STATEMENT BY THE BOARD OF SARI
Statement by the board of SARI
27th September 2023
The board of SARI (Sport Against Racism Ireland) believes the government needs to make diversity and inclusion training a fundamental part of our education system. This is the only way of addressing serious problems emerging in society, most emphatically represented by the treatment of one young girl, at the Gymnastics Ireland GymSTART competition on the 6th March 2022 that has received global attention.
In line with the family's wishes, we did not post the video of the young girl at the Gymnastics Ireland event given the possible impact of this on the child.
However, in March 2022, SARI requested the Minister of Sport to conduct an enquiry into the incident but apart from an acknowledgement by the Department, we heard nothing further. This request was also copied to the CEO of Sport Ireland.
The incident - and the response to it - has served to highlight how much work needs to be done on promoting diversity and inclusivity. SARI believes this is best done through education. For the past seven years SARI has been delivering an anti-discrimination workshop to schools across Ireland. This is currently supported and funded by the Department of Children, Education, Disability, Integration and Youth’s (DCEDIY) National Integration Fund and the UEFA Foundation for Children.
Through the delivery of these workshops it is clear that there is a lack of diverse representation across teaching staff in Ireland. We need to encourage more people from ethnic minority backgrounds to become teachers. SARI’s approach, that uses sport as the means by which our youth are encouraged to see no limitations around inclusive behaviours, is proven to be effective. We should be resourced to deliver workshops to all 3,300 plus primary schools in Ireland. All teachers should undergo diversity and inclusion training.
Sport is a powerful tool for promoting and supporting diversity and inclusivity. SARI has been working with the GAA - which has a developed approach to inclusivity - for many years; together we are currently piloting a new programme delivering a 'GAA versus Discrimination’ workshop to clubs across Ireland.
Collaboration and partnership are essential in taking steps to ensure the safety and inclusion of all young people playing sport. By working with sport governing bodies we would hope that all coaches, players, parents and employees undergo diversity and inclusion training.
One of SARI’s primary roles is to inform and educate on the values of an inclusive society where all forms of discrimination are unacceptable. Ireland is at something of a crossroads on this quest. Politically, through policy changes chosen by us as citizens, great progress has been made in recent decades, but in behavioural terms, there’s cause for concern.
We welcome the recently launched government 'Ireland Against Racism Fund’ as an important element in implementing the National Action Plan Against Racism and supporting community initiatives across Ireland. While we have had some success in supporting communities to become more inclusive spaces by embracing difference and celebrating diversity there needs to be more investment to promote social inclusion in Ireland.
SARI will continue to work with and support the family in the gymnastics case and all those hurt and isolated by acts of exclusion. Our mission is to ensure participation for all and that no individual - child or adult - is ever left to feel excluded by the actions of others.