Race and Sport

Racism in Sport

by James Curwood, Joe Harris, Hugh Owen and Andrei Toader

Jofra Archer in Mount Maunganui

In the cricket for South Africa due to their problems in the past they have to select six black players for their national sid e and all franchise teams.In September an England cricketer Jofra  Archer was subjected to racist barracking from Australian spectators during the Ashes Test at Old Trafford. Now, after the first Test between New Zealand and England at Mount Maunganui, he revealed he was targeted by a fan “yelling bbc and bc from the scoreboard area”. As this shows that there is still racism in this sport even if you don’t think there is any.

Sports is a big area of racism. Football and athletics are two of the main sports where players/competitors are subjected to racist abuse. There is a racist stereotype in athletics that black people are faster runners than white people.It is believed that some black minority have a different type of muscle system. This may be true but it is not all the truth as when in the slave trade it was the survival of the fittest and if you were weak you died and probably not passed your genes that means the fittest breed with the fittest and there child has your genes and will be fit and strong. This might be why some people from the black minority are very fast. However, it is not true that all black people are fast runners and that all white people are slower runners. It is also not true that black people can only be runners as lots of big sports have major players that are black or part of a minority.

In the cricket for South Africa due to their problems in the past they have to select six black players for their national side and all franchise teams.In September an England cricketer Jofra  Archer was subjected to racist barracking from Australian spectators during the Ashes Test at Old Trafford. Now, after the first Test between New Zealand and England at Mount Maunganui, he revealed he was targeted by a fan “yelling bbc and bc from the scoreboard area”. As this shows that there is still racism in this sport even if you don’t think there is any.

Rugby is a sport with an increasing amount of black players. Some of the main black players in rugby are Maro Itoje (England), Kyle Sinckler (England), Tendai Mtawarira (South Africa) Virimi Vakatawa (France) Marika Koroibete (Australia) and Siya Kolisi, the first black South African captain. These players are all very important to their countries.

The 'Kick It Out' Campaign by Finn Russell

If you were in their shoes, would you want that to happen to you? Would you want to be tormented about something so little as the colour of your skin? Would you want to be stared at just because of how you look? Chances are that you said “no” to all of these, so why do you? We should not objectify or separate them from the rest of the world. We were wrong to treat them poorly hundreds of years ago, and it is wrong to treat them poorly now. There has been some change, but not enough. It doesn’t matter if you are black, white, Muslim, Christian or Jewish. Everyone should be accepted for who they are; they should not be treated differently. 

Campaigns across the world have tried tackling these issues, but racism is still a thing. During England’s European Qualifier against Bulgaria, Tyrone Mings was subject to some racism. He was shouted at with monkey noises throughout the game. This happened throughout the game, until those particular fans were kicked out of the stadium. Raheem Sterling was also a target for further abuse. The 'Kick It Out' campaign is a campaign where they aim to kick racism out of football and hopefully the world. However, during Tottenham vs Chelsea a few weeks ago, Chelsea defender Antonio Rüdiger was alleged to be subject to more racist abuse. There is progress but there are setbacks and it seems it will be a slow progress.

Diversity in Sport
by Ben Reilly