Abstract
Despite football (also known as “soccer”) being the most popular and diverse game in the world, racism and discrimination pervade the sport. Racism and discrimination continue notwithstanding widespread recognition of the problem and continuous reforms and regulations implemented by international and regional bodies. To our understanding, this is the first study to systematically analyze the regulatory failures surrounding racism in football and explain why organizational efforts to respond have failed. While other studies have examined the long history of racism in football, documented how actors have diffused responsibility, and categorized anti-discrimination efforts into reactive and proactive categories, this research draws upon new institutional organizational theory to understand how, but also why, football organizations—at the international, regional, and club levels—have been ineffective at curbing racism. This paper explains why racism has persisted in football, why previous anti-discrimination efforts by European football governing organizations at every level have fallen short, and what can be done to curb this problem in the future. We offer a series of interconnected proposals that will likely move the sport closer to substantive compliance and transform anti-racism efforts from futile gestures to impactful initiatives. By identifying the organizational predicates that have allowed racism to reproduce in football, this study is critical for understanding the larger question of why so many industries—healthcare, education, banking, government, and financial institutions—fail to sufficiently address racism in the workplace. This paper, therefore, has implications for those interested in employment law, regulation, organizations, sports, and compliance.
Presenters
Shauhin TaleshProfessor of Law and Sociology, University of California, Irvine, California, United States
Details
Presentation Type
Paper Presentation in a Themed Session
Theme
Sports Management and Commercialization
KEYWORDS
Racism, Soccer, Football, Compliance, Regulation, Inequality, Organizations
