Discrimination in sport Essay

The Project to Eliminate Homophobia in Sport is a collaborative effort involving seven leading national organizations and is designed to create an educated public that respects all athletes and sports-affiliated personnel regardless of sexual orientation and gender identity/expressions. The Project has four main goals: EDUCATION Educate athletes, their parents, guardians, coaches, administrators and the public, plus other key influencers about the origins and effects of homophobia in sport and the relationship of homophobia to sexism and gender oppression. RESOURCE DEVELOPMENT AND DISTRIBUTION Cultivate and develop diversified resources to ensure the effectiveness, durability and strength of the Project to Eliminate Homophobia in Sport. ADVOCACY Advocate for fair policy guidelines on teams, at events and within the workplace for lesbian/gay/bisexual/transgender (LGBT) sport professionals, athletes and fans in sport. RECOGNITION To publicly recognize the athletic achievements and professional successes of openly LGBT sports participants, thereby providing healthy role models. Active Sports Partnerships achieve Racial Equality Standard Three Active Sports Partnerships (ASPs) have become the first ASPs to achieve the Preliminary Level of the Sporting Equals Achieving Racial Equality: A Standard for Sport. The three Active Sports Partnerships Bucks and Milton Keynes, Humber and West Yorkshire were assessed by a separate panel chaired by Chris Hudson of Sheffield Hallam University reporting to the Sporting Equals Assessment Panel. The ASPs joined five governing bodies Amateur Athletics Association, Amateur Swimming Association, British Canoe Union, Rugby Football Union for Women and UK Athletics who were also awarded Preliminary Level by a panel consisting of representatives from Sport England and Sporting Equals, as well as representatives from other national governing bodies of sport. The sports and sports organisations already awarded the Preliminary Level are basketball, cricket, hockey, gymnastics, Institute of Sport and Recreation Management, lawn tennis, rugby league, rugby union and sportscoach UK and Sportsmatch. Chris Hudson, a Lecturer at Sheffield Hallam University and the Chair of the Active Sports Assessment Panel, said: We hope that this recognition of the commitment and success of the first three Partnerships will be a catalyst to encourage others to achieve the Standard. Trevor Brooking, the Chair of Sport England said: I would like to congratulate these Active Sports Partnerships on signing up to the Standard and would like to see all the Partnerships follow their lead. Sport England expects all sports to put policies, procedures and plans in place to tackle racism and promote racial equality. What Is Discrimination? Discrimination has various forms and it happens very day. Discrimination involves making choices about how we treat other people. Those choices can be made using real and relevant information or they can be based on prejudice, stereotypes and bias. Some is unlawful (for example, sexual harassment and racial discrimination)and some is not (for example, a coach who shows favouritism towards their child over other players). All discrimination is undesirable if it leads to unfair treatment of players, members and other participants in recreation and sport. What is Fair Discrimination? A good example in sport relates to team selection. If you are a coach/selector, and you have more players than you can fit in your team, you must discriminate between the available players. You must choose who will be in the starting team and what positions they will play, to arrive at the best possible team. In junior and sub junior sport you have the additional responsibility to ensure fair participation. Those choices should be based upon relevant criteria such as ability, attitude, effort, and attendance at practice. These are all fair and legitimate criteria to apply to team selection. What is Unlawful Discrimination? In sport, this is not easy to define. The Equal Opportunity Act makes discrimination on the grounds of race, sex, age, disability, pregnancy, sexuality and marital status unlawful. The laws also say that two behaviours, sexual harassment and victimisation are also unlawful. However, things like age, gender and disability can have very significant effects on sporting ability. These differences are most evident at the elite sport level. For example compare the power of the best male tennis players with the power of the best female tennis players. To take into account these differences, and to make sure there is fair competition, the law allows for teams to be organised into groups such as age groups, or single sex groups.