“Sports teaches you character, it teaches you to play by the rules, it teaches you to know what it

feels like to win and lose-it teaches you about life.” - Billie Jean King

Sport comprises of many forms of competitive physical activity and games which, through
spontaneous or organised involvement, objective to use, preserve or develop physical skills while
providing pleasure to partakers, and in some instances, it’s an entertainment for spectators. There
are thousands of sports exists around the world be it involving a single contestant or a group
participants as a team. In some sports like racing, numerous participants can compete, consecutively
or simultaneously, with having only one winner. There can also be match between two sides and
there are some sports which allow a "tie" or "draw", where there is no particularly any winner.

Sport is commonly known as a classification of activities which are based on physical dexterity or
physical athleticism, with the biggest competitions such as the Olympic Games. Normally, sport is
governed by its own set of rules, which is basically to ensure the fairness of a competition and to
allow constant adjudication of the winner. Winning in a sport can be determined by many ways for
example by scoring goals, crossing the line first, being the last man standing and even more. In some
sports, winning will be determined by the judges based on the sportsperson performance.

Despite that, sport does build social and cultural bridges from all different races and life-styles and
provides an opportunity to many people who shares on the same interests . The word diversity in
sports basically includes race, age, gender, disability and also multi-faith. The proper way to
categories diversity is to look back to our own local community. Does it really reflect the diversity
which is in our local community?

To be honest opinion, community do practise discriminate in order to create fair and safe
competition. Likewise, we do discriminate just to obtain participation opportunities. For instance,
discriminate on age (Masters), gender like women only leagues, by weight according to catergory in
the game of boxing and by a person ability like the handicap system in golf. This discrimination can
be accept within the bound of the law. In other circumstances, we do treat people less favourably
because of their background or based on their characteristic. This type of discrimination is said to be
unfair and against the law. Those discrimination which are unfair when it comes to judging a
person’s age, disability, race, including colour, national, gender, pregnancy, marital or relationship
status, family responsibilities or breastfeeding sexual orientation, gender identity or intersex status.

Therefore, it is important to understand the between fair and unfair discrimination based on an
individual attribute. For example, it is acceptable to create an ‘over 45’s’ masters football
competition that excludes people under 45 years old to take part. This is because this type of
discrimination, is said to be fair play. Hence, it is important for administrators and committee
members to understand clearly what discrimination is all about .

In Europe the issue on discrimination based on race, religion, ethnicity, nationality and gender are
considered as a serious issue in eastern Europe than in the west. However, some experts reported
that economic factors seem to be the primary barrier to a broad level of access to sport in Europe
countries. Those from migrant background and whom come from a low-income family are highly
correlated because those groups carry a greater burden to make sports activities affordable for them
to participate .

In a real incident, in 1936 a numbers of black athletes who were contenders in Olympics, who are 18
African Americans consist of 16 men and 2 women went to Berlin. For these group of athletes, the
Olympics provided a special opportunity for their talent to be recognised in worldwide .
Thus, three types of discrimination in sport is briefly explained here. Firstly, racial discrimination
occurs when an individual is treated less favourably compared by other, by not given the same
opportunities because of their race. It is an unlawful discriminate against a person which based on
their race, colour, descent, national or ethnic origin or immigration status. Racism do give out impact
on athelete’s involvement in sport. It can affect their motivation, enjoyment and levels of
participation and, if unchecked, may result in inappropriate, potentially dangerous and violent
behaviour from them. Those successful sporting clubs do play the role in breaking down racism by
focusing on inclusion, team camaraderie and developing individual and team skills .

The next type of discrimination can be sex discrimination which occurs when a person is treated less
favourably, or else not given the same chance, as a person of the opposite sex, where both of them
stand in the similar situation. For example, a male coach of a junior netball club is removed from the
position because the parents of the children insist that they want a female coach. Lastly, regional
differences which has been discussed earlier, acceptance levels for different kinds of discrimination
were observed. In western Europe, racism is broadly viewed as a serious “injustice”, but
homophobia is still consider as less harmful. Whereas, in eastern Europe, the fight against racism has
just stated, in the other hand, other forms of discrimination are still tolerated which is the
homophobia remains as legal form of discrimination in some eastern European countries.

After the brief explanation of the discrimination and types of discrimination in sport. The paper
intends to go in detail of the Racial Discrimination that takes place and exists in sports.
Discrimination problems arising in the world of sports. What does the meaning of sports cover?
Sports cover playing, coaching, umpiring, refereeing and administering sporting activities. Sports also
include an outdoor or indoor game, pastime, and recreational activities. According to the Equal
Opportunity Act 2010, it is an offence committed by a person when they treat someone unfairly in
particularly in the area.

In today world, discrimination can take in many forms an area in a person daily life. Here,
discrimination is where a person is treated unfairly because of their age, sex, religion, disability, race
or the group they belong to in the society. It is not something surprising when discrimination
problem arises in the world of sport. Sport brings together millions of people, regardless of their sex,
gender, age, nationality or religion, no matter what their skin colour is. How do we see
discrimination in sport happen in today world? That discrimination happen by refusing to allow
someone to play sport, refuse to select someone in a sporting team, and exclude someone from a
sporting activity. As stated by Carrington & Learnan (1982), the perceived role of sports during the
early 1980s is once again on the agenda as policymakers grapple with wider issues of racism,
discrimination, social exclusion and inequalities. In the United States, the black athletes experienced
hiring discrimination after World War II because they were refused entry to a major professional
sports league. Even when they entered the league they were subject to unfair job offers and unequal
employment opportunities.

There is strong evidence that discrimination based on race, religion, ethnicity, nationality and gender
is a bigger issue in eastern Europe than in the west. However, experts suggest that economic factors
seem to be the primary barrier to a broad level of access to sport in eastern Europe. As having a
migrant background and coming from a low-income family are highly correlated, there is an even
greater need to make sports activities affordable for people in these social groups that wish to
participate. Ultimately, public and private sectors need a healthy society in which more human
needs are met and aspirations grow to create an expanding demand for business. It is recommended
that both sectors make inclusive policy, such as codes of conduct and curricula, a pre-requisite for
support of different initiatives, and take necessary steps to promote minimum standards of diversity
and inclusion among all stakeholders. Discrimination can occur at various levels; we studied it from
the point of entry in terms of access to sports facilities, to have the opportunity to join a club, and
finally to active promotion and support within the club ("promotion").

In Malaysia, on 5 October 2017, Sultan Johor, Tunku Ismail Sultan Ibrahim disbanded the Johor
Malays, Indian and Chinese Race-based Football associations instead the three associations were
rebranded as clubs and be allowed to compete in the Johor district leagues. Tunku Ismail Sultan
Ibrahim was further quoted as saying that “We don’t need these types of associations. The Sultan of
Johor has been making the state an example for unity”.

In this paper, we will be looking specifically into gender equality in which has come a long way into
today world of sports and is taken seriously in the human right act.
Sports is one of the areas where gender inequality is highly evident. It is safe to say that even today,
women are treated so differently, especially in the world of sports. Example, women in India are still
known as home-making and child-rearing machines but actually, women have also started earning
their own living and also participate in sports actively. Woman strength and determination are
undeniable because of they able and willing to bear children and come back to play and dominate
their respective sports. Those major problems are social, psychological, financial and family issues
which affect the involvement of women in sport. Sexual harassment by the coaches is not a new
thing to talk. The media and the people are also at fault with the "extra-interest" in the personal
lives of sportswomen and creating controversy, just to increase their company rating and share
market. In addition, throughout the journey of the sportswomen, they have faced discrimination at
some level in their sports career, be it at the hands of authorities, selection teams, coaches,
governments, or even their own families. These are the example of woman discrimination in the
world of sport, India's former sprint queen, P.T. Usha broke down in front of the media regarding the
discrimination meted out to her and Joy Fawcett of the USA basketball. The situation has not
changed much till now, but I think we are headed towards the betterment of the society with so
many talented sportswomen throughout the world reaching the peaks. There are also named of
women that have to achieve lifetime in a sport like Mary Kom, Saina Nehwal, amongst many others.
All we probably need is need to recognise that differences exist and a will to push and consider that
everyone obtains equal opportunities.

Besides, sports do provide so many valuable lessons to young athletes, female and male alike such
as every person is equal and do deserve a chance based on their talent and hard work. They do also
teach the lifelong lessons of teamwork and being able to work cooperatively with others in a group
or team, discipline, and time management, among so many other positive effects. Sports, for many
athletes, also serve as a source of pure happiness, a place of relaxation and an escape from the
rigours of everyday life and reality, other than pure income. This young athletes, especially females,
are getting out of sports because of too many negative pressures and effects, therefore research and
advocates must continue to advance the position and reputation of women in sports. They need to
play their important role in shifting the focus from their sexuality to their raw talent and sporting
prowess, and to change gender equality in sports from a dream to reality. It is difficult to banish the
discrimination in today world of sport but we surely can reduce the number of discrimination cases
throughout the year. This paper has contributed to a better understanding of the discrimination in
specific to gender inequality which is the barriers that prevent access to sport.

In short, in the field of sports, gender discrimination is a major issue. For a well-balanced and to
improve social development everyone shall be given equal and fair opportunities in all sectors
including sports regardless of gender. Involvement of women in sport contributes to greater
development. In some places, women have started earning by themselves but in the sports industry,
the opportunities given to them is still low. As in our opinion if women are given more opportunities
regardless of gender discrimination we would be able to head towards a betterment with so much of
talents among women in sports.