ABC’s QandA: Sport must be ‘more inclusive’

Questions have been emerging on what big sporting codes are actually doing to end discrimination in their games.

Adelaide United soccer club director Bruce Djite. Picture: ABC TV

As the AFL and NRL seasons get underway against the backdrop of the Black Lives Matter movement, questions have been emerging on what big sporting codes are actually doing to end discrimination in their games.

On Monday night’s episode of the ABC’s QandA, the discussion was opened by the NRL’s interim chief executive Andrew Abdo who admitted the code should be doing more to stand for inclusivity.

“I think if you look at what’s happened across not just the AFL and NRL, across society, we have instances where individuals are victimised and we need to do more. Players need to feel safe,” Mr Abdo said.

Pressing Mr Abdo on the issue, host Hamish Macdonald asked him what doing more looked like for the league.

“Listening to our players and giving them a platform so they can express themselves,” Mr Abdo said.

“We’re fortunate in that we have an Indigenous Players Advisory Group, the Australian Rugby League Indigenous Council – these are people that are helping us understand what the issues are on the ground and informing us on things we can do to drive change.”

Richmond Football Club’s chief executive Brendon Gale argued racism stems from a point of ignorance, a point echoed by fellow panellist and director of Adelaide United soccer club, Bruce Djite.

“When we’re talking about this and talking about what this means and how it impacts our indigenous brothers and sisters, people become more informed and I think sport in general provides a very powerful platform for us to continue to do that,” Mr Gale said.

However, world champion Australian netballer Sharni Layton said she wished it had not taken the Black Lives Matter movement for Australians to start “paying attention to Aboriginals and Torres Strait Islanders”.

“I hope we do continue to use this momentum but also remember to keep taking action rather than saying all of these words that we’re wanting to represent and change things,” she said.

Macdonald asked why Mr Gale thought it was so difficult for sporting organisations to stand by their indigenous players who had been racially attacked by the public.

“Well, I’m not really sure, Hamish. I think as we evolve, attitudes change,” he said.

“But I think the AFL industry could have done more in terms of Adam Goodes, for example, but came out and apologised unequivocally.”

Later, the panellists addressed the financial pressure sporting codes have came under as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic. Mr Djite said after the crisis the way sport is administered and governed will change as organisations are forced to rethink their ability to survive future financial crises.

“People will look very closely at their balance sheet to make sure if there ever is another financial crisis in the game, that they don’t have to make these sweeping changes,” he said.

Sports broadcaster and journalist Tracey Holmes said COVID-19 had hit everybody “quite substantially”, pointing out sport is not in fact for profit.

“There’s not a lot of money that is kept in the bank … because they’d be going against their not-for-profit regulations,” she said.

“And when you consider the bigger sports like AFL or rugby league or cricket, for instance, they’re looking after the elite end. They’re looking after the development in the middle. They’re looking after grassroots. There’s all these other programs they need to get through.”

Holmes added: “We also know that, through sport, Australia, and the Australian government and regulations that they put in and are attached to any form of funding, that there are definite measures that have to be reached.”

Mr Abdo said the NRL’s leadership team had carried the financial strain with its stakeholders in spite of its $1 billion, 5-year broadcasting deal. He noted the clubs’ responsiveness to the pandemic and their collaboration with sponsors has also helped “absorb” the pain.

“We’re going to come through this crisis with a very clear focus on what we need to do differently to be even more sustainable, but the truth is that getting back on the field and getting footy back to our fans has enabled us to survive the crisis,” he said.

Mr Abdo said the NRL was now in a position to phase people, who had been stood down, back into work, but added a new operating model will be in place.

Next, the panel grappled with issues of equality in sport, and whether the momentum building up women’s sport has been lost during the pandemic and, if so, how to regain it.

Mr Gale said the growth story of the AFLW competition will continue to thrive, adding the women’s competition had made Richmond “a better club”.

“It’s normalised the whole environment which was a hyper-masculine environment and says a lot about our club. It presents our club in a different way. We’re very passionate about diversity. That will continue to be a priority at our football club,” he said.

However, Layton said women’s sport has almost fallen by the wayside when it comes to negotiating broadcasting deals, calling on media outlets to start covering women’s sports.

“We get the crowds there. You decide to cover it once in a blue moon at every World Cup and then it disappears off the map,” she said.

“People want to read about it in the paper and it’s about time we do get equal coverage in all of that.”