The sports field is an important frontier for diversity, and rightly so
Over the past decade (and especially in the last year), we have seen tremendous gains in both representation on the pitch, and from within clubs to tackle racism at the policy level. We must acknowledge the progress we have made on the pitch, whilst mirroring it in sport's board rooms, writes Mitesh Velani.
The shift from diversity on the field to diversity informing managerial strategy is already under way: Major League Baseball announced that it is moving the 2021 All Star Game and the 2021 MLB Draft out of Georgia in response to the state's new voting laws, which were seen by some as discriminating against minority voters.
What we are seeing is the arrival in boardrooms of the spirit of Colin Kaepernick, who, although initially largely unsupported in taking the knee, was eventually backed by entire leagues. This included the Premier League, which made taking the knee official policy up to the end of last season, with teams continuing to do so during the 2020/21 season, and even adapted sports kits in solidarity.
Decisions like that do not come from players, they come from the very top.
This institutional, rather than individual, shift is happening across sports, including in the UK, which was not even the epicentre of the last year's racial justice movement. Premier league clubs, as well as Rugby Union, Cricket and Rugby League clubs, recently staged a social media 'black out' in a display of solidarity to tackle online abuse (which is often racial).
This trend is both unsurprising and longstanding; sports are a microcosm of the society in which they are played. We saw this a generation ago in the journey of the first mixed-race South African rugby team in the 1995 World Cup final in Johannesburg. More recently, we have seen sport even lead, rather than merely reflect, social change, shown when an Emirati purchased the so-called "most racist football team in Israel", Beitar Jerusalem.
Perhaps more than any other industry, sport inspires people and breaks down cultural divides. The final piece of this puzzle, which is already being put in place, is for us to see the same levels of representation upstream in management and the board rooms, as we are seeing on the field.
Major League Baseball is a prime example of this. Whilst they are spearheading the diversity issue visibly on the field, their figures in the boardroom are quite different. In 2015, 93% of all Baseball managers were white, regardless of a 78% white American population (though by 2019 some progress had been made and the number of managers of colour had risen to 16.7%). This is not an anomaly but part of a pattern. In the UK, only six of the 91 English Football League managers are from a minority background, even though minorities represent 14% of the British population. There remains only two black managers, even though the levels of minority players on the pitch stands at 25%.
The English Football Association recently launched the Football Leadership Diversity Code, committing to 15% of new leadership positions being given to ethnic minorities, and for recruitment shortlists for the highest positions being required to include minorities.
Board rooms, which set the strategy for clubs as businesses and institutions, are similarly in need of a more diverse leadership. This needs to be addressed not only for the sake of social equality, but business performance.
The Sport's People's Think Tank has argued that boosted representation in the management and coaching level could improve training procedures. For many clubs this can mean the difference between winning or losing a game, which ultimately leads to more revenue and growth of the business.
It is often said that sports teams are now investment vehicles. That is true, and sport should learn from business; the Harvard Business Review has found that diversity improves profitability in VC firms. It is not hard to see why: diversity of ethnicity inevitably leads to diversity of thought, thereby improving decision-making.
Ultimately, to appeal to the broadest audience base, it is not only the players that need to be representative of the total population, but the corporate structure too. When those in charge of marketing, financing and managing sports have a deeper understanding of the audiences they are serving, the better this will be for both the sporting fans and the industry as a whole.
When the most successful leagues and teams are global brands, it can be outright harmful to profitability and growth for senior management to all come from a particular background, often with similar life experiences. There is also an HR value in this: more diversity at the managing, coaching and owning levels can inspire young, aspirational talent from different backgrounds.
Sport can transform societies in ways no other industry can. This makes it all the more important that all sports continue on their diversity journeys, from equality on the field, to equality in their policies and programs, to the final frontier: equality in who makes the big decisions that impact us all.
