Hundreds of people across Wakefield district sign petition for new football ownership regulator

Hundreds of people in the Wakefield district have helped trigger an upcoming Parliamentary debate over the introduction of an independent regulator for football.

A petition, sparked by controversial plans for a European Super League which emerged in April, has been backed by more than 140,000 fans across the UK, alongside a number of high-profile former players, including Gary Neville and Gary Lineker.

As of 2pm on Wednesday (June 9) 189 people in the constituency of Normanton, Pontefract and Castleford, 149 from Hemsworth, 284 from Morley and Outwood, and 193 from Wakefield had signed the petition.

They were among 11,493 from across Yorkshire and The Humber – which has the fifth-most signatures of England’s nine regions.

The proposals – which call for an independent regulator in the English game by the end of the year – will be debated by MPs in Westminster on Monday, June 14.

The petition’s creator said a regulator would “safeguard our beautiful game” from another Super League breakaway attempt – which involved six of the biggest English sides – or other efforts to “put money ahead of fans”.