Kick It Out chief wants action not tokenism from sport over discrimination

Sport’s leaders must be judged on delivering change to combat discrimination rather than simply enacting plans and initiatives, the chief executive of Kick It Out has said.

Tony Burnett argues in an opinion piece timed to coincide with the United Nations’ Day for Elimination of Racial Discrimination that for too long the sports sector has been satisfied to invest in plans designed to bring about change, but that it has ultimately failed to deliver it.

“Success for leaders has become investment rather than change,” he said.

A plan is just the transport - it's not the destination, and yet we continue to reward plans rather than delivery of outcomes when it comes to diversity and equality.- Kick It Out chief executive Tony Burnett

“Tokenism rather than substance. Input rather than outcomes. We are handing out awards and offering pats on the back to leaders for simply trying and then we wonder why progress has not been made and the leaders of today make exactly the same mistakes as those of 20 years ago.

“It is often said that sport mirrors society and at a national level we have seen the debacle of the Met Police once again failing to acknowledge and address racist and misogynistic views amongst officers that reinforces the lack of confidence in policing now common within many communities. An undisputed fact which our government has no appetite to address.

“Politicians of all persuasions have failed on this issue for decades and the failure is one of leadership. As a young man brought up with a union steward as a father, I was encouraged to support the Labour Party, however I look at the Labour Party nowadays and I do not see many people like me in senior positions.

“How can it be that Labour, for decades the so-called