'Race', Ethnicity and Racism in Sports Coaching

Steven Bradbury is Lecturer in Sport, Equality and Diversity at the School of Sport, Exercise and Health Sciences, Loughborough University, UK. His research interests focus on ‘race’, ethnicity and racisms and the effectiveness of measures designed to address racialised inequalities in the playing, coaching and leadership tiers of amateur and professional football and other sports. He has been actively involved with anti-racism campaigns in football in the UK and Europe as a researcher and activist for over 25 years. Jim Lusted is Student Experience Manager at The Open University, UK and Associate Lecturer at University of Northampton, UK. He has been researching inequalities in sport for over 15 years, focusing on the formation and implementation of equality policies in recreational sport. He has held several voluntary roles in sport including Chair of Kick It Out’s Grassroots Guidance Group and is Vice-Chair of the Northamptonshire Football Association’s Inclusion Advisory Group. Jacco van Sterkenburg is Associate Professor at the Erasmus Research Centre for Media Communication and Culture, Erasmus University Rotterdam, the Netherlands. He is also a Visiting Research Fellow at the Mulier Institute – Dutch Centre for Social Science Research in Sport, the Netherlands. His research focuses on discourses surrounding race/ethnicity and whiteness in multi-ethnic society, with a particular focus on the case of sports, sports media, and sport management and leadership.

Introduction: ‘Race’, Ethnicity and Racism in Sports Coaching, Part I: Representation and racialised barriers in sports coaching, 1. The under-representation of racial minorities in coaching and leadership positions in the United States, 2. ‘Fit for doing but not fit for organising’: Racisms, stereotypes and networks in coaching in professional football in Europe, 3. Is there a glass ceiling or can racial and ethnic barriers be overcome? A study on leadership positions in professional Belgian football among African coaches, 4. Race, ethnicity, whiteness and mediated stereotypes in football coaching. The Dutch context, 5. British Asian football coaches: Exploring the barriers and advocating action in English football, Part II: Racialised identities, diversity and intersectionality in sports coaching, 6. Finding the ‘natural’: Talent identification and racialisation in sports coaching and selection practices in Australia, 7. A Freirean perspective on coaching and indigenous players’ journeys to the NRL and AFL: From freedom to oppression?, 8. Black women, intersectionality and sport coaching, 9. Beyond the Xs and Os: The representation of black college coaches, 10. Transnational coaches: A critical exploration of intersections of race/ethnicity and gender, Part III: Formalised racial equality interventions in sports coaching, 11. When the law won’t work: The US National Football League’s extra-judicial approach to addressing employment discrimination in coaching, 12. Using reflexive regulation to increase the racial diversity of professional football coaching in England: the EFL voluntary code of recruitment, 13. Game changer or empty promise? The EFL mandatory code of coach recruitment in men’s professional football youth academies in England, Part IV: Conclusions, 14. Priorities for researching ‘race’, ethnicity and racism in sports coaching and recommendations for future practice