The scheme, which equips predominantly black and Asian former footballers with the skillset to sit on football boards, is run by the Governance Forum, supported by the football bodies. It is now about to enter its third year.
Previous graduates have included QPR’s director of football Les Ferdinand, Hoops manager Chris Ramsey and former Chelsea and Southampton defender Ken Monkou. Briggs represents On The Board’s latest success story.
Soye Briggs is a recent graduate of the 'On The Board' initiative
A former member of Fulham FC’s community development team, Briggs is now Community Development Director at Crystal Palace FC.
And he was this week introduced to his new colleagues on the Surrey FA board.
"Soye has been a member of the Surrey County FA since 2012, serving on our Equality Committee," explained Surrey CFA CEO Caroline McRoyall.
"We recognised his potential as a future director and nominated him for the On The Board programme. We are delighted that after finishing his training he applied for a position on our board.
"I am confident he will make a significant contribution to the progression of the county and look forward to continue to work with him in his new role."
Briggs himself is also eager to get up and running in the boardroom.
"I feel very privileged to have the opportunity to sit on the Board of Directors for Surrey County FA," he added.
"It is a progressive County FA and leading the way in terms of creating more diversity within the boardroom.
"As an On The Board graduate, I now have the opportunity to put my newly acquired knowledge into action for the benefit of football development in the region."
Surrey is one of the leading County FAs promoting equality and inclusion in football and were the first County FA nationally to achieve the Preliminary Level of the Equality Standard.
Significant investment is also placed on getting more women and girls into the game with Surrey having been part of Project 500 over the last two years.
Project 500 is aimed at addressing the imbalance in the number of female to male coaches and to create a more diverse workforce to drive growth in female participation in sport.
To find out more about the On The Board programme, click here...
