sport and cultural diversity - Sport New Zealand

v. Attitudes
The UK research discovered that the attitudes of key people constituted a barrier to sports
participation. Sportscotland noted that parental attitudes were a key factor (Scott Porter, 2001
:9).
The attitudes of ethnic minority parents towards their children’s involvement in
sporting activity has...been raised as one of the key reasons for low participation in
sport...Research has shown that parents of ethnic minority origin do not always
recognise the value or worth of their children participating in sporting activities, and
much has been written about the emphasis placed on academic achievement and
the pursuit of a ‘good’ job instead of involvement in sporting activity (Scott Porter,
2001:9).
What is interesting in this research is that the parental influence was most obvious while their
children were in secondary school and that it increased in significance as boys progressed
through secondary school. However, in some cases, parental attitudes conflicted with those of
their children. Alongside parents, the attitudes of teachers was also an important influence,
specifically in terms of a lack of an understanding of how cultural attitudes influenced sporting
participation or an unwillingness to accommodate cultural differences in the way that sport was
organised. In the UK research, much was made of racial stereotyping and prejudice. This
generalised attitude of others (although it was argued that this was also present in terms of the
attitudes of administrators, fellow participants and onlookers) made ethnic and immigrant
minorities feel unwelcome at best and often the target of overt racism on other occasions.
Attached to this observation was this feeling amongst some minority community members that
they were simply not made welcome by sports administrators. If they had particular cultural or
religious requirements, then those involved in the administration of a sport were unprepared to
acknowledge that these were important. At times, they faced outright hostility because they
were different. Sikhs who wore a bunnet during sports activities were the subject of comment.
And then there was the attitude of members of these communities. At times, they simply did
not put a high value on sporting participation and saw such participation as having little value
or benefit (Scott Porter, 2001:18).
For [some] people, attitudes towards sport tended towards the negative. It was
often viewed as a frivolous undertaking, for entertainment only and lacking in any
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