Sporting Equals launch #EndBAME campaign; charity conducted terminology in sport survey last year where respondents stated clear dislike for term BAME (Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic); Brentford FC receive widespread interest in advertised board vacancy with deadline fast approaching
Saturday 27 March 2021 13:06, UK
Sporting Equals have launched the #EndBAME campaign at an event on race equality and the state of the UK sport sector.
The charity conducted a terminologies in sport survey last year, which revealed different communities preferred a more specific definition than the widely-used term BAME, which stands for Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic.
Sporting Equals chief executive Arun Kang OBE told Sky Sports News last November that BAME was a "mix-up" term that "means nothing and people don't want to be known as an acronym".
Speaking on Tuesday, Kang added: "Language is the chief way we communicate as a society, if there is a laziness and apathy even within how we describe our communities how can we effectively seek to reduce inequalities, not just in sport but across wider sectors also.
"We need to retire BAME as a society and Sporting Equals will be leading the way to call for change not just in sport but across wider sectors. For those interested in following our campaign to track our journey of advocation for equality follow us on all our social media and the hashtag #EndBAME."
Sporting Equals' terminology survey saw it consult with members of over 200 organisations, which represent more than 20,000 members and almost 150,000 service users. The majority of respondents stated a clear dislike for the term BAME.
The sports race equality charity have since produced a terminology resource for the sports sector, outlining inaccurate and outdated terms, with suggestions for alternatives.
According to recent government advice, the terms BME and BAME should no longer be used because they include some groups and not others, and the terms were not well understood.
Sporting Equals' Race Equality: State of the Sector Digital Event took place on Tuesday, and was hosted by inclusion consultant and former athlete Michelle Moore. Speakers included Sports Minister Nigel Huddleston, Sport England chief executive Tim Hollingsworth and world No 1 Para-badminton champion Rachel Choong.
Huddleston said: "This year has been very difficult for the sport sector and indeed society as a whole; people from ethnically diverse backgrounds in particular have been affected by the pandemic in a large number of ways and looking at the impact in our own sector we know that our collective efforts to reduce inequalities in physical activity have suffered a setback due to Covid.
"This only strengthens my resolve as I'm sure it does for all of you to redouble our efforts and ensure we keep the focus on reducing inequality."
Muslimah Sports Association founder and chair Yashmin Harun BEM also features on the panel, alongside cricket commentator and former World Cup winner Isa Guha, and England netballer Ama Agbeze.
Agbeze is also part of the Sports Monitoring Advisory Panel launched by Sporting Equals last month to hold to account publicly funded sporting organisations over their Black Lives Matter-inspired pledges.
The panel - which also features QPR's Chris Ramsey, former England cricketer Devon Malcolm and 2014 Women's Rugby World Cup winner Maggie Alphonsi - is also tasked with identifying and profiling best practice of publicly funded sport and physical activity organisations.
Meanwhile, Sky Sports News understands that Brentford Football Club have received widespread interest in their recently advertised non-executive director position.
We revealed earlier this month that the Bees were taking the rare step of advertising for a board member as they aim to become the most inclusive football club in the country. Applications for the role close at 5pm on Tuesday.
Brentford's eight-strong board is already gender-diverse and ethnically diverse. Director Nity Raj is a British South Asian, chairman Cliff Crown is Jewish, while Monique Choudhuri was, up until late last year, one of just five female directors in the Championship. Co-director of football Rasmus Ankersen, who is Danish, also sits on Brentford's board.
Raj explained what the club are looking for from a new non-executive director and hopes they can inspire change across the football community.
"We want to talk to people who have deep experience in our community and we want to bring different voices to the board of Brentford, because when you have different experiences, you can get different ideas and you can innovate," he told Sky Sports News.
"We're really excited about the candidates who are already coming through and we think there's going to people who can connect us to our local community.
"We already have great links with the local community, great work done by the Brentford Community Sports Trust, but what we want to do is encourage more people into this fantastic new stadium and we believe we'll be able to do that with somebody who has those links."
For more stories, features and videos, visit our dedicated South Asians in Football page on skysports.com and stay tuned to Sky Sports News and our Sky Sports digital platforms.
