The melting pot that is equality in sport

In this blog Robert Gill, Policy Support Officer, focuses on equality in sport, as the Alliance calls for case studies from the sector to inform the current sports strategy consultation.

Sport has always been seen as a great social mixer, where the Duke and the Dustbin man can meet and compete as equals on the field of play. But in these less class obsessed times, sport can also be used as a way of bringing different types of people together. As Irina Bokova, Director-General of UNESCO, puts it: “there is nothing like sport to bring women and men from different cultures together around the shared values of fair play, mutual respect and team spirit”.

However, there is evidence to suggest that not all groups in society are taking advantage of opportunities to play sport. According to Sport England’s latest participation figures, only 30% of women aged 16 or over play sport at least once a week, compared with 40% for men over 16.

There is also a divide between the amount of disabled and non-disabled people playing sport, with only 1.56 million people aged 16 or over who have a disability playing sport once a week, compared to nearly 14 million non-disabled people playing the same amount of sport per week.

In the Government’s recent consultation on its new sports strategy, there is a commitment to “making the most of the unique opportunities sport can bring to promote equality in our wider society” and “combating prejudice wherever it may be…in sport”.

As part of the consultation, the Department for Media, Culture and Sport will be promoting the fairness and equality theme of the consultation from the week commencing 21 September.

In the build up to that week, we are keen to hear from our members about what they are doing to encourage people from different backgrounds, races, ethnic groups, religion, with a disability or people of different sexual orientation to either take part in their sport or volunteering and getting involved with the running of clubs.

We are keen to hear from you, not only because this is an area we are interested in learning about what sports clubs are doing, but also to help inform and give weight to our response to the Government’s sports strategy by providing real life examples of what sports clubs are doing to combat prejudice and bring different people together using the power of sport.

We have split the different characteristics into three themes:

Theme 1:
• Age
• Disability

Theme 2:
• Race
• Religion and belief

Theme 3:
• Sex
• Sexual orientation
• Gender reassignment

If you have any examples to share, please click here and complete the case study template.

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