Racial Discrimination in British Sports: A Study on Barriers and Facilitators

INTRODUCTION
The human society is not homogenous in nature as it is believed to be.
There exists many different stratifications, all of which have a different
characterizing distinct feature. These stratifications are aimed at diving
the human community in a manner which cannot be overcome by a
single individual or by one of the communities themselves. One of the
main issue where the human civilization remains stratified is that of
racism (Paul, Weinbach and Mattingly 2018). The issue of racism has
plagued the world in severe concerning ways. Racism refers to the
situation where an individual is discriminated against based on the
skin color of that human being.
RESEARCH AIM
The aim of the research is to understand the various barriers and
facilitators that a person belonging to the black ethnic community
faces in the field of British sports, especially within the area of
football.
The objectives of the research can be stated as follows:
1. To examine the extent of the problem of racism which makes the
people feel that they are not included in certain number of sports.
2. To analyze the various measures that are being undertaken to raise
issues of the barriers that people from black and ethnic minority face
to the local and national governing bodies.
3. To provide certain recommendations to help solve the issue of
racism within the field of sports.
RESEARCH METHODOLOGY
The research employs the positivism research philosophy, inductive
approach, descriptive research design and interview research strategy,
all of which have proved to be necessary in the effective execution of
the research study (Taylor, Bogdan and DeVault 2015). Furthermore,
the semi-structured interview has been used in order to collect the data
and this has been analyzed with the aid of quantitative data analysis.
LITERATURE REVIEW
Paul, R., Weinbach, A. and Mattingly, J., 2018. Tests of racial
discrimination in a simple financial market: Managers in major league
baseball. International Journal of Financial Studies, 6(1), p.24.
Rowe, N. and Champion, R., 2000. Sport participation and Ethnicity in
England. Headline findings. Sport England, London.
Spaaij, R., Magee, J. and Jeanes, R., 2014. Sport and social exclusion
in global society. Routledge.
Taylor, S.J., Bogdan, R. and DeVault, M., 2015. Introduction to
qualitative research methods: A guidebook and resource. John Wiley
& Sons.
DATA ANALYSIS AND FINDINGS
One of the candidates interviewed has stated that he was not
discriminated in the field of football but it was quite difficult on the
part of the black population to sustain themselves in football. In the
contemporary times period, the sport of football has been overrun with
the issue of money
Another candidate that was interviewed revealed that he did face
certain problems while he was playing for his team. Often time it was
noted that he was not picked to play in the team as he belonged to the
black ethnic community.
From the analysis of the data that have been collected it can be
observed that in the contemporary time period, the people belonging to
the black ethnic community face certain problems as a result of their
skin tone. Sport is such an activity which necessitates team spirit and
team cohesion among the different individual players who are
involved in this activity. If they are made to feel alienated then the
problem may arise that the team is not synchronized in its activity.
This might have a serious negative impact on the performance of the
team as a whole. Furthermore, the psychological setup of the person
who is being discriminated against also suffers to a severe extent
which is again the responsibility of the team in its entirety.
REFERENCES
Racial discrimination refers to the situation where a particular
community of people, especially those belonging to the ‘black’ ethnic
population in a particular geographical location, is widely
discriminated against by the ‘white’ skinned people of that community
(Rowe and Champion 2000). The main concerning issue of such
prevalence of racial discrimination is that it is a violation of the human
rights on the part of the ‘black’ skinned people who are involved in the
situation. However, it is not only their legal rights which get adversely
impacted but also their psychology gets affected in a negative manner
also. Such ‘black’ skinned people are made to feel inferior for
something they have no control on. However, within the societal frame
work of Britain, it can be seen that racial discrimination is still very
much prevalent. Several laws and policies have been formulated by the
governing bodies of the country in order to ensure that racial
discrimination is eliminated in an absolute manner from the society.
For instance, the Equality Act of 2010 prohibits any person from
engaging in discriminatory activities and says that strong penalties
shall be imposed if they are found to be engaged in such social evil
practices (Spaaij, Magee and Jeanes 2014). However, such policies are
still very much feeble in nature and do not have much power and
authority to induce a change in the opinions of the people even if they
get incriminated for their discriminatory behavior.
The problem of racial discrimination is sought to be solved by the
different members of the British community who feel that this issue is
seriously hampering the growth and development of the country. The
existence of this social evil in the field of sports has also adversely
impacted the national team of football to a significant extent.
LOGO
DISSERTATION