Selling race equality to sports organizations – challenges and limitations

Abstract

Amateurism – an ideological project connected to the formation of modern, organized sports in Victorian Britain; led by the emerging middle classes who placed specific set of morals and values on sport participation, including sport for sport’s sake, fair play and against all forms of professionalization of sport. Fairness – related to debates around social justice; how we ensure that people get what they deserve in life, particularly around the fair allocation of resources and oppor-tunities to individuals in a society. In a sporting sense, fairness is often associated with amateurism and playing by the rules. Policy implementation – the process in which a set of policy statements and aims becomes adopted into organizational practice and procedures. Race equality – policies and practices that aim to reduce the inequalities associated with ideas of ‘race’ and ethnicity, tackle racial discrimination and promote opportunities for people from ethnic minority backgrounds. Sports equity – a movement emerging in the mid-1990s that advocates a more radical approach to tackling inequalities in sport, including the use of positive action and focusing particularly on institutional change.