A BRADFORD-BASED community organisation recently held an important seminar at Manningham Mills to discuss 'Combatting Racial Discrimination in the Field of Sport'.

Sport Campaign Against Racism (SCAR) hosted the event, attended by local sports clubs, community organisations and members of the public.

An esteemed guest panel was formed, chaired by Kick It Out CEO Tony Burnett. They shared their experiences of working in the sports industry and discussed how to combat racial discrimination.

Saima Hussain, the country's first Asian female rugby league player, has had racial slurs shouted at her during a game. She said: “Governing bodies need to do more. As a coach it is incumbent on us to understand each other’s way of life, but when this doesn’t happen governing bodies need to step up. It shouldn’t be brushed under the carpet.”

Mumtaz Khan, founder of Onna Ju-Jitsu Club in Girlington, who has an ongoing dispute with the governing body for Ju-Jitsu, also shared her frustrations. She said: “I won’t stop using my voice against racism or discrimination. My own experiences have motivated me to study for my Masters and I am currently submitting my PhD proposal regarding Racism in Sport. Things have to change for the sake of sport.”

Humayun Islam BEM, CEO of the BEAP Community Partnership and one of the founders of Bangla Bantams, added that “we shouldn’t shy away and keep challenging when things are not right, but we should do it in a positive way. If someone is shouting racist slurs, we need to shout louder with our positivity.”

SCAR say the audience in the room resonated with the panel and the general feeling was that racism in sport is very much ‘alive and kicking.' This was more recently reinforced with the Euro 2020 final where Marcus Rashford, Jadon Sancho and Bukayo Saka were all abused online for missing penalties.

Racial inclusion in Team GB at the recent Tokyo Olympics was also brought up. Despite having the first Muslim, Mohamed Sbihi, as the flag bearer, the team is still predominantly white; 86% of the athletes are white, 12% are black and the remaining 2% are from other ethnic backgrounds.

If you delve further, then only seven British Asians competed for Team GB at the 2016 Rio Olympics and Paralympics. Seven athletes out of 630, that is just one per cent.

“This is why it’s important to have such seminars” said Fatima Patel, founder and CEO of the Inspirational Women’s Foundation. “The only way we can tackle discrimination in sports and any other industry is when we are allowed to speak without fear or favour. Often voices are silenced for fear of losing out on work, promotion or being left out. Tokenism should also be called out”

Pav Singh, FA regional coach developer, believes we need to work on three key areas; allyship, role modelling and representation. Dr Aarti Ratna, independent researcher, agrees. She said: “In order to fight discrimination you need to have your allies. Your allies are not only people who look like me. I urge institutions to take accountability and do the right thing.”

Mr Burnett felt inspired by the conversations that took place and promised to do more. He said: “I want to see the number moving forward – 15 South Asian players in football is not enough. We’ve not done enough – but we are not going to back down”

Host and organiser Dr Ikram Butt concluded that this is just the start of the movement towards pushing for a more equal and level playing field. Anyone who wants to get involved can do so by visiting www.scarunites.org