Welcoming Clubs- Upstander Training for Community Sports Clubs

Engaging club members in learning opportunities that give people tools to prevent, and respond to, racism and discrimination.

Preventing and responding to racism and discrimination is challenging. Committing to stopping racism requires a club-wide commitment to the values of inclusion and the celebration of diversity.

Racism is learned and therefore must be unlearned. One-off campaigns, hashtags, banners & signs have done little to address the ongoing issue of racism in Australian sport.

2013 research conducted by VicHealth, the Social Research Centre and The University of Melbourne demonstrated that approximately nine out of 10 survey respondents believed racist insults and sledges were never acceptable in social situations, workplaces or sports clubs and 85% of respondents thought that workplaces and sporting clubs have an important role to play in leading this action.

However, only 30% said that they would act against racism. The most common place for people to be willing to act was in sports club scenarios (50%).

People were more likely to be active bystanders if they:

• knew what constituted race-based discrimination

• were aware of the harm caused by race-based discrimination

• felt a responsibility to intervene, and

• felt confident in their ability to intervene.

This is where your club can take action. The Welcoming Clubs Active Inclusion workshop includes Upstander training for Community Sports Clubs. Using the Upstander Framework and real-life examples from clubs in Australia, club members are given tools to respond to incidents of racism and discrimination in the most comfortable way. Participants will walk out of the workshop with immediate confidence that they can “be someone that does something”.

To enquire about an Active Inclusion Workshop – Upstander Training for Community Sports Clubs contact clubs@welcoming.org.au