Tackling Racism in Sport

Being taught by leading researchers with a broad array of expertise allowed me to pursue a dissertation in a topic that I was passionate about. I was incredibly proud to receive a first for this work and was excited when my dissertation tutor approached me with an opportunity to take my research further at a research presentation event in Spain.

Collaborating with my dissertation tutor, we shortened my work, ‘Racism and Social Media: The attack on English Premier League players’, into a journal article to be submitted to the CIED 12 Scientific Committee (Universidad de Castilla-La Mancha). It was truly a once in a lifetime experience to present my research at this event and I seized the opportunity with both hands.

At the event, I was able to meet scholars from different countries, all within the Sport Management industry. This gave me valuable insight into the industry, as well as the opportunity to network with similar-minded people.

Bally’s daring to investigate cyber-racism and know more about the role of social media in providing a platform for racial discrimination was certainly a determinant for judges to select him as a finalist, and the quality of his work secured him first place in the competition. Bally should receive particular merit for his work, as his research was carried out prior to the first ever sentence against a football fan for cyber racism.

Bally analysed more than 10,000 comments from 8 Instagram accounts belonging to players from different ethnicities and demonstrated that anonymity increases the racial abuse severity, which must lead to actions from governing bodies.

Bally’s research has huge potential going forward, highlighting the increased need to address online racism in sport and making recommendations for a more comprehensive approach with better coordination among the police, clubs, player bodies and organisations, like the Premier League, to protect their players.

Loughborough University has a successful and robust system in place supporting sport management students in their journey to design and implement real-world research. All students conduct a full research process for their final dissertation project, which includes the design of the research, writing a proper literature review, and collecting and analysing data under a critical perspective.

This experience equips our students with transferable skills which are valued and desired in the job market across a wide range of career opportunities. After graduation, students have acquired not only the relevant knowledge in the sport industry, but the ability to think critically about any subject that impacts our changing society.