![]() ![]() What I have seen over recent weeks makes me hopeful that things are changing. But it is time for the sporting world to accept its social responsibilities and use its power, platform and influence to drive meaningful and lasting change. The notion of athlete activism is not new – from early protests such as the 1968 Olympics’ Black Power or human rights salute to influential athlete activists like Naomi Osaka who used her appearances at the US Open in 2020 to draw attention to racial injustice. The courses also feature legendary current and former athletes from the Global South including rugby league and union star Sonny Bill Williams, former Matilda’s Captain and co-chief executive of Professional Footballers Australia Kathryn Gill, and former Wallabies captain turned political candidate David Pocock, who share their inspirational stories and discuss how they are using their voices to drive change for the global good. We explore the actions of athletes like Naomi Osaka, Lewis Hamilton, and LeBron James and, through the lens social responsibility in sport, examine how we can bring sport into conversations and more importantly, actions, on social justice and existential issues like climate change. To help build on this momentum I have collaborated with Torrens University Australia to create a series of free courses, Sport for Good, aimed at giving people in the sports industry, as well as fans and anyone with a social conscience, the skills and knowledge they need to understand how sport can be used to make the world a better place. There is no doubt that it is complex, but it is time for the sporting world to rally – for athletes, sporting bodies and organisations, and fans to harness the powerful, wide-reaching platform of sport to stand up and speak out. In 2022, sport is asking very different questions and struggling to find the answers in a new world. It will be up to the next generation of players, coaches, and fans to ensure human rights and equality underpin sport and to make an impact on the social, economic, and climate issues facing our communities. Society’s expectations are changing, and sport is being forced to adapt. Every decision has consequences and sport has a responsibility to understand the harm it is complicit with, enables or creates by refusing to acknowledge its support of human rights-abusing nations, sportswashing of egregious abuse through sport promotion and inequality of all kinds. ![]() The conflict has forced sport – athletes, sporting bodies, administrators and fans – to interrogate the meaning of sport in the global context, and many detest what they see.Ĭan 2022 be the reckoning sport needs to step out from under the veil of ‘neutrality’ and to take a stand on issues like human rights, racial injustice and climate change? As #BlackLivesMatter taught the world, ‘silence is violence’ and there can be no neutrality. Various governing bodies and elite athletes have taken a principled stance, denouncing the atrocities, by banning Russia’s involvement in sport. Over recent weeks sport has been forced to react to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. The world's football governing body FIFA is set to suspend Russia as the International Olympic Committee (IOC) on 28 February 2022 recommended that athletes and officials from Russia and Belarus are banned from all international sports competitions.įIFA set to suspend Russia on Ukraine conflict, London, United Kingdom - Photo: Courtesy image, Andy Rain/EPA-EFE The slogan 'Football stands together' is seen on a huge screen before the English Carabao Cup final between Chelsea FC and Liverpool FC at Wembley in London, Britain, 27 February 2022 (re-issued on 28 February 2022). ![]()
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