Boycott? How Sports React to Racism
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written by Daniel Knoke // translated by Luis Teschner
Black Lives Matter: Demonstrators protesting against racism in Atlanta.
© Maria Oswalt/unsplash.com
“We. Don’t. Feel. Safe.” With this Facebook comment, Christian Barnes pretty much sums up what people are thinking about the US right now. Christian Barnes is at home in an unpopular sport and Christian Barnes is black. In a perfect world this fact would not be relevant, but sadly in this context it does, as the context is racism in unpopular sports.
Quickly, one might think that racism is not really that big of a deal in unpopular sports. Aren’t unpopular sports communities known for being inclusive and anti-discriminatory? Roller Derby strongly identifies with feminism and as a mixed-gender sport, Quidditch deeply cares about LGBTQ+ issues and sees itself as part of the community. Is racism really a problem here? The answer is: yes. Of course. Racism is everywhere because racism doesn’t only come in the form of active and deliberate insults. It is often subliminal and the ones involved aren’t even aware of it.
Listen to what minorities are saying!
The skater Queen Loseyateefa wrote about a few especially striking examples here . She is active in the Atlanta roller derby scene and has experienced cases where referees announced penalties with the colour of the penalized player’s skin. How do you react to something like this? With a boycott? By dropping out of the competition? For Queen Loseyateefa, this doesn’t solve the issue at hand. Understandable: She clearly loves her sport and wants to compete in it.
Still, her mentioned examples are not easy to digest. And probably, Queen Loseyateefa didn’t mean to demonize her own sport, as Roller Derby has always made an effort for positivity. But that’s not what it’s about and American roller derby, too, has problems with racism. And whoever says “Black Lives Matter“ needs to say “Black Voices Matter”, too. Minorities must finally be heard and must not be answered with excuses or false rationalisations.
This seems to be a common perspective in the Quidditch community as well, as Christian Barnes (who was quoted above) is a quidditch player. He’s black and he’s from New York. His comment “We. Don’t. Feel. Safe” was part of a discussion showing that racism is a concern in probably every kind of sport out there.
Last resort: Boycott of the world cup
The International Quidditch Association has to face a tough decision.
Source: Facebook
At the heart of the discussion is an open letter that Canadian quidditch player Jamie Lafrance directed at the International Quidditch Association (IQA) that you can read here. In essence, he writes that as a black person, he doesn’t feel safe in the south of the US and requests the world cup 2021 to move to another place. Right now, the plan is for the tournament to take place in Richmond, Virginia.
Not just the death of George Floyd showed that minorities in the US are and have always been victims of racism and that this racism can present itself as deadly violence. With this in mind, moving the World Cup would be a strong sign that for example the German Quidditch Association (DQB) welcomes. “We can see this happening“, says DQB-president Monique Renk in regards to the question what they think about a new call for proposals for world cup hosting cities. Of course, she says, it is best to wait for announcements by the IQA before taking any action.
Adding to this, Renk explains what should be the ideal for hosting locations. “As an inclusive sport it should be our goal for tournaments to offer a safe space. That doesn’t just include the community, but also the location of the venue”, the DQB-president states in a talk with MUS. Meaning: It’s not just crucial that everyone is welcomed on pitch, but – just as important – feels safe in the hosting city.
Jamie Lafrance goes even further to underline the gravity of the topic. In his open letter, he suggests for everyone to boycott the quidditch world cup – unless it be moved to a safer place outside the US. For the DQB, a boycott would only be “the last resort”, as Renk emphasizes. Still, this does imply that a boycott is not unthinkable for the German quidditch community.
How will the IQA react?
A boycott would probably be the worst solution for all sides and right now, it seems that not just the DQB expects an appropriate reaction by the IQA. Whether that would mean a complete relocation of the event is not confirmed. Which would be quite the organisational task for everyone involved.
An example: The Richmond tourism agency has supposedly signed a contract with the IQA to sponsor the tournament to keep its cost down. This poses the question whether those contracts could be annulled easily. Going further, finding a suitable replacement host might also be difficult. There’s no use in pointing fingers at the US when racism is a problem in most other countries, too.
This issue has also come up regarding tournaments in Turkey. It’s a fact that some of the best European quidditch teams originate from there, but it’s also a fact that despite existing applications, no major tournament ever took place in the country. Apparently, one aspect considered was that transgender people don’t feel safe in Turkey.
Unpopular Sport Has A Long Way to Go
In the discussion, New Zealand was brought up as a safe country and alternative host for the world cup. Which brings up another problem: New Zealand has 7 active quidditch players – and doesn’t really compare to the thousands in the US. The country could only realize the quidditch world cup with massive support from Australia. This makes it clear that the issue at hand is complex and the search for a possible substitute host difficult.
That’s not to say we should avoid the topic entirely. Because the general consensus in the community can be summed up by this. Most important are two aspects: Finally actively listening to black people – and other minorities – and finding a location for the quidditch world cup where everyone feels safe. Both should be kind of a no-brainer, right? The discussions mentioned in this post that are taking place in the roller derby and quidditch community point out that unpopular sport is not at all free from racism and does have a long, long way to go.