Commission teams up to increase participation in sport
The Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC) is providing £600,000 in grant funding to Premiership Rugby Limited (PRL) over the next two years to deliver projects at all 12 Premiership Rugby Clubs.
The aim is to increase the participation of women, girls and ethnic minorities in rugby, provide better access to stadia for disabled people and promote diversity and equality in the sport.
According to Sporting Equals, an independent body that promotes ethnic diversity in sport, 89% of those who take part in sport are from white backgrounds and 11% are from non-white backgrounds (88% of the English population are from white backgrounds). This varies in specific sports, but rugby union has one of the lowest participation rates for ethnic minorities at around 3%.
The Commission’s initiative aims to address low participation from diverse groups in rugby by:
- promoting best practice among sports governing bodies on how to best tackle discriminatory behaviour across all their functions and services;
- ensuring teams and spectators represent their communities;
- improving accessibility to sporting venues for disabled people;
- improving the implementation of the Sports Equality Standard, (developed by UK Sport in collaboration with sports councils and equality organisations).
These objectives will be achieved by rugby clubs applying specific measures such as running sports camps for women, girls and ethnic minorities, recruiting more staff to run sessions, providing support and mentorship for these groups, and linking in with schools, local authorities and regional sports boards to promote their activities and encourage participation. For example, the Commission’s funding will help PRL recruit 480 female teachers and volunteers and 156 schools to the Sports Inclusion Programme, run 156 five week rugby training programmes for girls and 104 five week sessions for children from ethnic minority backgrounds.
Chris Holmes, Disability Commissioner at the Equality and Human Rights Commission, said:
“Rugby is a fantastic way of bringing people together whatever their backgrounds, developing skills and providing great health benefits. Everyone should have the same opportunity to get involved in the game regardless of their ability, gender or social background. We look forward to working with Premiership Rugby to build on the inspirational power of the Olympic, Paralympic and Commonwealth Games and harness the major investment promised in the bids to grow rugby across diverse communities and get more people involved as participants and coaches.”
