordshireFA.com).

Bobby Mudhar

Bobby Mudhar is the Chairman of the IAG Group and also sits on the Beds FA Board as a director. He is involved with Luton Sporting Club as a coach and is the Equality Champion for Beds FA. He has been involved in football both as a player and a coach and works hard to ensure nobody in Bedfordshire is excluded from getting involved in football in the county.

Tariq Khan

Tariq Khan started Luton Allstars in 2013 in a socially deprived area of Luton, Dallow. It has become one of the biggest community clubs in the county and he wants to bring football to deprived areas and break down the barriers to participation. He believes football should be available to all and his club has recently developed a successful youth committee to listen to the views of players.

Daniel Douglas

Daniel Douglas works for Luton Town Trust and the Community Operations Manager. He oversees club projects in local schools and works with local clubs to integrate young players into clubs. He is keen that Luton Town and Beds FA have a co-ordinated approach to inclusion projects.

Zaaem Parker

Zaaem Parkar is interested in developing projects in the Asian football community. He set up an adult club of mainly Asian players ages 18-24 and wants to see more men continue playing football at this age group. He would like to see clubs accessible to all.

Mike Nolan

Mike Nolan is an FA Coach Mentor. His particular interests are developing Disability and Women and Girls’ football. He strongly believes that disabled and female coaches should not be restricted to coaching disability or female football and wants to encourage a more integrated approach.

Naz Zaman

Naz Zaman grew up in Luton and found it difficult and frustrating to find a club. He wants to break down barriers to participation by making it easier for players to find a club. He has just started a Disability team in his club, Luton Tigers and would like to make sure that anybody who wants to play football locally has the opportunity to do so.

Raf Ali

Raf Ali is a referee and offers free maths and English lessons to players at his club. He firmly believes that education plays a vital part in changing the mind-set of players locally and wants the group to “think outside the box”. He believes there is a lot of good work going on in the County and we need to be promoting this and have a stronger brand. With a co-ordinated education programme, we can reach players who are disaffected.

Michael Cardoso

Michael Cardoso is from London and has been involved in coaching with various clubs. He lectures in leadership at the Uni of Middlesex and is passionate about football. He has recently moved to Luton and has found football locally to be a “closed shop” and not very accessible because everybody appears to know each other. He would like to break down these barriers and is interested in adult football. His would like the IAG to work to increase the number of black coaches in the County.

Will Timmins

Will Timmins is an ex-referee and works in Parliament. He is involved in the Parli-Out group and a champion of their LGBT equality group. He would like referees in particular to be given equality training and on how to deal with and challenge discriminatory language on the pitch.

Zakina Ali

Zakina Ali has grown up with football in her family and loves all aspects of the game. She currently coaches U14 and U16 boys’ teams in the local Madrassa Mosque. Anybody can turn up and join in and she wants to break down barriers to participation and welcome people to the group. She would like her teams to affiliate with Beds FA and has been working with us on this.

Antonia Mitchell

Antonia Mitchell has played football for several years. She both plays and coaches at Bedford Ladies and works with local schools coaching and promoting girls’ football and encouraging new players to come to the club. She is a student at the Uni of Bedfordshire and represents the women’s team there.

Lindsay England

Lindsay England comes from Manchester and is the founder of Just A Ball Game? She wants to promote LGBT inclusion and visibility in the game. The organisation works with partners nationwide including clubs, fan groups and trade unions and Lindsay delivers inclusion workshops and exhibitions to raise the profile of diversity in the game. Just A Ball Game runs several anti-homophobia campaigns, including “Think Before you Chant”, “Time For Action” and “Out, Proud and Kicking”.

Steve Worrell

Steve Worrell (not pictured) is an FA coach mentor whose role is to work with BAME coaches in Bedfordshire and he works closely with several clubs in the community to support coaches.

Abu Nasir

Abu Nasir (not pictured) is a member of the Beds FA Council. He coaches a youth team at Luton Sporting Club and is the club’s chair. He is a keen supporter of Liverpool FC and a member of the club’s fan committee, working with them to increase their ethnic minorities fan base. Abu has won awards from Asians in Football for his work to promote inclusivity within the game.