CEO message: February
In an historic moment for Victorian sport, key players in the sport sector have teamed up to develop a unified approach to tackle the issue of racism in community sport.
I was proud to join CEOs and representatives of seven of the larger State Sporting Associations (SSAs) along with Vicsport and VicHealth, at Parliament House last week to sign a pledge outlining our commitment ‘to work together to strengthen community sport as a more inclusive, culturally safe and respectful environment for all Victorians’.
The unique collaboration brings together AFL Victoria, Basketball Victoria, Cricket Victoria, Football Victoria, Netball Victoria, NRL Victoria and Tennis Victoria.
Read more about the pledge signing event here or see this joint release from the organisations involved.
CMSport, a CMY initiative to drive social change through sport, has played an integral role in bringing these major players together to hone our collective focus on the challenges and significant impacts of racism that play out on sporting grounds, fields and courts throughout our state.
The pledge took place ahead of the release of new research from a study led by Monash University, titled Enhancing the Capacity of Victorian Community Sport to Tackle Racism. Funded by VicHealth, the project surveyed almost 350 Australians from across 50 different sports to better understand community experiences and impacts of racism.
The findings unsurprisingly provide a clear picture of the prevalence of racism in community sport in Victoria. We’re particularly concerned by these findings, given how important we know sport can be in helping migrant and refugee young people, and their families and communities, to build connections and a sense of belonging.
Collaborators from across the sport sector have already gathered to turn this knowledge into action, participating in a co-design workshop which included the seven SSAs together with Vicsport, VicHealth, and Sport and Recreation Victoria, and researchers Ruth Jeanes (Monash University), Ramon Spaaij (Victoria University) and Karen Farquharson (University of Melbourne).
This workshop is the first of many which will inform the ongoing development of a statewide strategy to tackle racism in community sport in Victoria.
Carmel Guerra OAM
CMY CEO