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(Anti-)racism in organised sport

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At the beginning of 2023, German Sports Youth within the German Olympic Sports Confederation (dsj) and the German Olympic Sports Confederation (DOSB) launched the joint project “(Anti)-racism in organised sport”. The project provides a great opportunity to boost anti-racism work at clubs and associations with a lasting impact, refine ideas for the structures of organised sport and carry out an urgently needed review of racism in organised sport.

dsj and the DOSB emphasise that it is important to them to consider, uncover, highlight and promote the experiences, perspectives, skills and expertise of communities affected by racism, especially in connection with sport, and to involve and strengthen these communities (in the spirit of empowerment and capacity building). They expect the same attitude and the same commitment from the institutions, organisations and individuals with whom they (will) work in the course of this project.  

The project will have a term of three years and will primarily focus on four areas of activity. Custom-tailored educational programmes are to be developed for organised sport. A competition is to be used to get clubs involved and to motivate them to demonstrate their commitment in the area of anti-racism work. In order to make even better use of the existing structures, a network of actors from within and outside organised sport will be established. In addition, full-time anti-racism officers are to be engaged in selected dsj and DOSB member organisations to implement measures that meet the needs in the respective association.

In order to “understand racism in organised sport”, dsj and the DOSB are collaborating, within the framework of the project, with the University of Wuppertal, which will carry out an independent research project.

The “(Anti-)racism in organised sport” project is supported by the German Federal Government’s Anti-racism Commissioner (Disclaimer).

Club competition

The German Federal Government’s Anti-Racism Commissioner, Minister of State Reem Alabali-Radovan, supports the project:

Credit: Bundeskanzleramt

“Racism manifests itself in many different ways in our society. Racist resentments, prejudices and marginalisation also exist amongst sportspeople. Racism in sport is also expressed by sportspeople not receiving encouragement – in their playing position, in training courses, in the association. To break down these structures and ensure that racism and discrimination no longer have a place in sport, I am supporting the project “(Anti-)racism in organised sport”.

Goal: to boost anti-racism work at clubs and associations with a lasting impact

Project pillar I: Conveying attitudes

  • Reviewing existing educational concepts within the structure of sport and the relevant actors in anti-racism work outside sport

  • Developing educational programmes on the topic of “anti-racism”

  • Designing educational programmes for sports associations and their training system (coaches, trainers, referees/umpires)

  • Cooperating in the development of needs-oriented educational modules with one to two member organisations

Target groups:

  • Sports associations
  • People working in sport in a full-time or voluntary capacity

Goals:

  • To raise awareness of how to recognise and deal with racist and discriminatory behaviour

  • To teach confidence in dealing with group-focused hostility and tools for anti-racism work

  • To provide sustainable learning through modern learning methods (blended learning)

Project pillar II: Demonstrating commitment
  • Organising a club competition (distribution of cash prizes)
  • Constantly communicating project results/findings via social media and other channels

Target groups:

  • People working in sport in a full-time or voluntary capacity
  • Federal and state politics, civil-society actors outside sport

Goals: 

  • To reach various actors and target groups in sport (different levels, types of sport, full-time/voluntary commitment, different activities)
  • To raise clubs’ awareness of the issue through appropriate public relations work in collaboration with the member organisations
  • To present the wide-ranging commitment to combating racism in sports clubs/organisations and attract more people to join the campaign

Project pillar III: Making use of structures
  • Structurally processing the topic area and putting the overall project in practice at a member organisation level (by anti-racism officers; in five member organisations, half of a full-time position is funded)
  • Bundling information and advice regarding enquiries in the topic area by establishing a network and a think tank on “Anti-racism in organised sport“ (consisting of actors from organised sport, politics, academia and self-organised migrant organisations/civil-society organisations)
  • Networking with existing structures in organised sport (sports projects in “Cohesion through participation” and “Integration through sport”)

Target groups:

  • People working in sport in a full-time or voluntary capacity
  • Self-organised migrant organisations
  • People affected by racism
  • Representatives of politics and academia

Goals:

  • To support the critical analysis of racism in sports clubs/associations (e.g. by putting anti-racism officers in place in member organisations)
  • To bundle requirements and pass on information, down to the local club level

Project pillar IV: Understanding racism

  • Executing an independent research project on “(Anti)-racism in sport”

  • Cooperating/sharing knowledge with other project pillars and relevant actors (e.g. people affected by racism, the “Anti-racism in organised support” network (NAniS), anti-racism officers)

Understanding of racism

Research project based on an approach that

  1. focuses on individual and structural racism
  2. also looks at racism as a legacy of colonialism
  3. works with intersectional perspectives on racism and
  4. discusses whiteness as a powerful structural category.

Goals: 

  • To recognise, name and uncover experiences of racism, structural racism and forms of anti-racism work in club-organised sport

  • To provide contextual and practical knowledge for countering racism in sport

  • To back up the project pillars of the overall project with scientific findings

The anti-racism officers introduce themselves:

The task of the anti-racism officers is to address the topic of racism or anti-racism work in the structures of their association in a targeted manner. The goals of the overall project serve as a guide here. They are supported by the project team and by people in positions of responsibility within the association.

Sönke Hachmann

Association: Brandenburg Sports Youth

Location: Potsdam

Start date: January 2024

 

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Motivation/how I got into the job: In ten years working in elite sport as an athletic trainer and sports scientist, I had the privilege of supporting a number of athletes and accompanying them on their journey. I have felt powerless in the face of racism for a long time, and I have seen how much those affected suffer from harassment and the extent to which change is avoided, in spite of the topic being addressed by the media. Therefore, I would now like to make a clear commitment and actively help to make it possible for everyone to have access to sport and to associate this with positive experiences.

What is the current situation in the association: The starting position in Brandenburg is challenging, which is what makes it so necessary to take action. The state sports association is active in various confederations and repeatedly makes its opposition to racism clear. We now have to find ways and means of exerting a positive influence. The association is aware of the strengths and potential of organised sport. Tolerance, respect and fair play are important values in sport and should also prevail in society.

Motivation of the association/goals: The decision to be part of the project shows that the association has recognised the need to give more thought to the topic of anti-racism and to take a more active role in tackling it. Sport can serve as a model of participation, tolerance and diversity and can have an influence on social developments. The goal is to take small steps in the right direction and involve affected communities in this, empowering them to position themselves in the public arena and contribute towards a shift in consciousness. Sustainable initiatives are to be (further) developed, which will be available to actors in organised sport without major obstacles and will help them at a structural level and in everyday life.

Tatjana Jarow

Association: German Fencing Federation

Location: Bonn

Start date: November 2023

 

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Motivation/How I got into the job: I noticed the job advert on the North Rhine-Westphalia Sport Federation jobs board. At the time, I was looking to change my career, and I was consciously seeking a job that dealt with the issue of anti-racism/integration/non-discrimination in sport because I had already been active in this area on a voluntary basis for several years. I was all the more delighted when German Fencing Youth invited me for an interview and ultimately gave me the job.

My motivation is the desire for structural change in organised sport and in our society as a whole. I myself come from a migrant background that is not apparent at “first glance” and understand how challenging the journey can be if the migrant history is “more obvious” and constantly made a subject of discussion. 40% of teenagers living in Germany have at least one parent with a migrant background. In my opinion, this is still not sufficiently visible in the structures of our society. As this 40% figure includes my own children, I would like to actively contribute towards changing the structures and to see more equal opportunities and diversity, including at a management level.   

What is the current situation in the association/motivation of the association: German Fencing Youth applied for the anti-racism project because my colleagues wanted to focus intensively on the association’s own structures. The goal is to raise awareness of the issue of anti-racism. We would like fencing to stand for tolerance, respect, diversity and a cosmopolitan attitude and also to be perceived in this way from the “outside”. A “bottom-up” process is particularly important to me, as it means that we can ideally reach and address all the fencing clubs, whether they are involved in the sport on a grassroots or elite level.

Aleixo-Platini Menga

Association: German Athletics Association

Location: Darmstadt

Start date: May 2024

 

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How did you get into this role: As a result of an enquiry from the Director of Sport Development at the German Athletics Association, Dr Ralf Buckwitz, whom I got to know during my time as a competitive athlete. 

What is your motivation: I was born in Angola and immigrated into Germany at the age of two. Germany is my homeland. I would like to discuss this sense of “home” and identification in discussion groups and workshops, and I also want to be available as a point of contact for people with experiences of racism – to offer them support and provide them with a platform. It is a very important and complex issue. In my own household, we discuss the issue of “identity” in depth, as I have a fair-skinned wife and our children have a light-brown skin colour. Therefore, sensitisation can also take place in a private environment. 

What is the current situation in your association: The German Athletics Association is already active in the fight against racism, xenophobia and marginalisation. The fight against racism is assigned to the area of good governance, which falls under the remit of the salaried Director of Sport Development. Since 2021, the association has significantly stepped up its activities once again and has appointed the diversity coach Dr Nkechi Madubuko as a permanent contact at the German Athletics Association for German athletes and people with full-time salaried jobs in the area of elite sports. The goal was to provide a neutral point of contact for athletes to turn to in confidence if they feel that they are facing racism in a sports-related context. Dr Madubuko also acts in an advisory capacity for the Management Board of the German Athletics Association in matters of discrimination (with a focus on racism).

What is your association’s motivation to become involved in anti-racism work? What are the goals: The objective behind appointing an anti-racism officer for athletics is to fight all forms of racism and to create an inclusive and fair environment for all active and dedicated athletes. We aim to ensure that all the sports areas and decision-making spaces in athletics are perceived as “safer spaces” so that no restrictions are placed on any aspects of performance and personal development. We want to take preventive action, in the form of a variety of programmes, to raise awareness of the issue and address clear transgressions. It is also important to analyse our structures to combat institutional racism. Rules and structural anchors are essential for taking a stance through a zero-tolerance policy. Racist utterances, gestures or actions are not tolerated. We want to create spaces for sport that watch closely and take action.

Jeyathiliban Sivasubramaniam

Association: Hamburg Sport Federation

Location: Hamburg

Start date: January 2024

 

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How did you get into this job? What was your motivation: While studying Sport in Marburg and Hamburg, I devoted a lot of time to the topic of racism and sport. The perspectives of those affected are and always have been important to me, but have been given much too little attention in academic research to date – if they have been considered at all. I not only looked at interpersonal racism,

but also scrutinised the structures of sport and asked myself the following questions: Why do almost all of my friends go skiing and snowboarding in the winter whilst I have never come into contact with these sports? Why are all my coaches and lecturers white? Why have I never rowed or played tennis or hockey, sports in which black people, people with a migrant or refugee background or people of colour are under-represented? I am aware that I no longer want to learn and practise these sports, but I want to achieve something for future generations, who will have the option of rowing, boxing or playing football, basketball, tennis or hockey without encountering barriers and exclusion criteria.

When a friend showed me the job advert from the Hamburg Sport Federation, I waited until the last possible day before applying. I asked myself whether I was really suited to the rule, whether my qualifications were sufficient and whether I would fit in at the Hamburg Sport Federation. At the end of the day, I am happy that I applied and got the job.

What is the current situation at your association?/What is your association’s motivation to become involved in anti-racism work: As the second biggest city in Germany, Hamburg thrives on its diversity. This should also be lived out among the more than 500,000 people involved in organised sport. With the German Olympic Sports Confederation’s “Integration through sport” programme, the Hamburg Sport Federation has worked for decades to make the route into organised sport easier for people with a migrant background. The programme not only provides funding for individual club projects, but also involves the intercultural opening of clubs and giving all people equal opportunities to participate in sport. Racism and discrimination are always an issue. The theme is occasionally taken up and examined more closely in the context of counselling services and training measures. A point of contact for interpersonal violence (whether in the form of sexualised, physical, psychological/emotional or verbal violence) has already been set up in the form of the “Protection against Violence” office.

With the position of the anti-racism officer, the Hamburg Sport Federation wants to facilitate a systematic, pointed and in-depth analysis of the association’s own structures and the structures of the member organisations. Building structures that promote integration means dismantling discriminatory, marginalising structures. This involves recognising, naming and overcoming racist and discriminatory ways of thinking, behaviours and structures – including in club sport. Alongside raising awareness about the theme, a key element is targeted initiatives against existing forms of discrimination and the development of a clear position, which is to be pursued through critical reflection on racism and through change.

Keren Vogler

Association: German Youth Power Sports Association (DJK)

Location: Langenfeld/Rhineland

Start date: March 2024

 

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Motivation/how I got into the job: In my voluntary work at Maccabi Germany and my professional career as the contact for sexualised violence at Special Olympics Germany, I have talked to a lot of people who are affected by discrimination. It makes me angry and sad to know that people experience discrimination because of their religion, a disability, their sexual orientation, their skin colour, their gender, or simply because they are supposedly in the wrong place at the wrong time. The desire to change this is what drives me, in both my professional and my private life! When I saw the job advert from the DJK, I wanted to be part of the project. To learn more, to share what I have learned and thus to be able to contribute towards greater understanding and participation for EVERYONE in our society. In harmony, multifaceted, diverse and varied. How enriching would that be? A festival of cultures with a regained sense of unity in Germany. 

My duties: I provide training for disseminators of all ages within the DJK structures. We are also planning a summer festival on this theme in 2025 with a marketplace of possibilities, where we will bring together a lot of clubs, associations and best practice examples relating to anti-racism. My main task involves promoting and consolidating anti-racism initiatives both in the youth sector and throughout the DJK. I would like to raise awareness of and sensitivity to anti-racism within the association and to communicate this important concern intensively to the sports scene and beyond.

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