Sports and Prejudice

Does the fact that a person is an athlete or sporting personality mean that any observations about their performance or behaviour should be exempt from accusations of racism or prejudice? It seems that on too many occasions criticisms of ethnic minority and female athletes seems to flirt with prejudice, or is actually outright discriminatory. While social media has provided a new platform for prejudicial abuse there is no shortage of such abuse being levelled in person or amongst groups at sporting events. Fans should be free to criticise and ridicule while analysts should be able to critically appraise performance. However, this should be without being racist or misogynistic.

A lot of racial inferences were made about Serena Williams’ questionable behaviour during the 2017 US Open Tennis final. A certain Australian cartoon was particularly offensive. Following a series of racist incidents at football matches in England ex England international John Barnes made reference to unconscious prejudice; and stated that racism in society as a whole needs to be tackled first in order to get to grips with racism in football. Tammy Abraham, the Chelsea FC striker, missed a penalty in the UEFA Super Cup final and was subjected to racist abuse online. The racially charged atmosphere in most sporting venues, the paucity of Black and Minority Ethnic people in management positions, the chauvinism directed at female officials and lack of effective action against offenders appears to be encouraging more bigots to unleash their bile in sporting settings.

The issue of equal pay continues to dog sports. At sporting events where females and males compete alongside each other there is no reason not to pay them equally. Lawn Tennis has made some strides in this direction. In America, women’s soccer is certainly the more successful on the international stage. There is also more female participation in soccer at grassroots levels. The demand for equitable remuneration appears to be both fair and reasonable, at the very least. It appears moves towards a balanced discussion about equal pay are held back by the greater number of males administering sports and an adherence to arcane and outdated traditions.

It seems that sports still remains a space in which people feel it’s ok to give vent to whatever racist or sexist vitriol they have pent up inside them. The idea that this is mainly due to unconscious prejudice would imply that these bigots are merely being naive rather than ignorant. However, the vitriol and violence that often accompanies such prejudice suggests that it is a consciously held view that seeks to dehumanise its victims.

While it is true that sports can not eradicate prejudice in society at large, sporting bodies certainly have a responsibility to combat prejudice and promote anti-discrimination in their areas. This includes defending and supporting victims, challenging media and online prejudice against their wards, excluding perpetrators and those who condone discrimination directly or by silence and inaction.

A self aware organisation would ideally welcome activism amongst its members. Socially responsible  values not only encourage commercial value; they also promote inclusion and participation. This is the real way to increase engagement in a sport. However, as we have seen with the NFL in America not all organisations have that level of maturity or self awareness. It must be said though, that combating prejudice and discrimination in sport is a different duty to promoting socially positive values. Dealing with prejudice should be a fundamental part of every sports’ charter. It should not be optional or done at their convenience.