Black History Month: England Athletics on promoting equality and inclusion

This Black History Month, the Sport and Recreation Alliance sought to celebrate the significant contributions Black individuals have made and continue to make to grassroots sport and recreation by engaging with leaders throughout the sports sector.

We spoke to England Athletics CEO, Chris Jones, to hear his thoughts on fostering diversity and inclusion within England Athletics, his reflections on multiculturalism and strategies to promote equality and inclusion throughout the year, beyond the month of October.

Diversity of background and perspective is central to ensuring that leaders and teams develop and deliver effectively, make better decisions, and to shape positive culture within both organisations and communities. Quite simply – the input of difference is fundamental. Difference can help break down barriers and can enhance the pace of change – it is logical for me as a leader to surround myself with difference of thought, background, and experience and is illogical not to embrace it.

This has been very clear to me from a very young age – I was fortunate to be nurtured and developed in an inclusive and multi-cultural community, largely through my involvement with sport which thankfully my parents introduced me to at an early age. Many of my lifelong friendships have been developed and rooted through these experiences through playing sport or by volunteering.

Athletics has a rich and diverse history – a truly inclusive sport that is celebrated worldwide and is the basis of many other sports rooted in physical literacy and athleticisms. It is a truly global sport and many of our current and past heroes and champions are black or ethnically diverse.

My early childhood was inspired by athletes and sports performers of all backgrounds but in particular my hero growing up was Daley Thompson, who to me was a superman like no other (ok, marginally ahead of Mohammed Ali perhaps!). Other inspirational sports performers who inspired me during my formative years included the great Viv Richards, the late and wonderful footballer Cyril Regis, and the athlete Carl Lewis. The brilliance but resilience that black sports performers displayed during this period is beyond inspirational – for me they’re role models for others to follow and to carry that baton forward so that it could be better for those that follow – whether they recognised this or not.

Daley was someone who embodied all that as a young aspiring sportsperson I wanted to be – fast, dynamic, cool, and charismatic. Someone who appealed to young and old – someone who would transfix the observer and have them sit on the edge of their seat every time he performed.

Ethnic diversity, and diversity in general, is central to athletics – we are fortunate to have champions and role models from all backgrounds and different ethnicities but of course many Black athletes, coaches, volunteers, and contributors to our sport who have set the path for others to follow – it is something that we showcase and celebrate to inspire future generations of participants, coaches, officials and volunteers through concepts such as our Hall of Fame where we induct the great contributors to our sport into this prestigious collective annually, many of whom are black and come from diverse communities and we also recognise volunteers of different backgrounds through our annual volunteer awards programme. It is so important that others looking up “can see and can be” – it is possible for me to aspire to achieve in the same way that my heroes have.

At England Athletics we are always conscious to ensure that the marketing of our sport, our priorities, our programmes, our activities and governance are diverse at source and all year round – profiling individuals who are working or have achieved in those roles who are black and from ethnically diverse communities is so important and keeping this present to help influence others working in the sport to make positive strides in this regard too.

We know that we need to continue to increase the ethnic diversity of our volunteer workforce and whilst we are perhaps ahead of some other sports, we need to do more – whether that be taking specific action through the development of targeted programmes or increasing the profile of those who have achieved great things at both participation and performance levels of our sport. Our continued support and partnership with Sporting Equals around initiatives such as their annual awards programme, and leaderboard project is very important to us.

This “if I can see I can be” also applies to the Board room, through working groups/committees and levels of senior management – governance of sport and society needs to reflect the demographic of our participation and community base at all levels and we must aspire to achieve this beautiful balance and diversity. England Athletics has worked tirelessly on diversifying its governance at all levels with this goal in mind. I am proud of our achievements to date, but we must keep pushing on and enshrine this principal infinitum.

Black History Month is an opportunity to showcase and celebrate the feats of those who have gone before us but also those who are setting examples of brilliance now for others to follow – on the track, on the road, in the clubhouse and in the Board room – this serves to inspire others to get involved, to belong and to lead our sport for generations to come.

Leaders have a responsibility, and accountability, to make diversity and inclusion important at source – it needs to weave through our strategies, our plans, our structures, and naturally our culture implicitly. This is something that is very important to England Athletics – we are proud of the role we have to play in this regard and look forward to continuing to positively activate, campaign, and to celebrate Black History Month for many years to come.

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