April 2007 Sports

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April 2007

THE POWER OF SPORT Sport and CohesionToolkit (Pilot work in progress) Institute of Community CohesionSport has the power to change the world. The power to inspire, the power to unite

people in a way little else can Nelson Mandela [email protected] 1


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Sports And Community Cohesion ToolkitContentsForewordIntroduction and aimsAims of toolkit

Role of iCoCoHow to use this toolkitPart One: Policy context and backgroundSport and Community CohesionCommunity cohesion and parallel lives

A process of separate development?Special initiative or mainstream activity?Sport and social capitalSport and culture in the UKPart Two: Profile on football and community cohesionPart Three: Practical tools for understanding sport and cohesionGood practice case studies

Practitioner networkUseful linksReference materialHow to contact us [email protected] www.cohesioninstitute.org.uk 2


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Foreword

The Power of SportThe power of sport is simply huge. It can transform peoples lives in somany ways. It can improve personal health, build teamwork and even turn

the most disaffected of young people into disciplined athletes.Sport can also change communities.Sport can unite communities and the country as a whole - in commoncause. The way we even think of our Nation can be defined by our sportingheroes Kelly Holmes wrapped in the Union Jack, after winning twoOlympic Golds, or England winning the Ashes, Amir Kahns supremacy inthe boxing ring and of courseour footballers performance determiningthe mood of the Nation.But sport can also just reflect societys divisions too. All of our inequalitiesare reflected on the sports field and, all too often, sports activities arecompletely divided failing to grasp the opportunity to build bridges betweencommunities. This prompted David Miliband to propose:We need to use the six years up till 2012 to promote sporting activityacross racial and religious boundaries. Sport should be a greatunifierover the next six years we should be aiming to reduce to zero thenumber of people who play only with and against people of their own raceand religion. Get it right and the legacy from the Olympics will not just bemedals, or sporting infrastructure, or regeneration in East London, or apositive image of Britain abroad, but vital bridges between communities

who have used sport to promote tolerance and understanding.David Miliband MP, Scarman Memorial Lecture, 31st January 2006. [email protected] 3


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Introduction and aimsThis toolkit has been prepared by the Institute of Community Cohesion, supported by SportEngland East Midlands and the IDeA.It is intended to draw attention to the hugely significant role that sport can play to promotecommunity cohesion, whilst also taking forward the Governments other key targets in terms

of increasing participation and performance in sport and improving health and well-being.Sport can change peoples lives in so many ways, but it can also change the perspective ofwhole communities and develop their sense of belonging.We hope that the role that sport can play will not simply be championed by those involved insports the players, clubs and societies, development workers and others working in thesports industry they already know the power of sport. We would like to see the mainservice providers also recognise what sport can contribute too much wider processes ofsocial regeneration and change.We do not claim that it is only sport that can do this and there are many similarly inspiringarts, music and other projects that can also serve to unite communities and inspireharmonious community relations. But the opportunities for sport have never been greaterand we need to ensure that these opportunities are now fully grasped.

The aims ofThe Power of Sport toolkitcan therefore be summarised as:AimsTo clearly establish and promote the power of sport in the cohesion agendaTo present sports activities as a non-threatening, safe, environment, across ethnic andreligious divides, which are capable of building trust and respectTo enable the widest possible participation, facilitate more equal access to sportingopportunities and to promote successful role models from all communitiesTo create a stronger association between the success of individuals and teams and anidentification with a multicultural society.To develop sporting activity as a means of building social capital particularly throughbridging across communities to build trust and to enhance civil renewal programmesTo highlight successful programmes and to provide examples of good [email protected] www.cohesioninstitute.org.uk 4


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We also wish to draw attention to the particular opportunities presented by the London2012 Olympics Games and Paralympic Games. In the next six years we need to ensurethat the promise of the Games is realised. Cultural diversity and legacy were absolutelycritical issues in securing the 2012 Games and we now have an opportunity to both improvecommunity relations across the country and to develop them for the young people of theWorld.iCoCo and its roleThe Institute of Community Cohesion was established in 2005 to provide a new approach torace, diversity and multiculturalism, and will focus on building positive and harmoniouscommunity relations. iCoCo represents a unique partnership of academic, statutory andnon-governmental bodies, which combine the experience and expertise of four Universities- Coventry, Warwick, DeMontfort and Leicester, with practitioners from a range of diversebackgrounds and professions.iCoCo endeavours to:Improve and develop our understanding of community relations, collating and disseminatingbest practice

Provide a capacity to evaluate cohesion programmes and conduct action research

Provide a network for all agencies interested in this area, so that developments can beshared and constantly updated

Build capacity at all levels and provide development opportunities, ranging from the trainingof community leaders to postgraduate research-based programmes.

Our aim is to become the recognised national and international centre of expertise oncommunity cohesion, providing unrivalled research capacity, academic courses to thehighest level, accredited training programmes for public, private and voluntary sectors andsupport to all agencies involved in the development of community cohesion policy andpractice. [email protected] www.cohesioninstitute.org.uk 5


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How to use the toolkitThis toolkit, in line with others produced by iCoCo, is a dynamic document that can be usedin a number of ways:1) The toolkit provides a summary of key policy issues which will enable users to gain auseful understanding and links through to further detailed documents and papers that have

been produced in this area;

2) The toolkit has a number of tools that can be used to develop practical solutions to usesport to promote and develop good outcomes in terms of community cohesion;

3) The toolkit is also to provide an opportunity for practitioners to share good practice andlessons [email protected] www.cohesioninstitute.org.uk 6


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PART ONE: Policy context and backgroundCommunity cohesion and parallel livesThe concept of Community Cohesion was conceived 5 years ago in response to theBradford, Burnley and Oldham disturbances. It developed partly in response to the parallellives of different communities, which were identified by the Community Cohesion Review

Team and found on a much wider basis in many parts of the country. Community cohesionhas now become a national programme with a formal definition (see below) promulgated bycentral government and the LGA on behalf of local government. It is now a part of manylocal authority community strategies and is central to the Governments approach to raceand community relations.Parallel lives were not simply related to segregation in a residential sense. They describeda complete separation of communities in which there was no contact and no relationshipbetween different groups because the separation of housing areas was compounded byseparation in schooling, employment, social, cultural, faith and other spheres. Theignorance and lack of understanding about each others communities was seen to create aneasy target and opportunity for extremists to stir up race hatred and to demonise particulargroups.The importance of the community cohesion agenda has become even more apparent overthe last 12 months or so, following the London bombings on July 7th 2005 and small scaleriots in a number of towns and cities including Birmingham. The heightened internationaltension has ensured that race and diversity has moved up the political agenda and it is alsoapparent that, across the world, various models of multiculturalism are being questioned.Formal definition of community cohesionThe formal definition of community cohesion adopted in Guidance issued by theGovernment and the LGA is that a cohesive community is one where:there is a common vision and a sense of belonging for all communities;

the diversity of peoples different backgrounds and circumstances are appreciated andpositively valued;


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those from different backgrounds have similar life opportunities and:

strong and positive relationships are being developed between people from differentbackgrounds in the workplace, in schools and within [email protected] www.cohesioninstitute.org.uk 7


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It should be noted that the more traditional approaches of tackling discrimination andpromoting equal opportunities are still very much part of the agenda and that communitycohesion is building upon them, whilst also trying to break down the barriers betweencommunities, encouraging people to come to terms with diversity and difference andpromoting an overarching identity and sense of belonging.Community Cohesion programmes are being devised in relation to sport and many otherareas there is no single way of bringing communities together and it is important to findways of bridging divides in all parts of daily life. However, sport has been identified as anarea of safe ground and is often where youngsters, in particular, are prepared to meet.Sports like football are a universal language common to all cultures where the discipline,rules and norms are readily understood. Sport also has the power to inspire both teams andindividuals and to create a sense of achievement which can be built upon week by weekand year by year.Yet, whilst sport can create many opportunities for bringing communities together andestablishing the strongest of social bonds it can also be the root of the most destructive offorces. Sport can divide communities, or reinforce existing divisions based on area, socialclass, ethnicity and faith. In some cases these divisions are almost tribal, supported by

mythology, intimidation and even violence. Such is the nature of competition and especiallywhere those on the field of play are simply a reflection of wider social divisions andproblems.The reinforcement of divisions are perhaps nowhere more evident than in Northern Irelandwhere many aspects of daily life are segregated, for example, Catholic and Protestants useseparate auctioneers, solicitors and estate agents and around 95 per cent of children areserved by separate school systems. Residential areas are highly segregated. Sport issimilarly divided - Catholic participation is almost wholly through the Gaelic Athletic

Association. The Catholic/Protestant division is also evident to a lesser extent, in Englandand Scotland and, though not on the same scale, the sectarian divides in the community arereflected in support for particular football clubs.Sport has also divided the many minority ethnic communities from each other and from the

majority community. This is attributable to a combination of tradition and heritage, socialclass and cultural factors and, on occasion, to indirect and direct discrimination. Manyefforts have been made however, to rid sport of racism and some of these initiatives havebeen remarkably successful in both raising ethnic minority representation and reducingovert racism. However, some well meaning attempts to raise ethnic minority participation,such as the Asian participation in football initiative, have also created some dilemmas.These schemes may well have increased the number of Asians playing football and haveraised the level of participation, but may also have succeeded in reinforcing separation bycreating, for example, an Asian team to play in an all-White league, rather than impactingon the sport as a whole, or providing the basis for interaction and multicultural [email protected] www.cohesioninstitute.org.uk 8


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Many of the initiatives undertaken to date have been designed to improve access for under-represented black and minority ethnic groups and to ensure equality of opportunity. Similarapproaches have been developed to tackle the under-representation of women and girls. (Anumber of such schemes are in part 3 of the toolkit). In these terms, most of the schemeshave been an unqualified success. However, The Power of Sportargues that a moreholistic approach can also ensure that initiatives also improve community relations andavoid institutionalising separation and division.Practice is, however, lagging behind policy and relatively few sports initiatives have beenused to promote community cohesion. In a number of studies and reviews there has beendifficulty in identifying mixed sports teams and many established teams, as well as newones, seem to have reflected community patterns and networks and developed on a singleidentity basis. IDeA research examined the shortlisted Round 7 BeaconSport andCulture for Hard to Reach Groups and conducted a search on references to cohesion ineach of the applications. Results of this search revealed that of the 13 authoritiesshortlisted, only 7 made any reference to cohesion and only 3 made it a significant featureof their bid. Leicester City Council, which is a Beacon Council for Community Cohesion,was outstanding with 18 references. The IDeA also looked at applications that were not

shortlisted for Beacon Status. Again, a search was conducted on references to cohesionin each of the applications. The results were, ironically, a little better but from the 21applications, 5 made no reference to cohesion, 11 made very limited reference and 4 madeit a significant feature, with again only one being outstanding.Fewer still, appear to use sport as a means of assisting asylum seekers to integrate and asa means of allowing the host community to get to know and respect them, though there aresome schemes which include such arrangements (see for example, Sunderland CityCouncil, The Raich Carter Sports Centre in part 3). This is a critical area and the power ofsport to break down barriers should again be recognised. There has, however, beenrelatively little by way of properly funded and evaluated action-based research, at least bythe statutory agencies. Fortunately, some has been funded by charitable bodies, the mostsignificant of which is Understanding the Stranger, financed by the Paul HamlynFoundation, commissioned and published by the independent Information Centre about

Asylum and Refugees in the United Kingdom (ICAR, 2004). The research examined waysto manage the arrival of asylum seekers, with a view to developing practical steps whichwould prevent tension from developing in local areas. The Report uses contact theory asan approach and concludes, amongst other things, that, one of the most effective ways ofencouraging understanding between local people and asylum seekers is for them to meeteach otherarrangements need to be made for local residents and asylum seekers to meet asneighbours. This need not be through specially convened meetings existing cultural,sporting or community activities can provide good opportunities (ICAR, 2004)[email protected] www.cohesioninstitute.org.uk 9


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Other research has highlighted the need to tackle the ignorance of the resident populationas a means of reducing hate crime and the necessity of interaction between young peopleto improve tolerance and reduce conflict.To some extent the modest emphasis on cohesion in sports schemes to date is not verysurprising: most departments with a responsibility for sports developments are focused ontheir own particular targets in respect of participation, performance and access, whilst thosepolicy teams responsible for regeneration, cohesion and community relations tend to focuson more conventional approaches, or on the physical side of regeneration. The Power ofSportseeks to make these connections more apparent.The sector should build the evidence base that demonstrates the benefits of sportand physical activity to social cohesion, community safetySport England, The framework for Sport in England: making England an active and successful sportingnation: a vision for 2020

A process of separate development?The arguments for and against single identity funding are not unique to sport (see forexample NACVS Paper on Single Identity Funding on the Institutes websitewww.cohesioninstitute.org.uk) and are not entirely straightforward. In the short term at least,

it has often proved easier to engage with different groups on their own ground (or withintheir own comfort zones), with people from a similar background. It can also be argued,historically at least, that this has been necessary (see Appendix Black Team, WhiteLeague). More generally, the need for capacity building within a particular community, sothat they can perhaps compete on an equal basis, and especially in respect of new migrantgroups, is difficult to argue against. However, once established on that basis, it seems asthough it can be even harder to develop common programmes subsequently and thearrangements quickly become institutionalised.Furthermore, the separate development on the playing field appears to make it even moredifficult to challenge other areas of sports development and management. For example, theprogression into higher level coaching and management structures, and inclusion ofminorities in the governance arrangements, has generally failed to develop where it has

simply been based on single identity groups.Sports policy in Britain, which traditionally focused upon the dual strands ofincreasing participation and raising performance levels, has begun to shift towardsviewing the potential benefits and impacts of sport in more holistic and cross-cuttingwaysTown Planning Review, Vol 76 No 2 2005, pp i-v [email protected]

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However, a number of new and more challenging approaches and schemes are beginningto emerge (again, see Section 4) and football is again leading the way. For example, theCommunity Cohesion Focus/Awaaz project in Hounslow, which brought together South

Asian and Somalian communities from central Hounslow, with communities from the west ofthe borough, which are predominantly white. It aimed to break down the lack of socialmixing, tolerance and understanding which had been reflected in local schools. Similarly,West Ham United Football Club, in partnership with the London Borough of Tower Hamletsis at the forefront of a pioneering project to improve participation in football, in deprived,inner city, multicultural areas. It is open to all children in the Borough regardless of ethnicity,gender or disability; although targeting young Asian players is a key objective given theirpast low representation.Targeting of groups, within a wider multicultural perspective, may offer a compromisebetween single identity funding and cross-cultural provision, though care will obviously needto be taken to ensure that schemes remain genuinely multicultural.The targeting of groups, which have a history of conflict with a view to defusing hostility andtension, have also been undertaken. The Maimonides Foundation, a joint Jewish-Musliminterfaith organisation, which fosters understanding, dialogue, and co-operation between

Jews and Muslims, has an active education programme which runs a number of projectsand events for young people of Jewish and Muslim faith. They create forums where the twocommunities can share their commonalities and discuss their differences through dialogue.The Foundation has used both art and football as universal languages to begin to developfraternal relations between Britains 275,000 Jews and 1.5 million Muslims, bringingtogether people from those communities, some of whom have never previously met anyonefrom the other community. One of their most high profile events is the annual InterfaithFootball Programme, at which over 120 Jewish and Muslim students between the ages of 9-12 take part in a football tournament in mixed faith teams.However, schemes in other sports such as cricket and golf, are also beginning to emerge,such as the Saltaire Cricket Club in Bradford, which was founded in 1869 and has re-invented itself as a multicultural club over the last five years or so. Interestingly, their

success has been based more on changing the social, rather than the sporting, dimensionsof the club, a view reflected in the Hounslow Focus/Awaaz project. (see both schemes insection 4). Bradford has similarly championed multicultural development in other sports likegolf, though mixed teams are still difficult to achieve.Multi-sports activities are also able to attract a diverse range of participants, for example theHaringey Warriors Youth Organisation (HWYO) summer sports camp, 2005, which, utilisedfunding from London & Quadrant Housing Association, Haringey Councils Youth Servicesand Neighbourhood Management. [email protected] www.cohesioninstitute.org.uk 11


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Special initiative or mainstream activity?A large number of the best practice schemes referred to in Section 4 and perhapsespecially the most innovative and challenging appear to have been the product of specialinitiatives, pilots or pathfinders. On occasion they have had little to do with the statutoryagencies and depend upon the voluntary effort and good will of community activists.

However, the possible mainstreaming of community cohesion approaches is graduallybeing seriously considered. For example, the Department of Media, Culture and Sport(DCMS) produced Bringing Communities Together through Sport and Culturein 2004. Thisstarted the process with a collection of ideas resulting from a seminar and involving an arrayof government agencies, which reported that they had managed to help participants in theirvarious programmes to feel differently about people of other cultures and backgrounds andto break down the barriers between them.Much of the present funding on community cohesion is short term and limited to specificareas or activities. Local councils, their partners, sports associations, governing bodies andthe sports infrastructure provided by Sport England in particular needs to consider howcommunity cohesion principles can be embedded in all its work.However, just as importantly, LSPs, local authorities, Crime and Disorder Partnerships,

Regeneration agencies, RDAs, LEAs and schools, colleges - and universities and manyother bodies responsible for the various aspects of societal relations - must also considerhow they can use sport to achieve their aims of a safer society in which individuals canengage and reach their potential and in which communities are more at ease with eachother.It is to be hoped that the bringing together of the various Government programmes withinthe new Department of Communities and Local Government (DCLG), together with theestablishment of the Commission on Integration and Cohesion, will create a stronger senseof purpose and clearer focus within all mainstream services.

Sport and social capitalThe concept of social capital is now beginning to play a much bigger role in public policy

and as John Williams suggests (see Section 3) sport is a key arena for promoting socialrelations and community bonding. However, as John Williams also points out sport can beresponsible for the some of the more extreme forms of bonding social capital, whichcreates strong support for one team by inhibiting the bridging to other teams and groups.But social capital is not yet widely understood, nor accepted as being within thecompetence of local authorities and their partners. The pioneering work of the LondonBorough of Camden and the IPPR to assess and measure social capital at a local level mayhowever mean that this position changes. (Sticking Together social capital and localgovernment, LB Camden and IPPR, 2006).If social capital the loose associations and networks which enable people to work togetherand establish neighbourliness and trust becomes a key part of public policy, then sportinglinks and associations will inevitably be seen as [email protected]

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more important. From a cohesion perspective, the concept of bridging social capital ispretty much equivalent to cross-cultural contact and is a means by which we can begin tobreak down the barriers and develop understanding and trust between differentcommunities. As discussed above, the emerging best practice now adopts cross-culturalsports activities.However, associational engagement, which can also be formed by sporting organisationsclubs, societies, league structures and governing bodies - is a key part of civil society. Thehundreds of sports bodies, which are generally constituted on a voluntary basis, can alsodraw people together, across boundaries, and facilitate cross-cultural understanding. Socialcapital is in no way limited to the relationships that develop on the sports field. Varshney'sEthnic Conflict and Civic Life(YUP, 2002) draws upon previous work in Northern Ireland tohighlight the beneficial effect of a range of Lions Clubs, Rotary Clubs and integrated sportssocieties, which have become a bulwark against civic unrest, simply because of theassociation and trust which had been previously created.In the present context, following a small incident, or a rumour which has begun to fly aroundcommunities, unrest can quickly follow, unless community leaders are able to quicklyconfer, challenge the information and respond by quelling the anxieties. This demands pre-

existing networks. Sport alone cannot provide them, but should be part of that communitytapestry which can do so.Such networks may need to be established and sports associations can provide a readymade vehicle. At a national level, organisations like the Inter-Faith Network have beenresponsible for promoting cross-cultural and inter-faith dialogue and many local networkshave been established over the years. These have been purposely cross-cultural and localand regional sports associations should consider how they measure up. They also need tounderstand that cross-cultural contact, unfortunately, does not generally arise naturally andoften has to be engineered in the first instance to break down barriers and to give peoplethe confidence to move out of their comfort zones.

Sport and culture in the UKAs the Australian sociologist John Hughson (2004: 320-1) points out, this recent drawingtogether of sport and the arts under the panoply of culture in the UK is connected toattempts to reconcile the principles of access and excellence in policies for the creativeindustries as an intrinsic part of a New Labour strategy for developing a more democraticagenda for present and future UK cultural policy.It also has much to do with the current (rather overplayed) trend of urban regeneration inthe UK and elsewhere to be seen to be substantially, and inexorably, culture-driven(Coleman, 2003). Recent UK competitors for nomination as European Capital of Culture in2008 (Liverpool was the [email protected] www.cohesioninstitute.org.uk 13


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successful city, of course), for example, all included prominence given to successfulprofessional sports clubs as part of their portfolio of supposedly indispensable culturalattributes.Talking specifically of the plans for the cultural regeneration of the city of Liverpool andlooking forward to 2008, Coleman (2003: 32) warns, usefully, of what he calls the dangersof an emerging hegemony of aesthetics regarding who and what should be allowed to be seen in these newly branded Merseyside streets of culture. These were once open anddemocratic public urban spaces, he claims, one available to all members of the community.Now such spaces are increasingly privatised and sanitised and are characterised by whathe suggests are officially sponsored and staged cultural events - and thus by a culturallyand socially deadening controlled spontaneity.We need not share, entirely, this rather extreme pessimism about the effects on thetransformation of public space produced by a cultural regeneration of this narrow range, akind of regeneration that occurs as a response to intensifying global competition and the so-called city place wars of late-modernity. But we do need to be aware, of course, of someof the potential negative implications of these new dimensions of sporting and cultural policy

which are often pursued in the name of greater community cohesion and cultural

integration - especially in a neo-liberal era in which categories of acceptable citizenshipseem, increasingly, to be defined by the capacity to consume and in which failedconsumers seem to be progressively managed out of preferred images and experiencesof urban space (Bauman, 1997).It is probably also true that this specific policy focus on the culturalrelevance of sport in thiscontext has had the associated effect of driving up unrealistic and largely unfoundedperceptions of the increasing capacity of sport, almost alone, to successfully unite theethnically diverse and resolutely classed members of local urban communities in the UK ina putative and nostalgically cohesive all embracing civic culture. Sport is sometimesportrayed, in fact, as the main, emergent hope for a more egalitarian, a more inclusive,future for an otherwise economically and socially polarised late-modern city (Hughson,2004).

But as John Hughson also points out, relying on sport and culture in this way - as theunifying totem of a cultural package that can, and will, deliver on issues of communitycohesion, collective identity, social need and on a range of connected social ills in the city -is to mistake the kind of simple political rhetoric that is often effortlessly mobilised indebates such as these, for the real effects of urban difference and for the consequencesfor marginalized communities of often deep seated, long term and impacted socialinequality and poverty. He, convincingly, argues in this regard that:The attendant rhetoric proposes not only that culture will revive the economy, but also thatit can reverse the social decline of the underprivileged. Reversing urban social decline andovercoming poverty and related problems is, of course, a reasonable and worthy aim forsocial planners, but when overcoming social decline is made too dependent on the success

of programmes in culture sport and the arts, this tends to ask too much... (Hughson, 2004:328) [email protected] www.cohesioninstitute.org.uk 14


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PART TWO: Profile on football and community cohesionEnglish football and community cohesion: some progress andproblemsLet us take one sporting example now, the case of English football. Let us examine it a littlemore closely in this respect of potentially conflicting national and local agendas. Here, the

modernised and generally progressive national Football Associations recent publiccommitment to pursue, centrally, an effective new equity strategy for the sport is veryimpressive. It promises to address at least some of the problems of racialised exclusion inthe English game of the sort identified in a survey recently undertaken by the Commissionfor Racial Equality though the Premier League and its member clubs claim their ownexpertise and successes in these areas (see CRE, 2004).But, successfully devolving this new FA policy down to local County FAs where it isarguably needed most:Where the governance of the grassroots version of the sport is mainly delivered;


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Where the processes of modernisation experienced centrally have been much moreslowly felt and have been generally more patchy in their effects;

And, where racially divisive forms of exclusion and marginalisation continue to impactagainst the possibilities of local football becoming a reliable site for community cohesion

All this seems a much more contentious issue altogether (see Lusted, 2006).The apparent cultural and organisational dissonance between the policy centre of Englishfootball (The FA) and the rather more resistant, independent and geographically andsocially outlying policy deliverers of the local governance of the game in England (theCounty FAs) has, in turn, produced something of a challenge from British Asians who aredeeply committed to local football. They claim the FAs new national agenda for change


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underplays the structural problems in the game and fails to see that real equity strategiesrequire more power sharing (See NAFF, 2005). Here the claim from the FAs opponents isthat making progress on delivering real opportunities and real safeguards for British ethnicminorities in local football - and thus enhancing community cohesion and social inclusion atthe local level through sport - is just too much discussed and advertised in the English gameat the national level of rhetoric. Despite much goodwill, it is still far too little experienced insome areas at the local, grassroots versions of the sport.Here, paradoxically, a progressive and centralised commitment towards greater equity andthus more community cohesion in sport at The FA one that is heavily pursued viapromotional packages in order to advertise and cement these new agendas - may also havestimulated anger and resentment at the local level, where some ethnic minority players andofficials still claim that relatively little seems to have changed. [email protected] 15


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This is because existing barriers to the effective delivery of such commitments decided atthe core, are perceived to remain relatively undisturbed at the grassroots. And because,after more than a decade of agitation for change from British Asians in football, for some ofthose who operate at some distance from the palatial and undoubtedly cosmopolitan SohoSquare corridors of the national FA headquarters, progress on matters of increasingcommunity cohesion in local football in their own neighbourhoods can still, sometimes,seem almost glacially slow to arrive.

At the professional football club level in England, meanwhile, the temptation for somesmaller and medium-sized provincial football clubs - even in a by now well established, ifhardly always consensual, multi-cultural Britain - has seemed to be to continue to mine whathave been historically positive and successful long-term community relations with moretraditional sectors of the local football publics in England white, largely working class andlower middle class, males (see Bradbury, 2001).This rather narrow approach to community and customer relations in some parts ofprofessional football in England, nevertheless, has the associated tendency to reject,perhaps, the more invidious and divisive effects of the gentrifying, more marketised, typesof fan/club relations popularly pursued elsewhere in the sport in recent years. But, at the

same time, they also risk marginalising potential community cohesion gains in and aroundBritish sports stadia, especially in some racially divided British towns and cities in parts ofthe north of England, as well as some potentially fruitful sporting and commercial contactswith a new, local BME supporter base including possible female ethnic minority fans andeven BME female football players (see Bradbury, 2001).In this sense, British sporting stadia can still, simultaneously, evoke what Bale (1993) hasdescribed as topophilic sentiments (a pleasurable sense of place) for the mainly whiteincluded fan base, and rather more topophobic responses (a sense of fear or discomfort)for those excluded sporting citizens who are more likely to be drawn from local ethnicminorities and communities of colour.These all remain real difficulties in domestic sport in Britain, problems that have no easysolution. They are ones that require directed local action, but also sensitive handling and

the careful dissemination of training and best practice, as many British sports clubs such asthese claim to be and often believe themselves to beresolutely colour blind in theirapproach to access, marketing and local community relations (Bradbury, 2001; Bradburyand Williams, 2006). And it should also be pointed out that even in the face of these tales ofincomplete, contingent, local resistances to changes in sporting practices in relation toextending community cohesion, substantial progress has, indeed, been made in specificlocales in British football and in other British sports to positively promote inclusion, anti-racism and community cohesion in and via sport. [email protected] 16


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In a recent review of European-wide initiatives in football to combat racism, for example(van Sterkenburg et al, 2005), it was shown that whilst both Italy and Spain then reliedsolely on fans to offer opposition to widespread racism in the sport in those countries, theUK was shown to boast a number of national and local initiatives on this score. Theseinclude the national Kick it Out strategy established in 1997, and the education and mediafocused Show Racism the Red Card campaign that worked with an impressive 63 Britishprofessional clubs on the production of anti-racism publicity materials and videos in 2003/04(van Sterkenburg et al, 2005: 39). UEFA, footballs European governing body, meanwhilemade a sum of 1.7 million Euros available in 2005 for anti-racism programmes establishedby its 52 member associations across Europe (uefa.com/uefa 2005).Local, independent initiatives aimed at addressing football racism and increasingcommunity cohesion in England include Football United, Racism Divides (FURD), set up inSheffield in 1993, and also Foxes Against Racism (FAR) from Leicester, which wasestablished in 1997. The Charlton Against Racism and Exclusion (CARE) project,established in conjunction with Charlton Athletic FC, the police, the local Race EqualityCouncil, Greenwich Council and local regeneration projects, is a much more broadly basedinitiative, is much better resourced than these independent schemes, and it links the

voluntary and statutory sectors directly with the local football club in promoting training andemployment opportunities, as well as access to the football club and its facilities, and tosporting provision more widely in the borough of Greenwich. These are in addition to themany funded Pathfinder schemes established around Britain to work at bringing togethermembers of local communities through sport.CARE has shown, especially, just what a broadly based, co-ordinated and adequatelyfunded local campaign can deliver through sport, especially when it is allied to an approachto cohesion and inclusion strategies that run throughout the culture of the local professionalsports club, rather than remaining, as is often the case, pigeon-holed in the low statuscommunity department of the organisation (Garland and Rowe, 2001: 67). More recently,Charlton Athletic responding, predictably positively, to the important new messages aboutinterdependence and globalisation in sport, has extended its work in these areas to

members of poor, black township communities in South Africa (see Williams, 2005)[email protected] www.cohesioninstitute.org.uk 17


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PART THREE: Practical tools for understanding sport and communitycohesionGood Practice case studies (see our online database)The IDeA undertook desk research focused on 3 main areas; recent applications to theRound 7 Beacon Scheme Theme Sport and Culture for Hard to Reach Groups, existing

local authority contacts who have demonstrated good practice in community cohesion orcommunity engagement, and finally other information sources such as the internet, journalsand books.The review revealed a number of initiatives promoting sporting engagement with so calledhard to reach groups e.g. BME groups, young people, disabled people etc, but lessinformation was uncovered with regard to promoting sport as a tool for community cohesion.However, some information on interesting projects was obtained, summaries of which arehighlighted throughout this section and have been added to schemes identified from othersources.The main reason different ethnic groups dont mix is not because they dont want tobut because they have no reason to.Community Cohesion Review Report

Case studiesLondon Borough of Tower Hamlets Olympic Summer of Sport

A programme of sport sessions inspired by the 2012 Olympic bid and is designed to takeadvantage of the local enthusiasm and publicity for the Olympics. It targets children andfamilies from deprived areas. Sessions are themed around the 26 Olympic and 12Paralympic sports encouraging participation by previously under-represented children andyoung people. The programme also includes a number of targeted sports events includingan Asian Sports Festival featuring traditional sports such as Kabbadi and wrestling as wellas a Disabled Sports Festival and the recently acclaimed Estate Based Sports Programmeaimed at reducing anti -social behaviour amongst young people.For information on this project see www.cohesioninstitute.org.uk

Burnley Borough Council - Football Development GroupThis group has been tasked to produce a development plan for football for the Borough.The document is the plan for Burnley. The development plan also links to the Playing PitchStrategy that has identified the need to develop quality and modern football facilities acrossthe Borough. The development plan also identified the need to have a specific developmentofficer for the sport because football has a new dimension emerging which is centred on thebroader social impact that football can have and particularly its capacity for generating asense of community and empowerment amongst groups who are typically seen asexcluded from mainstream society. Therefore a Community Football Development Officerwas appointed.For information on this project see www.cohesioninstitute.org.uk [email protected] 18


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Leicester City CouncilLeicesters political leadership is effectively engaged on sport and cultural issues and hasfor many years championed diversity and the needs of hard to reach groups. For example,councillors set up a community cohesion funding stream used this summer for a programmeof inter-cultural sporting activities, partly in response to emerging community tensionsbetween Somali and African Caribbean young people. More than 200 young people tookpart in the Street Sports finale bringing together young people from 5 deprived communities.For information on this project see www.cohesioninstitute.org.ukSunderland City Council The Raich Carter Sports CentreThe Raich Carter Sports Centre is a community sports hub which sits in New Deal forCommunities (NDC) area with 54m regeneration funding. It is a Sport England PathfinderMulti Sports Environment and a national model of excellence. The area is home to 9,434residents in 4,000 households. One tenth of the population are from BME groups,predominantly Bangladeshi, 48% of working age households have no-one in paidemployment, 16% of over 16s are long term sick or disabled (national average 5%) and thearea has some of the highest incidences of coronary heart disease, lung cancer deaths,teenage pregnancies in the city and region.

For information on this project see www.cohesioninstitute.org.ukOldham Unity in the Community Sport ProgrammeUnity in the Community is an imaginative community cohesion initiative across 50 plusprimary / secondary schools. It links schools of a variety of backgrounds to allowcommunities to connect through sport in a safe, fun structured environment and impact onchanging attitudes of young people in the borough. Children are then actively encouraged toattend further sporting opportunities such as Active Sport sessions, Greater ManchesterYouth Games, Open for Action holiday courses and junior club sessions.For information on this project see www.cohesioninstitute.org.ukSaltaire Cricket Club, Bradford

At a time when many clubs in the Bradford area have still been unable to sustain a mixedplaying and non playing membership, Saltaire Cricket Club has managed to achieve a mix

in its teams from the Asian and White communities, from the youngest children at 8 and 9years old to the senior teams. Other clubs are starting to make inroads and the thepropspects are brighter than for a number of years. This has now been sustained at Saltairefor a number of years and there are several different stands to the clubs ability to achievethis.For information on this project see www.cohesioninstitute.org.uk [email protected] 19


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Nottinghamshire County Council Social Capital Development Sport Action ZoneSocial Capital Development SAZs Needs Assessment recognises that projects to improveaccess to sport and leisure are best developed at a local, preferably Neighbourhood level,yet in C2DE former Coalfield Communities there is sometimes and absence of socialcapital, which hinders groups from accessing grants and support. The 4 NRF areas in theZone have all recognised the power of sport in developing neighbourhood cohesion. Weundertake work with and where necessary join the committees of various organisations toovercome barriers.For information on this project see www.cohesioninstitute.org.ukShrewsbury and Atcham Borough CouncilIn response to the shared priorities of the local strategic partnership and agreed objectives,Shrewsbury and Atcham Borough Council set about its target to deliver a first class sportand recreation facility base within the borough, to be underpinned by a comprehensive,community sport & recreation programme for ALL.Following a needs analysis in 2003 an Open Space Sport and Recreation Strategy wasdeveloped. This in turn led to the programme of delivering a set of new and enhancedfacilities, together with an appropriate sports development programme. The project

coordinator developed close working relationships with the various sporting bodies, localsporting groups users and future users to help determine the exact nature of sportsprovision.The culmination of the work led to the Council approving the development of a new multisport sports village in the north of Shrewsbury, meeting a key objective within theCommunity Strategy (Health & Well Being).For information on this project see www.cohesioninstitute.org.ukCharnwood Borough Council- Sports Links projectThe Sports-Link Project is a partnership between the Council, Charnwood Arts, SportEngland, Leicestershire Constabulary, Charnwood Council for Voluntary Service,Leicestershire Youth Service and Charnwood Racial Equality Council. The partnershiparose as a result of effective initiatives across Charnwood through the local community

cohesion agenda and the successful work of Connecting Communities, another partnershipcommissioned under the Home Office Resolving Differences programme for the EastMidlands. These relationships have been sustained through the Charnwood CommunityCohesion Pathfinder Programme. The SLPO continuously works in partnership withcommunity providers and community members to develop and create projects andopportunities for specific communities.For information on this project see www.cohesioninstitute.org.uk [email protected] 20


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Charnwood Borough Council The Global All Starts ProjectThe Global All-Stars is a football project, which aims to promote unity and friendship toundertake work around cultural and personal differences and cohesion. The concept of theproject is to create a World United football team consisting of participants living inCharnwood from different cultural backgrounds. Young people were chosen from teams atthe World Cup Football Camp in 2003 to represent the Global All-Stars Team.For information on this project see www.cohesioninstitute.org.ukDarlington Borough Council- Westside project Tackling Anti- social behaviourThis pilot project is delivered at a local comprehensive school on a Friday evening in one ofDarlingtons Priority wards, deemed a hot spot area for anti social behaviour. The purposeof the project is to provide diversionary leisure activities for young people.For information on this project see www.cohesioninstitute.org.ukDarlington Borough Council- Darlington School Sport Partnership

As part of the Governments PE and School Sport Strategy, the Darlington SSP wasimplemented in September of 2002 across approximately half of the schools (includingBeaumont Hill Special School) in the town. The SSP programme has five key principles:support for PE in schools, integrated sports development and partnership working, focus on

disadvantage and inclusion in schools, working together with families, and a whole schoolapproach.For information on this project see www.cohesioninstitute.org.ukLondon Borough of Southwark- Southwark Community GamesSouthwark Community Games is a council-led partnership initiative that continues to buildon its success. The Southwark Community Games is a year round programme of sportscoaching and competition for young people aged seven to 16 years old. There is also sportrelated vocational training for teachers and young people aged sixteen years and older. Ittakes place across the eight community council areas in schools, after school clubs, estateand community settings.For information on this project see www.cohesioninstitute.org.uk [email protected] 21


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Preston City Council- disability sports developmentPreston Panthers was Lancashires first disabled multi-sports club for young people. Sinceits establishment in 1998 it has expanded and developed and now has a membership baseof 65 young people who attend weekly sessions at West View Leisure Centre and anannual residential course in outdoor pursuit activities in the Lake District.

A second Disability Sports Club has also been established in partnership with PrestonPrimary Care Trust specifically for those with co-ordination difficulties.For information on this project see www.cohesioninstitute.org.ukThe Maimonides Foundation, LondonThe Maimonides Foundation is a joint Jewish-Muslim interfaith organisation, which fostersunderstanding, dialogue, and co-operation between Jews and Muslims through cultural,academic and educational programmes based on mutual respect and trust. It has an activeeducation programme which runs a number of projects and events for young people ofJewish and Muslim faith.For information on this project see www.cohesioninstitute.org.ukTottenham Hotspur Community: Coaching Programme in Partnership with HaringeyNeighbourhood Management

During February half-term 2006, Tottenham Hotspur Community (THC) providedopportunities for over 750 young people aged six to 18 years to participate in a structuredcoaching programme in a safe and friendly environment.For information on this project see www.cohesioninstitute.org.ukWest Ham United Football Club: Partnership with the London Borough of TowerHamlets

A pioneering project to improve participation in football, in deprived, inner city, multi culturalareas. The coaching programmes are open to all children in the borough aged 7-11 yearsold, regardless of ethnicity, gender or disability; though targeting young Asian players is akey objective given the lack of opportunities that have historically been available them.For information on this project see www.cohesioninstitute.org.uk [email protected] 22


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Tameside Sport DevelopmentTameside Sports Development has responsibility for the development of a network of sportsopportunities across the Borough. The main aspects of development work are directly linkedto Tamesides Community Plan, Tamesides Cultural Strategy and Government ledrecommendations and initiatives with Sport Development seeing its role as a constantlychanging mixture of direct provision and facilitation.For information on this project see www.cohesioninstitute.org.ukHaringey Warriors Youth Organisation Summer Sports camp and end of summertournamentThe HWYO summer sports camp and end of summer tournament 2005 took place betweenJuly 25th and August 26th 2005. For the first time, the camp was brought to Priory Park. Thesports camp offered the children and young people an exciting, fun, new experience thatthey would otherwise not have had during their summer holidays. HWYO puts emphasis onproviding professional, top quality coaching and youth mentoring to children and youngpeople.Under the expert guidance of our coaching team the children and young people have beenable to create new friendships and engage with young people from different cultures.

For information on this project see www.cohesioninstitute.org.ukHounslow Community Cohesion Focus/Awaaz Football TeamThis project is a good example of how one can use sport to bring young people together.Hounslow suffers from an unfortunate polarisation of young people within the borough,central Hounslow having large South Asian and Somalian communities, whilst the west ofthe borough, areas like Feltham, are predominantly white. This also seems to be reflected inthe schools young people go to, leading to a lack of social mixing and therefore a lack oftolerance and understanding.This was also reflected in the football teams, Awaaz and Focus. Starting with both teamsgoing to tournaments together in the same mini bus but playing in their own teams, there isnow one football team.For information on this project see www.cohesioninstitute.org.uk [email protected] 23


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Practitioners networkThe Practitioners' Network is a group of cohesion practitioners who exchange ideas,discuss issues, seek solutions to problems and find out about successful initiativesoperating throughout the UK. If you would like to contribute to making effective changes inthe field of community cohesion, why not register now at www.cohesioninstitute.org.ukGood practice databaseThere are numerous examples of community cohesion projects and schemes throughoutthe UK. The iCoCo good practice database provides a facility for practitioners to record theirachievements and to learn from the experiences of others. This is a dynamic resource,which will continuously be revised and updated. If you have been involved in communitycohesion work, why not submit your project? Much can be achieved through the sharing ofexperiences; your successes should be talked about and your insights are valuable to othercohesion practitioners. Register your scheme at [email protected] www.cohesioninstitute.org.uk 24

April 2007 Sports

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Transcript of April 2007 Sports