The Politics of Identity in British Sport: A Critical Exploration of Ethnicity Issues

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Over the past decade or more there has been a notable growth of interest in the study of sport, racism and ethnicity . This essay has similar interest. The main goal of this essay is to bring closer the issues of ethnicity and the politics of identity in British sport. In this essay, I am going to introduce the history of immigrants to Britain and Development of Sport in Britain in order to bring closer the high influence of different cultures on British culture, and of course on British sport. I will also discuss some issues related to race and ethnicity that are present in sport.

History of Immigrants to Britain dates back to the pre-historic times, but I am more interested in the period from late 19th throughout 20th century until present day, because the intensity of immigration was at its highest point during this period. Let’s go back to the beginning. The Romans were the first nation that brought their tradition and culture to the Britain, followed by Saxons, Angles, Scots, Vikings, Normans and many more. All these nations greatly influenced Britain and its culture. But not until the 19th century did they brought sports with their cultures. Most influential immigrations in this sense were those of British colonies around the world, mainly from India, Bangladesh, Pakistan, South Africa, Kenya and Caribbean. Many of these immigrants came to work and provide for their families but they stayed and formed minority communities, because they refused to be assimilated into the British society. Whilst to this their progeny were born in Britain and lived according to both their native culture and British as well. Due to this mixture of cultures, Britain gained new traditions but sports as well.

Children of immigrants or direct immi...

... middle of paper ...

...rt, Racism and Ethnicity by Grant Jarvie, first published in 1991, reprinted 1995

news.bbc.co.uk, article by Lucie McLean,

Website: http://news.bbc.co.uk/hi/english/static/in_depth/uk/2002/race/participation_in_sport.stm

le.ac.uk

Website: http://www.le.ac.uk/so/css/resources/factsheets/fs6.html

Racism and Football

coe.int

Website: http://www.coe.int/t/dg4/anti-discrimination-campaign/Source/News/Seminar_sport-discrimination_text_en.pdf

Sport and Discrimination: the Media Perspective

givemefootball.com

Website: http://www.givemefootball.com/pfa/about-the-pfa/introduction

The Professional Footballers’ Association

kernowtgg.co.uk

Website: http://www.kernowtgg.co.uk/shadowreport.pdf

Commission for Racial Equality

ec.europa.eu

Website: http://ec.europa.eu/dgs/education_culture/mag/23/en.pdf

The European Union and Sport. Published in 2004

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