Race and sport

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The role of sport within the British Empire was to be one of the great mechanisms for exerting soft power. Its proliferation, although for the most part not a deliberate governmental policy, helped spread British culture wider and more effectively than almost any other medium. 'Sport became a channel for the imposition of British values on colonial society,' whether helping 'educate' natives in perceived British values of 'fair play' or allowing émigrés to maintain a sense of Britishness. 2 Richard Holt covers this comprehensively in Sport and the British, displaying the use of sport as a conduit of Britain's unique cultural sensibilities. 3 Rather than challenge his conclusions on the initial spread of sport and its impact, to advance the debate it is important to look at the reaction to this spread of British sporting culture by those affected by it. Some sportsmen sought to assimilate and gain acceptance through their sporting prowess, whilst others saw British sport as a challenge to their own nation's sense of ethnic identity. Whilst it did indeed serve as 'cultural cement' in cases such as Prince Ranjitsinhji, for organisations such as the Gaelic Athletic Association sport acted as the most effective remedy for removal of unwanted British influence. By focusing primarily on the years 1880-1914, it is possible to study the most effective examples of both this wish for assimilation, and the development of ethnic identities by those countries within the Empire.

This article examines how the idea of reconciliation between Indigenous and non-Indigenous Australians became entwined with the Sydney 2000 Olympics. It does this by undertaking a critical reading of media stories on the twin issues of Cathy Freeman’s 400m race, and the fear of Indigenous protest disrupting the games. We argue the Olympic Games helped to reinforce a discourse of reconciliation that best suited non-Indigenous peoples, and that the Games came to be represented as the space where reconciliation could and should take place. We suggest that, in combination with nationalist stories, the impending Olympic Games were deployed as a way of disciplining Indigenous people and maintaining a particularly conservative understanding of reconciliation; one that did little to change the unequal power relations between Indigenous and non-Indigenous peoples.

According to their normative public service role in democratic societies, media should carry out responsible treatment of all the areas of the news arena, including sports. Nevertheless, this field has been characterized by many ethical drawbacks, including the biased representation of non-white and disabled athletes. This paper has examined if six quality newspapers (The Guardian/The Observer, The Daily Telegraph/The Sunday Telegraph, The New York Times, The Washington Post, El País and La Vanguardia) complied with the deontological principle of justice in their portrayal of race and disability during the London 2012 Olympics. Results show that media challenged the traditional white ethnocentric perspective and raised the public’s awareness of racism in sport and society. Despite that, evidence suggests that certain covert stereotypes continue to be present in sports media.

North-east India is increasingly being viewed as an incubator for
national sporting talent. The success of athletes from the Northeast,
representing India at the global level, such as Mangte
Chungneijang Mary Kom (Mary Kom), and of teams in national
competitions, such as Aizawl FC, narrate a region teeming with
potential sports stars, national heroes, product endorsers and potential
customers. Sporting success is seen as a way to bring the recalcitrant
frontier further into the national fold. At the same time, sporting
infrastructure in the region continues to grow, responding to and
fuelling local aspirations for sporting careers in metropolitan India and
beyond. Exploring sport in the North-east highlights conversations
about the frontier and its place in India that are different from,
though often entangled in, conversations focused on security, identity
and migration. As Carrington writes, ‘Sport engenders national
conversations about race, discrimination, opportunity and identity
that would otherwise not take place, and as such, understanding the
sports–race–society nexus is of increasing importance to sociologists
and other social scientists’ (2013: 380). With this in mind, this article
explores the sports–race–society nexus in the North-east to explore
themes of belonging, integration and discontent.
In doing so, I make three arguments. First, sport has become
a mechanism for the integration of the frontier into the national
imaginary. According to this narrative, it is through sporting
success that North-east communities can demonstrate their place in
contemporary India, erasing the politics of separatism, violence and state brutality. Second, for many people in the North-east, sport is a
livelihood opportunity and a form of upward mobility. Third, while
sporting success offers the opportunity for acceptance in mainstream
India, sporting success compounds rather than challenges racial
stereotypes for North-east communities. For those who cannot run,
punch or kick a ball, the experience of India remains complex and
has altered little with the rise of sporting heroes from the region.

It is one of Australia’s most iconic images. On 17 April 1993, the Indigenous AFL footballer Nicky Winmar stood up against racial abuse and made history. Facing the Collingwood crowd that had taunted him all day the St Kilda player pulled up his shirt, pointed to his chest and declared: ‘I’m black and I’m proud to be black’. Published the next day, the photos of Winmar’s gesture sparked an intense debate that forced the AFL, the fans and the nation to confront their prejudices head-on. Black and Proud takes us behind the searing image to the stories of those who made it happen – the Indigenous team-mates Nicky Winmar and Gilbert McAdam and the two photographers, Wayne Ludbey and John Feder. Bound by a love of the game, the four were brought together by acts of courage and vilification that show how far we have come and just how far we have to go.