Tackling Racism and Racial Inequality in Sport Review
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___________________________________________________________________________ Provision of tackling racism and racial inequality in sport - data gathering and analysis services ___________________________________________________________________________ FINAL REPORT Submitted to: UK Sport (on behalf of the five Sports Councils in the UK) 21 Bloomsbury Street London WC1B 3HF Submitted by: Professor Simon Shibli / Dr Anil Gumber / Dr Girish Ramchandani Sport Industry Research Centre Sheffield Hallam University A118 Collegiate Hall Collegiate Campus Sheffield, S10 2BP Tel: +44 (0)771 814 8999 Email: [email protected] April 21st, 2021 Contents Executive Summary ................................................................................................................. 1 1. Introduction .......................................................................................................................... 4 2. Terminology.......................................................................................................................... 4 3. Methods ................................................................................................................................. 6 4. Ethnicity in the UK .............................................................................................................. 7 4.1 UK and the Home Countries ......................................................................................... 7 4.2 Regional ethnicity data .................................................................................................. 9 4.3 Ethnicity and deprivation ........................................................................................... 11 5. Participation in sport and physical activity ..................................................................... 15 5.1 Context .......................................................................................................................... 15 5.2 Headline findings ......................................................................................................... 17 5.2.1 Physical activity and inactivity levels by ethnic group ........................................... 17 5.2.2 Sport-specific variations and patterns ..................................................................... 19 5.2.3 Influence of other demographic factors on participation ........................................ 21 5.2.4 Inequalities in wider leisure and cultural activities................................................. 23 5.2.5 Focus on children and young people ...................................................................... 24 5.2.6 Elite / High Performance athletes ........................................................................... 25 5.2.6 Section summary ..................................................................................................... 27 5.3 Seeking explanations .................................................................................................... 27 5.3.1 The role of deprivation............................................................................................ 27 5.3.2 Multivariate analysis ............................................................................................... 30 5.4 Participation conclusion .............................................................................................. 34 5.4.1 What do we know?.................................................................................................. 34 5.4.2 What do we not know? ........................................................................................... 35 6. Workforce ........................................................................................................................... 37 6.1 Employment and unemployment ............................................................................... 37 6.2 Measuring type of employment .................................................................................. 39 6.3 The size of the workforce in sport .............................................................................. 41 6.4 Workforce paid employment by ethnicity ................................................................. 42 6.4.1 Evidence of workforce related racism and racial inequality ................................... 45 6.4.2 Challenges collecting ethnicity data ....................................................................... 46 6.5 Workforce – volunteers ............................................................................................... 47 6.6 Workforce conclusion .................................................................................................. 50 6.6.1 What do we know?.................................................................................................. 50 i 6.6.2 What do we not know? ........................................................................................... 51 7 Interventions ........................................................................................................................ 52 7.1 The longstanding nature of inequality in sport on ethnicity grounds ..................... 52 7.2 National level ................................................................................................................ 52 7.3 Regional level ................................................................................................................ 53 7.4 Sport-specific intervention .......................................................................................... 54 7.5 Key lessons .................................................................................................................... 54 8 Recommendations ............................................................................................................... 55 8.1 Footnote ........................................................................................................................ 57 Appendix 1: Measuring ethnicity in the UK by Home Country ........................................ 58 Appendix 2: Logistic regression models .............................................................................. 59 ii Executive Summary Introduction UK Sport and the four Home Country Sports Councils (Sport England, sportscotland, Sport Wales and Sport Northern Ireland) (the “Collaborators”) are working together to tackle racism and racial inequalities in sport in their home countries and across the UK. To this end, they commissioned the Sport Industry Research Centre at Sheffield Hallam University, to undertake a data gathering and analysis exercise to collate an overview of the disparate data sources that exist across the UK. The overall project also includes a separate, qualitative strand that is seeking to capture the ‘lived experiences’ of people from diverse ethnic communities in accessing, being involved in, and being excluded from sport. We make reference to some early findings emerging from that study at several places in this report. Methods The main method used in this report is desk research conducted on data either held by the Collaborators or otherwise available in the public domain. For the most part the data have been reviewed, collated and interpreted. In addition, we have conducted selected bespoke analysis of some data sets provided to us to derive new insights. Whilst every effort has been made to use data that are representative of the UK and its four Home Countries, the reality is that much of what is reported here uses England, or England and Wales combined, as proxies for the UK. This is because the sample sizes of some research from Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland are low and when coupled with relatively low proportions of ethnically diverse people, there is very little data from which to draw robust conclusions. The lack of such data provides the focus of our recommendations. Key findings Ethnicity: The nature of classes and categories used on the Census, means that there is no uniform picture of ethnicity at UK level in our national statistics. By making some compromises to the data, for example by collapsing data into the lowest common denominator, it is possible to construct a high-level view of the ethnic composition of the UK. The largest populations in the UK other than the White British population are Asian / British Asian (6.9%), White Other (4.2%) and Black / Black British (3.0%). As an overarching point, people from ethnically diverse backgrounds in England are disproportionately more likely to live in areas with higher levels of deprivation than White British people. Whilst the indices of multiple deprivation vary in terms of components and weightings in the other Home Countries, where data permit, there are highly consistent commonalities. Deprivation is negatively associated with participation in sport and physical activity. Consequently, it is helpful to view any inequality in sport within the context of structural inequality in society more generally. Participation: The data for participation in sport and physical activity point to systemic and longstanding inequalities between different ethnic groups. There is some evidence of the inequalities being apparent in adults and children as well as being present in wider cultural pursuits. These inequalities among adults are apparent in physical activity, specific sports as well as in elite sport. Furthermore, the basic inequalities identified are amplified when we take into account the younger age profile