Despite the efforts to eliminate the phenomenon of racism from the sociocultural context of the contemporary global environment, it persists and continues to produce a detrimental effect on lives of racial minorities. Racism trickles into every facet of people’s lives, causing members of ethnically and racially diverse communities to experience challenges and injustice. Anti-racism campaigns have been designed to ensure that the issue at hand is addressed and removed from the sociocultural context of the modern world (Dixon et al., 2016). Though anti-racism campaigns designed to manage the racism issue in the English League football have bene quite successful due to their focus on equality and inclusion, further efforts must be taken to address personal biases in players’ and managers’ attitudes.
The efforts that have been made to address the problem of racism in the English football context can be described as substantial. However, the lack of profound understanding of what drives the development of racist ideas within the target community has made the efforts in question significantly weaker. For instance, the notion of colorblindness as the means of managing instances of racism in the British Football League context could be described as ell-intended yet misguided (Cleland and Cashmore, 2014). Specifically, the attempts to promote the principles of colorblindness as the basis for anti-racism has led to failing to acknowledge the very presence of racism and the tragic history of |African American people being affected by it (Dixon et al., 2016). As a result, the people that were supposed to be represented by the programs in question were effectively erased as anti-racism colorblindness programs refused to acknowledge their very existence (Cleland and Cashmore, 2014). Therefore, the programs under analysis can be regarded as largely ineffective.
Admittedly, some of the more recent efforts to minimize the impact of racism on the lives of English League football players from diverse racial backgrounds have been quite impressive. For example, the focus on educating young football players about the dangers of racism and the necessity to adopt inclusive viewpoints when participating in diverse teams have led to notable improvements in the management of racism in the target setting. Therefore, the anti-racism programs such as SRTRC have been producing the required effects on the relationships within the English Football League setting (Dixon et al., 2016). At the same time, the lack of consistency in the provided instructions may have been sending a confusing message to players (Dixon et al., 2016). Therefore, an appropriate change is required to challenge the status quo and promote a more inclusive standpoint (Dixon et al., 2016). For this purpose, the leadership strategies focused on the cross-cultural dialogue, active cultural exchange, and collaboration must be promoted. The strategies in question are expected to contribute to the erasure of stereotypes that cause racism to emerge while also emphasizing the importance of acknowledging cultural differences.
Despite the impressive effects that the recent anti-racism campaigns have had on the relationships within the English League football setting, the current campaigns must be enhanced by focusing on interpersonal relationships between players. The specified change can be facilitated by introducing homogenous values, standards, and ethical principles that will guide the course of relationships and interactions between the players, managers, and other participants. The proposed approach will help improve the situation and contribute to the further eradication of any racist ideas form the sports context.
Reference List
Cleland, J., and Cashmore, E. (2014) ‘Fans, racism and British football in the twenty-first century: The existence of a ‘colour-blind’ ideology’, Journal of Ethnic and Migration Studies, 40(4), pp. 638-654. Web.
Dixon, K., Lowes, J., and Gibbons, T. (2016) ‘Show racism the Red Card: potential barriers to the effective implementation of the anti-racist message’, Soccer and Society, 17(1), pp. 140-154. Web.