Unit 12 - Contemporary Issues in Sport (Religion and Culture) PDF

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Religion and Culture

Introduction; For my fourth and final post I will highlight the need for a more diverse mix of religion and culture in football. I will give examples of some of the barriers they face when going through the process of becoming an elite athlete and some of the solutions that they could use to avoid/minimise these barriers.

Barriers; For a lot of young people that come from a religious background they often find themselves having expectations set for them by their parents. It is “not a norm” to be working in a profession like sports. It is usually the standard doctor or finance route that parents always push their children to pursue. As a young child you never want to disappoint your parents and therefore, this plays a huge role in young talent going to waste as they are more focused elsewhere. However, if they get into the world of sport they often come across facing a lot of criticism and get a lot of racial abuse based on their religion, culture and background. It is very hard to grow up part of a religion and following a dream to balance both aspects can be very challenging for some.

Solutions; To solve these issues it is important to not only understand the needs of these athletes but also what they require. Athletes have a tough time balancing their lifestyle already and religion and culture pay another huge factor in this. An example is that in Australia a new stadium had been built and there had been funding to include muslim prayer rooms in the stadium. This was seen as a way of reducing radicalisation but also bringing more muslims

to the game and providing them with a sense of safety. Creating initiatives to have taster sessions and introductory sessions for those with religious backgrounds to have them participate in sport is another solution to not only increase the number of people with religious backgrounds but also increase the multi diverseness of the sport. For example the British Asian Rugby Association (BARA) who work very hard to have more asian players playing rugby. These are very well set examples for other sporting bodies to follow and have the BAME communities more equal.

Conclusion; The main thing to take away from this is the fact that everyone is brought up in a different way and everyone has a different background. They should all deserve the same respect and equality everyone else has and be given the necessary fairness. They should not be treated differently because of their religious beliefs and their cultural background....