Racism in Sport

Part of 1. Questions to the First Minister – in the Senedd at 2:24 pm on 12 January 2021.

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Photo of Laura Anne Jones Laura Anne Jones Conservative 2:24, 12 January 2021

Happy new year, First Minister. The Black Lives Matter protest and incidents like that just raised by Jayne Bryant have encouraged governments at all levels now to look at the inequalities facing BAME people in all aspects of life, and sport has had a particularly high profile due to sportsmen like Sir Lewis Hamilton and all the premiership football teams still taking the knee. Campaigners have made the point, though, that nothing will change unless there is greater representation of BAME people in the higher echelons of sporting organisations. In football, for example, a quarter of Premier League football players are black, however there are only six managers from a BAME background in the professional game, and just one director of football. In 2003, in the National Football League in America, they brought in the Rooney rule to address the under-representation of African American coaches in American football, by which at least one black candidate is on the shortlist for interview when a manager's job becomes vacant. What discussions has the Welsh Government had with sports councils, sports organisations, clubs and national governing bodies to review representation and pathways for black, Asian and minority ethnic people in Wales?