Sport and Challenges to Racism Global Culture and Sport Series Editors: Stephen Wagg and David Andrews

Sport and Challenges to Racism Global Culture and Sport Series Editors: Stephen Wagg and David Andrews Titles include: John Harris RUGBY UNION AND GLOBALIZATION An Odd-Shaped World Jonathan Long and Karl Spracklen (editors) SPORT AND CHALLENGES TO RACISM Roger Levermore and Aaron Beacom (editors) SPORT AND INTERNATIONAL DEVELOPMENT Pirkko Markula (editor) OLYMPIC WOMEN AND THE MEDIA International Perspectives Global Culture and Sport Series Standing Order ISBN 978–0–230–57818–0 hardback 978–0–230–57819–7 paperback (outside North America only) You can receive future titles in this series as they are published by placing a standing order. Please contact your bookseller or, in case of difficulty, write to us at the address below with your name and address, the title of the series and the ISBN quoted above. Customer Services Department, Macmillan Distribution Ltd, Houndmills, Basingstoke, Hampshire RG21 6XS, England Sport and Challenges to Racism Edited by Jonathan Long Leeds Metropolitan University, UK and Karl Spracklen Leeds Metropolitan University, UK Palgrave macmillan Selection and editorial matter © Jonathan Long and Karl Spracklen 2011 Individual chapters © their respective authors 2011 Foreword © Lord Herman Ouseley 2011 Softcover reprint of the hardcover 1st edition 2011 978-0-230-23615-8 All rights reserved. No reproduction, copy or transmission of this publication may be made without written permission. No portion of this publication may be reproduced, copied or transmitted save with written permission or in accordance with the provisions of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988, or under the terms of any licence permitting limited copying issued by the Copyright Licensing Agency, Saffron House, 6-10 Kirby Street, London EC1N 8TS. Any person who does any unauthorized act in relation to this publication may be liable to criminal prosecution and civil claims for damages. The authors have asserted their rights to be identified as the authors of this work in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988. First published 2011 by PALGRAVE MACMILLAN Palgrave Macmillan in the UK is an imprint of Macmillan Publishers Limited, registered in England, company number 785998, of Houndmills, Basingstoke, Hampshire RG21 6XS. Palgrave Macmillan in the US is a division of St Martin’s Press LLC, 175 Fifth Avenue, New York, NY 10010. Palgrave Macmillan is the global academic imprint of the above companies and has companies and representatives throughout the world. Palgrave® and Macmillan® are registered trademarks in the United States, the United Kingdom, Europe and other countries. ISBN 978-1-349-31427-0 ISBN 978-0-230-30589-2 (eBook) DOI 10.1057/9780230305892 This book is printed on paper suitable for recycling and made from fully managed and sustained forest sources. Logging, pulping and manufacturing processes are expected to conform to the environmental regulations of the country of origin. A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library. Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Sport and challenges to racism / edited by Jonathan Long, Karl Spracklen. p. cm. Includes index. 1. Racism in sports. 2. Discrimination in sports. 3. Sports – Social aspects. I. Long, Jonathan (Jonathan A.) II. Spracklen, Karl. GV706.32.S724 2010 796.089—dc22 2010032631 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 20 19 18 17 16 15 14 13 12 11 Contents Acknowledgements vii Foreword viii List of Contributors xiii Part I Introduction 1 Positioning Anti-Racism in Sport and Sport in Anti-Racism 3 Jonathan Long and Karl Spracklen 2 Thinking ‘Race’ and Ethnicity in (Dutch) Sports Policy and Research 19 Jacco van Sterkenburg Part II Practices 3 ‘In This Shrinking World’: ‘Race’, the Olympics and the Wind of Change 37 Stephen Wagg 4 The Post-Apartheid Scenario in South Africa 53 Sam Ramsamy 5 Using Charters and Standards to Promote Anti-Racism in Sport 67 Karl Spracklen and Jonathan Long 6 ‘What I Said was Racist – But I’m Not a Racist’: Anti-Racism and the White Sports/Media Complex 83 Ben Carrington 7 Race Matters in Australian Sport 100 Colin Tatz Part III Identities 8 Natural-Born Athletes? Australian Aboriginal People and the Double-Edged Lure of Professional Sport 117 Daryl Adair and Megan Stronach 9 Just a Dream? Structure, Power and Agency in Basketball 135 Scott N. Brooks 10 Global Integration in the Nation: The Emergence of Non-White Athletes and Anti-Racist Initiatives in Norwegian Elite Sport 150 Mette Andersson v vi Contents 11 Gender and Cultural Diversity in Australian Sport 167 Carmel Foley, Tracy Taylor and Hazel Maxwell Part IV Challenges 12 Marching Altogether? Football Fans Taking a Stand Against Racism 185 Paul Thomas 13 It’s Not as Simple as Black and White: Challenging Racism in Professional Football through Locally Grounded Multi-agency Collaboration 199 Steven Bradbury 14 Does Diversity in Sport Reduce Racial Prejudice? 214 George B. Cunningham 15 Too Radical? Critical Race Theory and Sport Against Racism in Ireland 229 Kevin Hylton 16 So What Has Changed (and What Has to Change)? 247 Jonathan Long and Karl Spracklen Bibliography 257 Index 281 Acknowledgements We want to thank the contributors contributing in this volume for sharing a belief that this was a project worth contributing to. We also reiterate our thanks to all our respondents who probably wondered why it was necessary to tell those researchers what to them was the bloody obvious. As with most of our work we have benefited from the support of colleagues at the Carnegie Research Institute. In particular, we much appre- ciate the production assistance provided by Sam Armitage, our research administrator. vii Foreword Challenging Racism in and through Sport: Masculinity, Power and Supremacy Race, sex, class and power On the world stage of sport, such as the Olympics and Paralympics, there is apparent ethnic inclusiveness that suggests that there is greater opportunity for equal participation in competitive sporting events than in almost any other sphere of life. Of course, this is not so because of the unequal invest- ment in individuals, resources and facilities for personal and professional development in all countries. Thus, inequality in access to sport exists irrespective of race and ethnicity in different parts of the world. Undoubtedly, social class is an issue prevailing in virtually all societies, limiting access to opportunities, even where such opportunities are available in abundance. Socio-economic disadvantages are inevitably compounded by race bias and prejudice. Multiple discrimination has also meant disadvantage and exclusion for many other groups of people such as the disabled, women and girls. When all these characteristics come into play the results can be severely disadvantaging. Race, class and sex are potent characteristics in the power play indulged by leaders, managers and administrators when making decisions. Negative and discriminatory outcomes and impact, whether unintended or deliberate are the usual experiences for people sharing those characteristics. The key factor in the challenge to eliminate discrimination, disadvantage, inequalities and exclusion is that of power and whose hands it is in when being exercised. The concept and effects of racism have to be understood by all those people in decision-making positions so that they can more readily comprehend the nature of racist stereotyping and labelling. Currently they seem to find it more difficult to understand the lethal underpinning of power in the hands of people who hold prejudices, bias and hatred of people from other racial groups. In the hands of people, who are prepared to challenge their prejudices and bias power can be used more constructively as they endeavour to avoid discriminatory outcomes. Even so, the result of their actions, through organisations not subjected to systemic reform to eradicate discriminatory viii Challenging Racism in and through Sport ix results, can still lead to disproportionate adverse outcomes for people not of the same race, sex or class. Essentially, the focus of concerns has to be on the structures and processes in organisations’ operations which, inevitably, lead to systemic institutional discriminatory results. Their policies and practices reflect and reinforce the prevailing culture and status quo of the decision-makers, thereby contributing to on-going exclusion and marginalisation of some groups of people. Governing bodies of sport are no different from institutions in other sectors. In Britain it would be rare, if not impossible, to find Black or Asian individuals in powerful decision-making positions in sporting bodies. This does not mean that there is overt racial discrimination, nor does it mean that the exclusion of women and people from the lower socio-economic strata of our society from the seats of power is due only to blatant sexism and exclusion. Nor does it mean that only white people can be racist, or men sexist or wealthy people the sole oppressors of the poor. What is undeniable, are the outcomes resulting from decisions made by those in power who, in spite of declared commitments to equal opportunities and fair treatment, uphold traditions, cultures, policies and practices which are insufficiently radical or robust to eliminate or mitigate the adverse effects of race, sex and class discrimination. Individuals and institutions Nowadays, in the multi-dimensional and diverse UK (and many other countries) there are new and emergent forms of racisms to confront, as this book highlights. It is vital that we

Load more