Recently, League Two side Crawley Town have parted ways with manager John Yems due to a series of racist allegations, after players of the club spoke out about the experience. Some of the allegations involved segregating black and Asian players in the dressing room and even discriminatory racist language was also allegedly used. One anonymous Crawley town FC player noted John would call them “terrorists, suicide bombers” and even referred to one as a “Zulu warrior”. The incident in question highlights one of the ways unfortunate individuals abuse their managerial authority to control others, even if it involves racial language. While sport’s competitive nature can rail up the worst in some people, racism and racial language are unacceptable as a means to persuade and inflict any kind of authority. It should be challenged and discouraged wherever it is noted. However, this incident pales in slight comparison where calls for so-called social justice are flourishing; creating a breeding ground for performative identity politics to take hold. 

As somebody who enjoys sports – mainly boxing and football – nothing gets more unnoticed than the arrival and growing influence of identity politics. Whether it be premier league players taking the knee in (continued) support for Black Lives Matter or people sending in extraordinary questions such as whether a white man should knock out a black man in boxing – the whole discussion is endless. Not to mention time and again we see working-class football fans booing and when they criticise any aspect of the diversity policies brought by the footballing association, they are derided and asked to check their white privilege.

Some efforts to forge an inclusive vision of sport and build on diversity such as focusing on bringing awareness to women’s sport and disabled athletes have been positive. I’m confident most sporting fans will welcome this. But, the cudgel of identity politics still reigns superior in many of these initiatives. 

And the influence of racial identitarian views is having their affect. Recent IPSOS commissioned this year to explore public attitudes towards racism in sport found more than two-thirds of football fans in the UK think racism is a problem in their sport and that more needs to be done in order to tackle it. However, in these findings there is a slight disparity between those who regard themselves as “among all” and those who are “among football fans” and going for the same Rugby and Cricket in the same categories.  When asked about if enough efforts are in place to tackle racism, while among all and football fans say not enough is being done, those saying that the right amount is being implemented or that it is going too far is revealing. The same can be seen for Rugby and Cricket for similar reasons; especially for the latter sport which found itself engulfed in an institutional racism controversy involving Azeem Rafiq at Yorkshire Cricket Club. While the questions being posed are of a broad church in nature, the disparity could be to due to nuances. Such as those who are fans of the sport might notice tribalistic chants being sung that contain racial undertones compared to those who follow the sport generally might be enticed by media stories of English football players receiving death threats. Overall, more substance needs to be done in exploring what is exactly racist in the sport in oppose to broadly speaking of racism and discrimination. 

Although, while there is (indeed) always going to be cases of racism that emerge in sport, the claims that racism is as prolific as it is suggested does not stand up to scrutiny. More players from ethnic minority backgrounds are now competing in the top tier of football, as well as some of the biggest known English football players being from ethnically diverse backgrounds. Can we really say racism is as pure and strong as it was in sport decades ago? What happened to achieving greatness in sport and celebrating individual triumph over collective identity? For someone like Christiano Ronaldo to emerge from a poverty-ridden side of Portugal to become one of the most skilled and richest football players in the world, it would be insulting to capitalise on his and others’ identity which rids any of this. Less than two years ago when Brighton sacked Chris Hughton, Troy Townsend, the head of development of anti-discrimination think tank Kick It out, slammed the club argue that the road for ethnic minority coaches to be given opportunity was now ‘now worse than square one’.’ Although Kick It Out apologised for the statements used, it is this mentality of seeing ethnic minority people as being disadvantaged in the sport that is complete nonsense. As Sheffield Wednesday coach Darren Moore exclaimed, there are “ample opportunities” and that Chris was not sacked due to his skin colour. 

Instead of performative gestures of identity politics taking hold of the sport, a more substantive action needs to be taken within reason. No one is denying that sport has elements of racism. Plenty of foul language and things can be said which will likely be considered offensive, and rightly should be challenged. But to do these through focusing on collective identity will only fan the flames of division, making us self-conscious of others around us based on racialised categories with the fear of getting cancelled. The gestural performativity of things like taking the knee, and campaigns inspiring to build awareness of discrimination in sport should seek to tackle abuse from a pro-human perspective which does not belittle anyone based on identity.

This mindset built on individual talent and greatness needs to be deeply encouraged. And not encroached by the cudgel of identity politics. It needs to be kicked out. And for good. 

Callum Breese is a regular contributor to The Equiano Project.

Follow Callum on Twitter: @BreeseCallum