Sport

The world is inhabited by people of different racial background. Racism has been one of the problems facing the world, especially, as it regards treatment of minority groups.  For a long time, people of African and Asian origin and other minority groups have faced systematic racial discrimination all over the world. In almost all countries, minority groups face discrimination in different spheres of life. Racial discrimination is a major problem that is faced by blacks and other racial minority groups.  Although a certain progress has been achieved, there are still cases of inequalities and discrimination which continue to structure that the reality of sports for most blacks and ethnic minorities.  Research findings have shown that blacks and people of minority origin have faced widespread discrimination which has limited their capability to participate in sports.  This has prompted governments and concerned authorities to enact legal mechanism that is meant to protect minority groups from discrimination and racism.  However, inequalities and discrimination still remains major hurdles for blacks and ethnic minorities to participate fully in sports.
Racism, inequalities and discrimination of black people and ethnic minorities in sports
Sport is considered to be one of the activities that unite people. It is a common language spoken by different peoples, even those, who come from different racial backgrounds. For example, football, which is considered to have more than one billion fans, is viewed as a language which unites the one billion people who come from different racial and ethnic backgrounds. Sports unite people and help them to speak the same language. Participation in sports is considered to be a matter of interest. People go in for sports for different reasons, one of them being recreation. Sport is a form of interaction that helps people to know each other well and, hence, form a common understanding.  However, the discrimination and inequalities have been the greatest inhibitory factors to the successful participation of sports by people including the racial minorities.

While sport is supposed to create unity and understanding, it has been one of the avenues through which racism has been propagated. There have been widespread cases of racism, inequalities, and discrimination in sports, especially, targeting black people and ethnic minorities. Like in other spheres of life, they have been systematically discriminated in sports, which hinders them from fully participation like other races.

As the society becomes diverse and multicultural, there have been various issues which inhibit successful integration of all the components of the society to make it one. Development and equality issues continue to haunt most multicultural societies as they try to implement inclusion policies.  The sporting sectors in the UK and other countries are among those which have been faced by these challenging issues that are becoming hard to fight, unless the root causes which can be traced to racism are dealt with. A number of past researches have revealed that as the society becomes ethnically diverse, so is this diversity reflected in sporting facilities (Long et al.  2009).  These reports have shows that there are many barriers which inhibit participation of minority groups in sports including material constraints, racial discrimination, stereotyping as can be reflected in their worry  to access a culturally appropriate sport or a physical recreation activities. These are major factors that have inhibited the increase participation of blacks and other minority groups in sports and recreation facilities.

However, factors inhibiting the full participation of blacks and minority groups in sports extend beyond the assumed racism, from which inequality and discrimination arise.  Research findings show that there are many disadvantages which come from high rate of unemployment, low wages and incomes, pathetic living conditions, poor health, and others which are the causes of inequality and discrimination in sports. These factors act as constrains to the access of materials and, hence, limit the participation in sports. The most important point that can be deduced from this description is that ethnicity should not be taken as the only factor limiting participation of blacks and other racial minorities in sports as there are other diverse factors. Rather, inequality and discrimination stems from the way ethnicity intersects with other factors like gender, class, incomes, disability, age, and others which are main factors that shape opportunities to participate in sports (McLean 2009).

The media have also been cited as another factor that intersects with the above mentioned factors to shrink opportunities for blacks and other racial minorities to participate in sports.  The media have been accused of portrayals and racial stereotypes which are held by people in the society that limits participation of blacks and racial minorities in sports.  Media stereotypes are not necessarily negative to act as a barrier to participation in sports. For example, when the media depicts a person from a certain racial group over and over again, this creates a stereotypic image that relates the sports to that race. 
In the UK, it is widely believed that bitter and angry exchanges evidenced between players and spectators constitute racism and discrimination in sports. However, research findings shows that widespread discrimination and inequality are major problems that affect sports at different levels.  These are superficial problems which are believed to result from racism.

It has been observed that a lower proportion of people who come from ethnic minorities participate in sports compared to other races (Trivedi 2009).  The national average participation in sports is dominated by larger races and very few black and other racial minorities have participated. One study that was carried out by English Sports Councils showed that many people who come from ethnic minorities were more than willing to try sports, but one of the major hindrances has been lack of sporting facilities. This implies that, unlike other races that have access to world class sporting facilities, blacks and racial minorities lack access to such facilities which are important for sporting activities (Long et al. 2009). Sport facilities are essential for laying down the sporting infrastructure and without access to the required and recommended facilities participation in sports would be minimal if not impossible.

In the same study, it was revealed that racist incidents were also among major factors that inhibited participation in sports.  Racist incidents did not only put them off, but they also made many of them keep off from sports. The study revealed that one in every ten black men or men with Caribbean origin had a negative experience in sports owing to their ethnicity.
The study also revealed that sports suffer from stereotyping.  This implies that there are some games which are related to a given race or ethnic group. Stereotyping is dangerous as it discourages other groups from participating in the said sports, as they feel not part of it. For example in this study, a survey carried out on spectators revealed that 83.3 believed that basketball was natural sports for Africans while 65.1 believed that it was a natural sport for Asians (Long et al. 2009). As a result, people are likely to avoid participating in basketball, since they will relate it to the assigned racial group. When they cannot identify with the racial group, they cannot participate in the game. This is one of the major factors that are making it difficult for blacks and other racial minorities to participate in some sports which are assumed to be for whites.

Interestingly, the study reveled that, despite the perceived stereotyping in basketball, the UK national structure for management of the sport was dominated by whites. This indicates that, despite the game being played by mostly blacks and Asians, the management structured was dominated by the white people.  Racism, inequalities and discrimination can be perceived to be a major factor that has inhibited blacks and other racial minorities to participate in management of teams (Scott Porter Research 2001).  Despite being the main players, very few blacks and other racial minorities make up sports management levels. Inequality in management implies that majority of players find their issues not well tackled since they may not identify with the management structure.

Racial discrimination studies carried out in the UK show that the opportunity to develop sport in the minority deprived communities has been greatly compromised by the justification of the racial discrimination within the social control and the empowerment avenues (Houlihan 2003). There are preconceived ideologies that assume racial discrimination to be legal.  Over the last thirty years, there have been a number of initiatives put in place to improve the position of minority groups in sports, but little has been achieved.

Although there has some been progress made in some areas, inequalities and racism still exist. In the United States, research findings show that racial minority groups are major participants in sports, they are, however, major participants in some sports only. For example basketball has been shown as one of the successful games where blacks have shown higher level of participation both in management and sporting activities (Houlihan 2003). However, this is just one sport and it has not bee experienced in other sports. This success cannot, therefore,e be used to associate success in all sports in breaking inequality and discrimination.

It is evident that inequalities and discrimination has been a major factor structuring the reality of sports for minority groups and blacks not only in the UK, but in other countries as well. Although there has been progress that have been made in mitigating the situation compared to the previous situations, it is worth noting that this progress may have been made only in terms of defining the problem rather than solving it. There has been acceptance of racial discrimination in sports as a major problem that need to be addressed especially by higher echelons in sports authority like Department of Culture, Media, and Sports in the UK and other bodies like Sport England and Sporting Equals. However, the country is miles away from addressing this problem

Although the subject of the racial discrimination in sports remains controversial in different countries, there is little doubt that racial minorities have faced discrimination in sports and most people say that it is an area they feel not so much welcomed to. Blacks and racial minorities have been affected in different perspective in sports landscape which greatly affects their overall participation and success. In summarization, racial discrimination in sports has been observed in the following areas (Houlihan 2003)
Sports institutions
In sports institution, blacks and racial minorities have been discriminated in the following context
They are not well represented in sports administration including the ruling bodies and in the decision making process. In the UK, it has been found out that Asians are under-represented in sports management. They are also under represented in official position in most sports organizations. This has made a prevailing whiteness in sporting organizations and this has set cultural norm of whiteness which trickle from management to the field. This lowers their bargaining power to structure administration of sports institutions.
They are not well represented in players associations
Very few are included in club owners and the controlling committees
 The following forms of racialization existing in sports institutions
There is racial inequality in access to decision making forums
There is racial exclusion in terms of membership to sports association or even clubs thereby limiting their participation on sports
In sports institutions, the following policy recommendations have been made in order to mitigate racial discriminations
There is need to increase access and representation of minority groups including Asians and blacks. This includes giving them more representation in administrative issues  and ruling bodies
There is need to challenge the current normalized nature of whiteness in sports landscape. This can be achieved through media campaigns and increased economic empowerment of minority group in  club ownership
Sporting practices
Blacks and racial minority groups also faces a lot of racial discrimination in sporting practices in the following contexts
Scouting for potential sportsmen and women and consequential recruitment choices
The culture of players
Management of practices and the actual coaching
Sports administration and marketing contracts
Representation
The following forms of racialization exist in sporting practices
There is a racially created connection between racialized attributed, capacity in sports, and the professionalism
There are all forms of racialized abuses which are evident within playing, coaching, and even in spectators
In response to racialization in sporting practices, the following policies recommendations have been proposed
Creating awareness within the sporting arena on the effects of racial discrimination as it undermines spirit of sports.
Putting in place an effective stereotyping policy
Policies that assist in building consensus against all forms of racialized common sense
Ensuring there is tighter observation and adherence to antiracial codes of practices for both players and coaches
There should be policy priority in developing more Asian, Blacks, and other  racial minority coaches and scouts
There should be tight legal actions taken against those who perpetuate racist activities in sporting practices.
It has been established that the low level of participation of blacks and other racial minority groups has been extended to other areas beyond active participations.  It has been experienced in spectator, volunteering, and sports administrations. It has been established that spectators prefer going to games where they find people of their racial background.  For example, it s very rare to find blacks or Asians spectators in sports like Jockey which are believed to be a reserve for the whites. They have expressed fear of racial remarks or treatment like lack of reservation of seats, among other factors that make them keep away from these sports.