Race, sport, and British society

253 Pages·2001·3.103 MB·English

by  Ben Carrington, Ian McDonald

‘Race’, Sport and British Society
‘Race’, Sport and British Society is the first book to fully explore the dynamics of
racism within sport in Britain. Despite popular belief that sport is an arena free
from the corrosive effects of racism, the reality presents a more complex and
troubling picture. As we start the twenty-first century, racism is still evident in
sport. Racism manifests itself from the playing fields and boardrooms, to the
decisions of sports policy makers and media representations. Sport is also an
arena that far-right nationalists have used in order to promote a xenophobic
version of British identity that excludes Asian and black Britons. Yet, despite
this, sport can also be used to show how Britain is slowly moving towards
becomingagenuinelymulti-culturalsociety.
‘Race’,SportandBritishSocietyarguesthatuntilracismiseradicatedsport’smeri-
tocratic ideals will remain unfulfilled. Moreover, the book discusses British
nationalism and considers the increasing significance of the inter-relationship
between ‘race’ and sport to nationalist ideologies. With chapters from some of
Britain’s leading sociologists, educationalists and journalists, it breaks new
ground in showing how discourses of ‘race’ and nation continue to pervade the
field of sports. Chapters cover a wide range of topics, including the manifesta-
tion of racism in football, cricket and rugby, the alleged innate and ‘natural’
sporting superiority of black athletes, the place of the law in regulating racism,
andtheimportanceofthemediainperpetuating,andchallenging,racialstereo-

types. ‘Race’, Sport and British Society issues a timely and important challenge to
those in positions of power to confront bigotry and discrimination so that sport
becomesgenuinelyopentoall.
Ben Carrington isalecturerin Sociology atthe UniversityofBrighton,and Ian
McDonald is a lecturer in Sports Policy and Politics at the University of
Brighton.

‘Race’, Sport and British
Society
Edited by
Ben Carrington
and Ian McDonald

London and New York
Firstpublished2001
byRoutledge
11NewFetterLane,LondonEC4P4EE
SimultaneouslypublishedintheUSAandCanada
byRoutledge
29West25thStreet,NewYork,NY10001
RoutledgeisanimprintoftheTaylor&FrancisGroup
This edition published in the Taylor & Francis e-Library, 2001.
#2001BenCarringtonandIanMcDonald
Allrightsreserved.Nopartofthisbookmaybereprintedorreproduced
orutilisedinanyformorbyanyelectronic,mechanical,orothermeans,
nowknownorhereafterinvented,includingphotocopyingandrecording,
orinanyinformationstorageorretrievalsystem,withoutpermissionin
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BritishLibraryCataloguinginPublicationData
AcataloguerecordforthisbookisavailablefromtheBritishLibrary
LibraryofCongressCataloging-in-PublicationData
‘Race’,Sport,andBritishSociety/editedbyBenCarringtonandIan
McDonald;
forewordbyPaulGilroy.
p.cm.
Includesbibliographicalr eferencesandindex.
ISBN0-415-24629-6–ISBN0-415-24630-X(pbk.)
1.Discriminationinsports–GreatBritain.2.Athletes,Black–Great
Britain.3.GreatBritain–Racerelations.I.Carrington,Benjamin,1972-
II.McDonald,Ian,1965-
GV706.32.R3162001
306.4’83–dc21
00-051782
ISBN0-415-24630-X(pbk) 0-415-24629-6(hbk)
ISBN 0-203-18791-1 Master e-book ISBN
ISBN 0-203-18914-0 (Glassbook Format)
Contents
List of figures vii
Contributors viii
Foreword xi
Preface xviii
Acknowledgements xxi
PAULGILROY(YALEUNIVERSITY,USA)
1 Introduction: ‘Race’, sport and British society 1
BENCARRINGTONANDIANMcDONALD
PART I
Research into current levels and forms of sports racism:
Some empirical explorations 27
2 Racism, national identity and Scottish football 29
PAULDIMEOANDGERRYP.T.FINN
3 Whose game is it anyway? Racism in local league cricket 49
BENCARRINGTONANDIANMcDONALD
4 ‘Black Pearl, Black Diamonds’: Exploring racial identities
in rugby league 70
KARLSPRACKLEN
5 ‘Lions and black skins’: Race, nation and local patriotism
in football 83
LESBACK,TIMCRABBE,ANDJOHNSOLOMOS
PART II
Public controversies over ‘race’ and sport: Science, media
and the law 103
6 Racial science and South Asian and black physicality 105
SCOTTFLEMING
vi Contents
7 In search of the unequivocal Englishman: The conundrum
of race and nation in English cricket 121
MIKEMARQUSEE
8 Sport, racism and the limits of ‘colour blind’ law 133
SIMONGARDINERANDROGERWELCH
PART III
Challenging discourses/Contesting identities 151
9 Playing their own game: A South Asian football experience 153
SANJIEVJOHAL
10 Reconceptualizing race, gender and sport: The contribution
of black feminism 170
SHEILASCRATON
11 Notes from the sports desk: Reflections on race, class and
gender in British sports journalism 188
EMMALINDSEY
12 Pitch of life: Re-reading C.L.R. James’ Beyond a Boundary 199
CHRISSEARLE
Bibliography 215
Author index 217
Subject index 223
Figures
1 Tony Witter 88
2 Harry Cripps and Phil Walker – Millwall players 1976 89
3 Tony Witter puts pressure on the Arsenal defence
from a free kick 89
Contributors
LesBackisaReaderinSociologyatGoldsmiths’College,UniversityofLondon.
He has written extensively on racism and popular culture. He is the author
of, amongst others, of New Ethnicities and Urban Culture (UCL Press, 1996),
co-author(withJohnSolomos)ofRace,PoliticsandSocialChange(Routledge,
1995) and Racism and Society (Macmillan, 1996), and co-editor (also with
JohnSolomos)ofTheoriesofRaceandRacism:AReader(Routledge,2000).
Ben Carrington teaches sociology and cultural studies at the Chelsea School,
UniversityofBrighton.
TimCrabbeisPrincipalLecturerinSportSociologyatSheffieldHallamUniver-
sity. He has published in a variety of academic and popular journals and has
co-authored (with Les Back and John Solomos) The Changing Face of
Football:Racisms, MulticultureandIdentity (Berg,2001).Hisresearch interests
focus on sport, racism and identity and the relationship between sport and
notions of deviance. He is also a former national chair of the Football Sup-
porters’Association.
Paul Dimeo lectures in the Division of Sport Studies at University College
Northampton. His doctoral research at the University of Strathclyde from
1995–2000 examined the relationship of football and racism in Scottish
society.Sincethenh ehasbeenresearchingvariousaspectsofthehistoryand
sociologyoffootballinSouthAsia.
Gerry P.T. Finn is Reader in the Department of Educational Studies at the
University of Strathclyde. His major research focus is on societal conflict in
relation to sport, education and society. He co-edited (with Richard Giulia-
notti) Football Culture: Local Contests and Global Visions (Frank Cass, 2000).
Recentpublicationsonsocietalconflictoutsidesportinclude‘‘‘Sectarianism’’
andScottishEducation’,inScottishEducation(EUP,1999)and‘ACultureof
Prejudice: Promoting pluralism in education for a change’ in Scotland’s
Shame?BigotryandSectarianisminModernScotland(MainstreamPress,2000).
Scott Fleming is Head of the School of Sport at Cheltenham and Gloucester
College of Higher Education. He has written widely on sport, physical
educationandethnicity,andistheauthorof‘HomeandAway’:SportandSouth
Contributors ix
AsianMaleYouth(AveburyPress,1995),andco-editor(withAlanTomlinson)
ofEthics,SportandLeisure:CrisesandCritiques(MeyerandMeyer,1997)
Simon Gardiner is Director of the International Sports Law Centre at Anglia
PolytechnicUniversity.Heisco-authorofSportsLaw(1998,CavendishPub-
lishing) and has published widely in the discipline of sports law. He is cur-
rently researching in areas of sports governance and legal issues surrounding
Europeannationalidentityandsport.
SanjievJohal isco-authorofCornerFlags andCornerShops–TheAsianFootball
Experience (Phoenix, 1999). Having completed his doctoral research which
examinedtheSouthAsianexperienceofsportinBritain,attheUniversityof
Warwick, he has returned to the world of sports journalism with The
Observer.
Emma Lindsey is an award-winning journalist who was born in London but
spent her formative years flitting between the West Coast of America and
London. She has written extensively about sport and other issues for a
variety of publications including the Observer, the Guardian, the Independent
onSunday,theSundayExpress,andArenaMagazine.
Mike Marqusee is the co-author of Defeat from the Jaws of Victory: Inside Kin-
nock’s Labour Party (Verso, 1992), and author of Anyone but England: Cricket
and the National Malaise (Verso, 1992, shortlisted for the 1994 William Hill
Sports Book of the Year, reprinted by Two Heads in 1998), War Minus the
Shooting:AJourneythroughSouthAsiaduringCricket’sWorldCup(Heinemann,
1996) and Redemption Song: Muhammad Ali and the spirit of the sixties (Verso,
1999,shortlistedforthe1999WilliamHillSportsBookoftheYear).Hehas
also contributed articles on sport and politics to the New Statesman, Esquire
Magazine, the Guardian, Race and Class, India International Quarterly, Indian
Express, and many other periodicals. Mike is the founding member and
currentchairmanofHitRacismforSix.
IanMcDonaldteachespo liticsandpolicyinsportandphysicaleducationatthe
UniversityofBrighton.
Sheila Scratonis ProfessorofLeisure and FeministStudiesatLeeds Metropoli-
tan University. She began her career as a PE teacher and has taught in
schools,furthereducationandhighereducation.SheisUKco-ordinatorofa
major European research project on women’s experiences of sport (highly
competitiveandrecreational)andisinvolvedinresearchexploringdifference
and identity in relation to women, leisure and the city. She has published
extensively in the areas of gender and physical education, women, sport and
leisure,leisureandthepost-moderncity.
Chris Searle is a lecturer in education at Goldsmiths’ College, University of
London. He is the author of numerous books on teaching and language. His
study of language in the Caribbean, The Forsaken Lover: White Words and