The desire of Brentford FC to become the most inclusive club in the country has attracted the interest of the world governing body. The FIFA website has written a feature on The Bees, telling the ongoing off-field story. The latest chapter in that story was written today when the Club made a unique announcement to advertise for an Independent Non-Executive Director, in what is thought to be an English football first.

The FIFA website spoke to Monique Choudhuri, one of our Directors, last week about what is happening away from the football pitch. Monique is a leadership, recruitment and inclusion expert who joined the Board in 2017. She explained to FIFA.com that the scientific principles that transformed Brentford on the field are now being applied to achieve similarly spectacular off-field success.

She said: “It’s well known that Brentford are driven by data science in our football operations. But more recently we’ve said, ‘Ok, let’s take that thinking and see if we can apply it to our off-pitch strategy’. Part of that is using data to drive decision-making but also to recognise that every human being has biases, conscious or unconscious, and work hard to challenge and correct our assumptions about decision-making.

“The way we’re approaching it reflects why I enjoy being involved with this club. As a commercial operation, everyone here is looking to be the best they can be and drive up standards, but in a humble, human way. Brentford want to make things better, but not at the expense of people.

“I won’t pretend that it’s straightforward. When you set yourself the target of being the most inclusive club in the country, it immediately raises questions about what that looks like and how you go about achieving it. But we have a slogan of ‘Bee Together’, and what we look to do is place EDI (equality, diversity and inclusion) at the heart of our entire strategy."

The full feature was published on the FIFA website earlier today. It is part of a series focused on women’s football, and women in football, around International Women’s Day 2021. See the full piece here.