Racism in sport: An old adversary that
never goes away
We should acknowledge the institutional and structural racism
that has pervaded Australian sporting history for Aboriginal and
Torres Strait Islander peoples and still exists across different
sporting codes at the elite and grassroots levels.
The Black Lives Matter protests and movement have re-stoked
the flickering embers of racial equality all over the world.
However, echoing the sentiment that racism occurs everywhere
else but on my front door, a Guardian Essential poll this week
showed that most Australians believe there is institutional
racism in the US, but not in Australia. This is despite there
having been at least 437 deaths recorded in Australia since the
Royal Commission into Aboriginal Deaths in Custody ended in
1991.
The poll result led former Australian Race Discrimination
Commissioner Dr. Tim Soutphommasane to tweet:
We can only improve on racism if we can see the problem. Too
often there is denial or deflection. This shows us we have a long
way to go, and need to look in the mirror.
Some of the loudest voices speaking up against racism in recent
days have come from the sports world. International sports stars
including Serena Williams, Le Bron James, Raheem Sterling
and Lewis Hamilton have raised their voices over police
brutality against black people in America, and the protests have
naturally segued into the historic and current institutional racism
and racial discrimination in sport.
In Australia, many leading players from professional sports have
voiced their support for Black Lives Matter, including former
Australian Football League (AFL) player and Chair of the
Indigenous Player Alliance, Des Headland (a descendant of First
Nations Australians, as a Noongar man), saying Australia was
no different to America when it comes to people of
colour - “that is, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples
continue to suffer . . . in terms of blatant racism [and]
institutional issues”.
In striking similarity to former NFL San Francisco 49ers
quarterback Colin Kaepernick, who protested against police
brutality by kneeling during the national anthem, AFL champion
and proud Adnyamathanha man, Adam Goodes, used his
platform to speak out against crowd abuse and was booed out of
the game by the crowd. Goodes (an Australian of the Year) has
since released two acclaimed documentaries, The Final
Quarter and The Australian Dream, which cover his
experiences of racial vilification which forced him out of the
game he loved.
Sport you see, has been both a blessing and curse for Indigenous
people in Australia. Much like wider Australian society, it has
been a double-edged sword of opportunity and exclusion, in
hope and disappointment, tolerance and
discrimination. Godwell (2000) explains sport as an institution
is neither separate nor isolated from the whole of society:
. . . just as there is racism in Australian society so too is there
racism within Australian sport. Just as there is racial
discrimination within Australian society, so too there remains
discrimination because of race within Australian sport. Just as
there are stereotypes that reinforce racist conceptions of
peoples in Australian society, so too there exist stereotypes that
reinforce racist conceptions in sport.
In spite of this, some of the most prominent areas of legislation
and injustice in sport have grown out of struggles over racism.
For example: the period of apartheid sport in South Africa
(present and evident from the eighteen century until 1994 at
least) which gave rise to the slogan that you ‘cannot have
normal sport in an abnormal society’; the practice of colonialism
in many parts of the world which formed the backcloth to
sporting relations between many countries; the popularity and
coverage of sport as a vehicle for protest through campaigns and
activism as evidenced by the black power protests at the 1968
Mexico Olympic Games (Dagas & Armour, 2012); and
legislation such as the Race Discrimination Act and Racial
Hatred Act in Australia which provide a legal framework to
investigate and act against racism in all areas of society,
including sport; plus codes of conduct in sport focused on
racism, such as the AFL’s trail-blazing Rule 35: Discrimination
and Racial and Religious Vilification Policy.
Despite views to the contrary, racism is clearly embedded within
Australian sporting culture and has played a major role in
denying Aboriginal people their place in the sporting arena:
Racism remains a major issue within Australian society and . . .
despite the staggering achievements of Aboriginal sporting
success in recent decades, it has not changed the horrific social
inequality that impacts upon the great majority of Aboriginal
lives today.
(Maynard, 2014, p. 81).
A close look at the sport industry reveals undeniable patterns of
minority segregation. Although minorities are overrepresented
as players, they continue to be underrepresented as coaches,
athletic directors, general managers, team owners, and in other
positions of leadership and control (Lapchick, 2003).
Much of the overt exclusion and racism has declined since the
1970s and 80s as sporting organisations have moved to address
this behaviour through stronger policies and programs. But in
some respects, this racial discrimination has simply evolved and
found a new forum online and via social media in which to
fester.
With so much attention on the issue of racial injustice at present
we should acknowledge the institutional and structural racism
that has pervaded Australian sporting history for Aboriginal and
Torres Strait Islander peoples and still exists across different
sporting codes at the elite and grassroots levels. However, we
should also point to the recent programs, campaigns and
education in this area that are working to counter this
intolerance and prejudice, and illustrate how they are crucial in
influencing harmful social attitudes and reinforcing positive
behavior.
As the world looks to bounce back following the COVID-19
pandemic and take heed of the human rights lessons from the
Black Lives Matter movement, hopefully greater awareness and
education on racism in sport will be a positive side outcome that
we can all take away.
Dr Paul Oliver is an advisor to Australian sports and
governments on safeguarding, inclusion and integrity matters.
He was the Adjunct Postdoctoral Research Fellow at Curtin
University (2017-18).
Dr Paul Oliver
