September 28, 2018
The Black Soccer Membership Association, and Pitching It Black, a media company focused on highlighting black soccer players and coaches in Europe, have entered into a mutual agreement to share content and collaborate on events in the US, and in London where Pitching It Black is headquartered.
The US and UK share similar challenges in terms of a lack of blacks in head coaching roles at the Major League Soccer and Barclay’s Premier League levels where of the 23 teams in MLS and 20 teams in the Premier League, combined, there is only 1 black head coach, Chris Hughton of Brighton & Hove Albion, although black players in both MLS and the Premier League total over 40% of the league’s players.
BSMA Chairman Justin Reid stated, “We enjoy partnering and working with active individuals and organizations with a track record of doing. Often times as a soccer community we talk and complain about the issues that we face in the industry, but we do very little about those issues because we are not fully willing to step out and put ourselves out there for the good of our own in an industry that views us as solely players, but provide little to no opportunities for us to own, manage, and coach at the highest levels despite being qualified and sometimes over qualified. Both the BSMA and Pitching It Black are heading in the same direction and have similar messages despite being in two different segments in the business of soccer, we are in the association business and they are in the media business, so it is important that we face our challenges head on together in order to make us stronger and more effective. We are extremely excited about partnering with Pitching It Black and we look forward to sharing their content to our members and readers, along with hosting their staff when they come to the US.”
Pitching It Black Founder and Chief Editor Eugene Allen also shares the same sentiments, and was encouraged by various media outlets in the US to start the company, “Truth be told, my inspiration to start this platform came from examples I saw stateside. Sites like The Undefeated (ESPN) and The Shadow League in particular, really resonated with me and prompted me to start my own thing. The lack of black football coaches and black managers in the game as a whole is something that we continuously look to shed light on. We are truly inspired by what the BSMA is doing and we look forward to working with them.”
Pitching It Black will have a section in the BSMA newsletter to share stories and the company’s content will be shared on the BSMA’s facebook page. The first event that both companies will tentatively plan to collaborate on will take place in Amsterdam, Netherlands in August of 2019 with details to be revealed in early March of 2019.
