University Dissertation: Sport Inclusion for Black Ethnic Background

This dissertation investigates the barriers and facilitators to the inclusion of individuals from black ethnic backgrounds in British sports, particularly within the context of football. The research, employing a positivism research philosophy with an inductive approach and descriptive design, aims to understand the impact of racial discrimination on sports participation. Data collection involves semi-structured interviews, analyzed using qualitative techniques, to explore how racism affects the sense of inclusion within sports. The study examines measures taken by governing bodies to address racial discrimination and provides recommendations to combat the issue. The dissertation includes an introduction outlining the research aim, objectives, and questions; a literature review covering racial discrimination and exclusion, governing body actions, and recommendations; a detailed methodology section explaining the research philosophy, approach, design, and data analysis; data analysis and findings from the interviews; and a conclusion with recommendations and suggestions for future research. The study underscores the importance of addressing racial discrimination to promote inclusivity in sports and improve the psychological well-being of those affected.

Running head: DISSERTATION
Barriers and facilitators to inclusion in sport for people from black ethnic background in the field
of British sports
Name of the Student
Name of the University
Author Note

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Acknowledgement
Thank you to all of those who have helped listened and encouraged me throughout this study. I
am indebted to my supervisor ……………………. whose guidance, advice and patience have
been immeasurable. My sincere thanks to all members of the…………… [Mention your
university/college name], both staff and students, whose continuous support have made this
thesis possible.
I would like to thank all of the participants in the study: students, teachers and Local Education
Authorities, for the time and help given throughout. Without their participation, this research
would not have been possible. In this context, I am also thankful to them, whose research work
helped me to execute this paper well.
Finally, I thank my family, without whom this thesis would not have been started or completed!
Your encouragement and support have never faltered; thank you.

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Abstract
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. In order to change these
dividing characteristic stratifications, there is a need on the part of the entire human civilization
to ensure that such classifications are done away with. One of the main issue where the human
civilization remains stratified is that of racism. 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. This has impacted the psychological
orientation of the people who are discriminated against and has negatively impacted the different
fields of human employment, one of them being sports. 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 research follows a
positivism research philosophy of inductive approach and descriptive research design. The data
is collected from semi-structured interviews and analyzed with the aid of qualitative analysis.
Sports is considered to be a field which brings people of passion together with one another.
People play for themselves and for a greater aim of bringing glory to their own team and nation.
In this manner, being racially discriminated in this field shows the extent of the prevalence of
this social evil within the British society that is considered to be a very tolerant human society. In
this manner, this research study proves to be a significance area of examination.

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Table of Contents
Chapter 1: Introduction....................................................................................................................4
1.0 Overview................................................................................................................................4
1.1 Research Aim.........................................................................................................................4
1.2 Research Objectives...............................................................................................................4
1.3 Research Questions................................................................................................................5
1.4 Research Rationale................................................................................................................5
1.5 Research Structure.................................................................................................................6
1.6 Summary................................................................................................................................6
Chapter 2: Literature Review...........................................................................................................7
2.0 Overview................................................................................................................................7
2.1 Theme 1: Issue of racial discrimination and the feeling of exclusion by the people in the
field of sports...............................................................................................................................7
2.2 Theme 2: Measures undertaken by the governing bodies to help solve the issue of racial
discrimination..............................................................................................................................9
2.3 Theme 3: Recommendations in order to solve the issue of racial discrimination...............11
2.4 Summary..............................................................................................................................12
Chapter 3: Research Methodology................................................................................................13
3.0 Overview..............................................................................................................................13
3.1 Research Outline..................................................................................................................13

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3.2 Research Philosophy............................................................................................................13
3.2.1 Justification of Research Philosophy............................................................................13
3.3 Research Approach..............................................................................................................14
3.3.1 Justification of Research Approach..............................................................................14
3.4 Research Design..................................................................................................................14
3.4.1 Justification of Research Design..................................................................................15
3.5 Research Strategy................................................................................................................15
3.5.1 Justification of Research Strategy................................................................................15
3.7 Data Collection process.......................................................................................................15
3.7.1 Justification of Data Collection Process.......................................................................16
3.8 Data Analysis Technique.....................................................................................................16
3.8.1 Justification of Data Analysis Technique.....................................................................16
3.9 Ethical Issues.......................................................................................................................16
3.10 Accessibility Issues............................................................................................................17
3.11 Summary............................................................................................................................17
Chapter 4: Data Analysis and Findings.........................................................................................18
4.0 Overview..............................................................................................................................18
4.1 Data Findings.......................................................................................................................18
4.2 Data Analysis.......................................................................................................................19
4.3 Summary..............................................................................................................................20

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Chapter 5: Conclusion and Recommendations..............................................................................21
5.0 Conclusion...........................................................................................................................21
5.1 Recommendation.................................................................................................................21
5.2 Future Scope of the Study....................................................................................................22
References:....................................................................................................................................24

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Chapter 1: Introduction
1.0 Overview
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 (Paul, Weinbach and Mattingly
2018). In order to change these dividing characteristic stratifications, there is a need on the part
of the entire human civilization to ensure that such classifications are done away with. One of the
main issue where the human civilization remains stratified is that of racism (LaFave, Nelson and
Doherty 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 (Carroll and Hollinshead 1993). This has impacted the psychological orientation of
the people who are discriminated against and has negatively impacted the different fields of
human employment, one of them being sports.
1.1 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.
1.2 Research Objectives
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.

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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.
1.3 Research Questions
The research questions can be stated as follows:
1. How much of a factor does racism have to the people of black ethnic minority to feel that they
are not included in certain number of sports?
2. Is there enough being done in our own communities to raise issues of the barriers that people
from black and ethnic minority face to the local and national governing bodies?
3. If so what has been the response of tackling this issues?
1.4 Research Rationale
The issue of racial discrimination is against the very spirit of human freedom and liberty.
People are being discriminated for something they have no control over. As a result, racial
discrimination is seen to be illegal in nature but as a result of its societal perspective, there is
little chance of this issue being resolved without changing the mentality of the people
(Kilvington and Price 2017). Sports is considered to be a field which brings people of passion
together with one another. People play for themselves and for a greater aim of bringing glory to
their own team and nation. In this manner, being racially discriminated in this field shows the
extent of the prevalence of this social evil within the British society that is considered to be a
very tolerant human society (Long et al. 2009). In this manner, this research study proves to be a
significance area of examination.

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1.5 Research Structure
The first chapter provides a brief overview of the aim of the research which is to be
conducted. 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 second chapter provides the various secondary sources of
literature which are examined in detail in order to collect data for the purpose of the research.
The third section mentions the research methodology which is employed in the making of the
research. The research follows a positivism research philosophy of inductive approach and
descriptive research design. The data is collected from semi-structured interviews and analyzed
with the aid of qualitative analysis. The fourth chapter provides an in-depth, qualitative analysis
of the data which is collected from the semi-structured interviews and various secondary sources
of literature. The fifth chapter is the concluding chapter which synthesis all the data gathered and
analyzed with those of the research objectives. This chapter also provides certain
recommendation that can be adhered to in order to minimize the issue of racial discrimination
which is felt in the field of British football.
1.6 Summary
To summarize, this chapter provides an overview of the aim of the research and the
rationale of the study. It also mentions the various research objectives and also provides a frame
work of the future course of the research study.

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Chapter 2: Literature Review
2.0 Overview
This chapter provides an overview of the various secondary sources such as that of
books, academic journals, articles and newspaper articles in order to understand the aim of the
research study. The research proposes 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. In this respect, the different secondary sources provide an overview
about the extent of the existing problem of racial discrimination within the field of British sports.
2.1 Theme 1: Issue of racial discrimination and the feeling of exclusion by the people
in the field of sports
The term ‘race’ refers to the different groups of people who have similar physical
features due to their inhabitance of a particular geographical place (Tainsky, Mills and Winfree
2015). Initially it was meant to define such different groups of people so that better
understanding about their origination can be derived. However, with the changes in the human
civilization, the issue of race underwent a change in itself. The era of colonization was mainly
responsible for bringing about this change in the concept of ‘race’. The imperial masters of the
western developed nations of the world sought to expand their geographical territory in order to
gain control over more human resources and natural resources of the world (Martin 2015). In this
respect, they set on a course of occupying the under developed parts of the world which were
inhabited by ‘black’ skinned people. In order to justify their rule over such under developed
countries, the imperial colonial masters advocated the idea about the ‘white man’s burden’.
Through this they wanted to espouse the idea that the ‘black’ skinned people were inferior to
them since they were barbarians and hence, did not have the ability to rule over themselves. This

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period of colonization therefore set the idea of racial discrimination whereby the ‘white’ skinned
people were thought to be more superior to the ‘black’ skinned people (Oliver and Lusted 2015).
This feeling of inferiority is still prevailing in the modern contemporary period.
According to Bryson and Chevalier (2015), 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 (Atkinson, J.M. and Heritage 1984). Usually in such communities, the ‘blacks’
constitute a minority population. This discrimination may exist in different fields such as in the
educational sector, the employment sector and even in the field of sports. In such instances of
racial discrimination, the ‘black’ skinned people are made to feel inferior and undeserving by the
other people of the community due to the fact that their complexion is darker than them (Zhang
2017). This idea shows how the mindset of the people has refused to change throughout the
period of development of human history.
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 (Henry 2005). As a result of such discrimination,
they often feel alienated and excluded from the mainstream society. This problem becomes more
severe in the context of the field of sports. Sport is such an activity which necessitates team spirit
and team cohesion among the different individual players who are involved in this activity
(Hylton 2018). If they are made to feel alienated then the problem may arise that the team is not
synchronized in its activity. According to Wolfers, File and Schnurr (2017), this might have a

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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 (Jewell 2017). In this manner it
can be noticed that the issue of racial discrimination within the field of sports generates a feeling
of exclusion and alienation among the individuals who are being discriminated against that is the
black; ethnic community (Martin et al. 2017).
2.2 Theme 2: Measures undertaken by the governing bodies to help solve the issue of
racial discrimination
The issue of racial discrimination was in existence since times immemorial. However, no
actions or measures were undertaken by the nation states to help resolve this problem. In fact,
this issue was advocated by the different state leaders themselves, such as in the region of the
United States, which was known as North America and South America during that time (Dufur
2017). The state leaders of South America migrated the people from Africa in the form of
‘slaves’ in order to carry out the process of cultivation in this part of the world. The Africans
were made to believe that were inferior to the ‘white’ supreme and as a result of this, they were
made to work hard without little or negligible compensation for their work (Delgado and
Stefancic 2017). This scenario was prevalent in the other parts of the western world also,
especially within the countries of the European continent.
However, the situation changed after the end of the Second World War. The state leaders
realized the importance of maintaining and guaranteeing the sovereignty of the geographical
boundary of the different states of the world. In this mannerism, they also realized that the
freedom and liberty granted to the individuals of the human society should also be upheld and
ensured to them. Thus, in the middle of the twentieth century, the institution of the United