This paper summarises the findings of a twelve-month research project commissioned by British University and Colleges Sport (BUCS) to explore race and equality among non-white student-athletes, participants in university recreational physical activity, and staff leading, coaching, and managing university sport.

The experience of racism continues across all areas of peoples’ lives and its consequences are destructive. Inequalities attributable to racial identity are consistently reported across key social intuitions, not least education. Debate concerning race has consistently challenged ‘post-race’ narratives that rationalise racism down to individual prejudices and explains racial inequalities through poor individual decision-making (Hylton, 2005, 2021). Post-race narratives are often set into ideas of societal meritocracy that believe everyone has equal access to resources and influence, and individual talent and hard work is equally rewarded (Bimper, 2017). In university sport, the educational achievements, athleticism and professionalism of Black student-athletes are viewed through ostensibly neutral and meritocratic lenses rather than considering institutional inequalities (Bimper, 2017; Singer, 2005). Much of this research on student-athletes analyses US institutions; in the UK, recent examination of university sport in regard to LGBTQ+ inclusion notes ‘tokenistic’ policies within a culture of homophobia and misogyny (Phipps, 2020).

Two research questions were posed:

1. What are the experiences of non-white students and staff of university sport?
2. How are the sport and physical activity experiences of non-white students considered strategically and operationally by universities?

This paper reports on analysis and conclusions relating to the first research question, specifically experiences of university sport among non-white students. Non-white was chosen as a term to focus attention upon the voices of those who do not share the racial majority of those who lead, coach, and participate in university sport (Long and Hylton, 2022).

The data were approached from a Critical Race Theory and Intersectional perspective. CRT promotes seeing race and racism as central features of society; critiques colour-blind approaches; and centres marginalised voices (Hylton, 2005; Solorzano and Yosso, 2001). People’s experiences are spread across different contexts and are experienced through different intersecting identities including gender, class, race, and ethnicity (Collins, 1986). This spread also means that it is not easy for participants to compartmentalise their lives before, during and beyond university. Deep explorations of personal experiences and looking to recruit participants who may not respond to a survey became key requirements of the research methodology.

A qualitative research approach was considered the most feasible means to explore the nuances of participants’ experiences and how their identities are produced through and within different contexts. The commissioned research tender was based on a partnership of researchers geographically spread across the UK. Over an eight-month period, a research team of staff and student researchers explored the experiences of 66 staff and students across five universities. These case studies captured insight into a range of university and student populations. In-depth interviews were used to explore experiences of being a student-athlete in university sport and/or recreational physical activity at their home campus and when playing fixtures at other universities. Student participants were interviewed by student researchers recruited from each institution’s student body. Student researchers were employed to lower the power differential that can occur between staff and students. Training was provided to student researchers by the research team, through regular meetings and reviews of interview transcripts. These interactions also functioned to support monitoring and care of both participants and student researchers. To avoid racialising the research participants, they were asked how they identified themselves in relation to race and ethnicity. Snowball sampling was used to recruit research participants, plus calls via institution and student union communication channels. Initial analysis began with research teams from each case study analysing data from a small sample of student and staff transcripts drawn from one case study. Key analytical questions were drawn from the research questions and used to develop an initial analysis and themes. The lead researchers from each of the collaborating universities then shared the meta-analysis framework with their local research team to analyse their own student-athlete data set. During this phase there was a strong emphasis on assessing and identifying similarities and differences in interpretations within the local research team, as well as critical assessments of the overall effectiveness of that framework. The core research team then met to share their interpretations, and discussions focussed upon how to achieve parity across the case studies. The use of a mixture of analytical questions and themes supported both a broad and contextual analysis of the data and similar patterns of analysis were developed from the sample data. Each case study was developed using a common framework and this served to draw together the key findings of the research across the multiple case studies.

The student data produced two core themes of ‘Play by the Rules’ and ‘Keep You Guessing’, characterised by negotiating whiteness. Racism and racial bias were present risks for non-white student-athletes, requiring them to constantly negotiate Whiteness and white sporting spaces (Bimper, 2017). All students engaged in additional labour to seek a sense of belonging. For instance, non-drinkers were distanced from the social ties built around a partying culture that created a challenge to feeling an equally respected member of a squad. There was no consistent approach to collating demographic data about students who participate in sport and recreational programmes; a colour-blind or passive approach to inclusion reinforced White-centric assumptions about experiences in sport (Hylton, 2021). Explicit racism occurred as isolated incidents and did not have a regular pattern. Racial abuse could be very subtle, camouflaged in comments and actions by players and teams that happened momentarily; such abuse was implausible to capture and evidence. Racial abuse was used by opponents to try to gain advantage by ‘fishing’ for an explicit response and adverse judgement from competition officials. Lines of explicit responsibility for the management of crowd behaviour are not clearly established. The search for evidence becomes prioritised over care for the victim. Thus, the perpetrator is privileged, and responsibility placed upon the victim to seek justice. Findings resonate with other enquiries into British university sport (Phipps, 2020) that equality and inclusion are not viewed as requiring ongoing enactment. We draw conclusions relating to robust mechanisms of reporting racial abuse and supporting non-white student-athletes’ participation, including tackling a white-centric culture and assumptions about student needs. Higher education institutions should collate data about inclusion in sport and physical activity ‘offers’, listen to experiences of imbalances in power, and commit to proactive equality practices and action plans.

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