Racing must embrace ethnic minorities to flourish

General / The Assistant / 20 January 2008 / 1 Comments

Whether ignorant or indeed racist the sport must look at its attitude to races and nationalities outside of 'white' and 'British', says The Assistant

Sir William Macpherson, who led the Stephen Lawrence inquiry, found the Metropolitan Police to be institutionally racist, describing: "processes, attitudes and behaviour which amount to discrimination through unwitting prejudice, ignorance, thoughtlessness, and racist stereotyping which disadvantages minority ethnic people."

Now Macpherson might not be a master of pith, but any thesis writers short of a topic would find lots to say in response to the question: According to Macpherson's definition, is British Racing institutionally racist?

Wags might highlight the greys-only race at Newmarket and ask where the chestnut equivalent is. Further still, they may argue that to differentiate competition based on coat colour is, in itself, racist.

But those taking a more serious approach would not be short of material.

First, ethnic minorities are under-represented in the sport's fan base. I've met hundreds of people racing, only one of them black. At least that's all I can remember. Perhaps I meet countless people from ethnic minorities at the track, but am too cosmopolitan to notice. Or perhaps not.

And although I don't have the statistics, this under-representation is matched by the lack of diversity of those who work in senior industry jobs. There are not many black trainers or jockeys, racecourse management is white and middle class, and I doubt the BHA is a cultural melting pot - unless you count having an equal number of ex-Harrovians and Etonians as a measure of multiplicity.

But under-representation in itself is no litmus test proving racing racism. Just as chickens and eggs define circular cause and consequence, so does racing's colour bar. Ethnic minorities aren't big patrons of racing, so ethnic minorities are unlikely to express or receive interest for the industry's top jobs.

Second, racism is rife within racing stables and, in my experience, little is ever done to address it. Language seen as abhorrent in most modern workplaces is commonplace. Jokes, when not sexist, usually have a racist slant. And those in stable management, either because they share the expressed view, or feel it not a priority to address, let a racist culture thrive.

This widespread acceptance is seen at its most shocking when interviewing potential new staff. Only yesterday (and this is a fairly regular occurrence) an interviewee said he had left his last job to "get away from the Pakis."

I have to say, ashamedly, that I have given up trying to address the problem. Any objection - whether to racism, sexism or homophobia - did not win hearts and minds. It just meant they no longer shared the jokes with me. Which, I guess, is something to be happy about.

But - going back to our thesis question - just because racism exists, it doesn't make it institutional. That is a more difficult point to establish for certain.

Perhaps the problem isn't particular to racing? Perhaps we need to accept that the reality of British Common Man, in all his magnificent ignorance, is that lower paid jobs are filled by people with a propensity for bigotry and intolerance?

So why, in a column dedicated to providing a light-hearted insight into stable life, have I chosen to raise this?

Well, listening to the moronic droning of racing's politicians, from the BHA to the NTF to the ROA, you'd think that funding was the biggest, if not the only, issue facing British Racing.

The reality - that funding is ample and will continue to be so as long as self-serving racing interest groups step aside and let the market take care of things - is little understood.

Because the biggest threat to the future of British racing is not funding, but a massive, and seemingly unsolvable, staff shortage.

And this is where racism is relevant. Ethnic minorities make up a large proportion of the socio-economic groups that provide stable staff, and yet few from this sub-group would be able to (or should be asked to) tolerate the level of racism present in the industry.

And if we can't staff the sport, what's the point of getting the funding?

Comments (1)

1. Mick Sturbs | 21 January 2008

   What a load of absolute nonsense.Some people ,like the author of this article play "the race card" in order to get publicity and to ingratiate themselves to the general public.
   Look in the paddock at many of the meetings and there are people from ethnic minorities leading the horses round indeed look at the jockeys.
   If the ability is there the so are the opportunities. nuff said