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Contemporary Issues in Sport
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This document includes 4 different contemporary issues in sport with examples for each.
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George AlexanderUnit 12- Assignment 3
Gender Issues and Homophobia:
One-way sporting governing bodies have been tackling gender and homophobic issues is players in
football have now started to wear rainbow coloured laces on their boots as a way of showing their
support for LGBT players and supporters. This is good because it promotes players as good role
models for kids and makes them more popular. However more should be done by having more of
these role models that kids can look up to so they will know not to be homophobic.
The contemporary issue of gender is slowly being improved in sport. An example of this is pay gaps
closing between male and female and in some cases, they will get paid the same. This includes
player salaries and prize money. However, in some cases, such as football, this could never happen
as the popularity of male football is much higher than female football, so more money is put into
male football and this won’t change for a long time or maybe even never.
Another example of contemporary issues with gender in sport is the media and coverage. Although
more is being done to improve coverage of female sports, it still would never be equal with male
sports as people don't have the same interest in female sport as they do to male sport.
Issues moving forward could be a big problem. For example, in the future people could boycott
games if homophobic players participate. A close example of this is when ultras of Russian club Zenit
St Petersburg threatened to boycott games if they signed gay or black players which shows more
should be done to get rid of these sorts of fans. These sorts of incidents cause gay footballers to feel
scared, so they stay in the closet. Below is an interview with David Haigh, Leeds United’s ex-
managing director who is gay:
He said that around 20 gay footballers are in the closet, adding: “They are still playing, in the Premier
League, and the Championship.”
Haigh explained that footballers were reluctant to come out publicly because “young stars advertise
brands with sponsors and being gay is still seen as a handicap.”
He added: “To be suddenly known for their sexuality would be unsettling.
“Football needs to have people come out. The first guy to do it would be brave, yes, but they would
also get a lot of support.
“I don’t think gay footballers would face a terrible time today. I think that players who came out
would receive support. I hope it would not be like Justin Fashanu.
“I think things have changed massively since then, so I would hope the reaction would not be the
same today.”
, George Alexander
Racism:
One of the biggest issues in sport is racism and many things are being done to prevent this. For
example, there are many campaigns such as the Let’s Kick Racism out of Football campaign which
works within the football community to challenge discrimination and work for a positive change.
However, the media needs to focus more on these campaigns and get more role models to advertise
the campaigns to spread the message.
In the future there could be issues such as racist campaigns being introduced through social media
and could be used to discourage people from accepting ethnically different players or sportsmen and
women in general and that will teach young people that certain races shouldn't be playing sports
which is very wrong.
To tackle racism, more needs to be done to punish racist players and fans. Although officials can now
red card a player for shouting racist abuse to another player, more needs to be done to fans as they
do not get a harsh enough punishment for what they can do and have done. If something doesn't
happen then there will always be racism in sport.
An example of how UEFA is trying to eradicate racism from football is their 3-step protocol that was
created to give referees the power to halt the game and even abandon the game. Below is the list of
steps that the referees are required to follow:
Step one- If the referee becomes aware of racist behaviour, or is informed of it by the fourth official,
he will stop the game. He will then request an announcement to be made over the public address
system asking spectators to immediately stop any racist behaviour.
Step two- If the racist behaviour does not cease after the game has restarted, the referee will
suspend the match for a reasonable period of time, for example, five to ten minutes, and request
teams to go to the dressing rooms. A further announcement is made over the public address system.
Step three- As a final resort, if the racist behaviour continues after a second restart, the referee can
definitively abandon the match.
The UEFA delegate responsible for the match will assist the referee, through the fourth official, in
determining whether the racist behaviour has ceased. Any decision to abandon the match will only
be taken after all other possible measures have been implemented and the impact of abandoning
the match on the security of the players and public has been assessed. After the match, the case is
referred to UEFA's disciplinary authorities.
This 3-step protocol was seen in use at the England v Bulgaria Euro 2020 qualifier. The first step was
implemented in the 28th minute when Tyrone Mings was targeted with abuse on his international
debut. Play was stopped again in the 41 st minute when England's players were offered the chance to
leave the pitch, but they chose to not use the second step and play on until half-time, when they
decided not to abandon the Euro 2020 qualifier. This shows that UEFA’s protocol was used to try and
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