Sport for SDG #10 is Reduced Inequalities within and among countries.
Sport can promote equality and serve as a platform to promote the value of respect and diversity. As seen at the Olympics, it is about bringing everyone together to show the world the amazing performances of human ability. When all nations are equal, sport is an even playing field as it is all about the human capacity and ability. COVID-19 has highlighted the inequalities in our society, which also means it has shown us what we can improve on.
Currently however, there is an uneven playing field in sports. It is important to recognize that at the high level of sports, it is developed countries that have facilities and the infrastructure and many other things that can help benefit athletes. Looking at the 2018 Pyeongchang Olympic medal count, most countries that have medals are developed nations. This in itself shows the inequality between countries. Working to develop infrastructure and community level sports in developing nations will help address this inequality. By trying to reduce inequalities in sport we can help lift up nations.
Sports can be used as a platform for highlighting inequalities between nations and within nations. I think this can be seen with Colin Kaepernick in the NFL kneeling during the playing of the United State’s national anthem to highlight the oppression of black people and people of colour in the US. Athletes have a large following and are able to point at inequalities and show people how things are unfair and not equal. Sport being used as a form of protest has been around for a long time.
Sport is often used as a tool for empowerment for minorities like women and girls, young people, people with disabilities and communities. Sports can be used to include those who are often left out, reducing the inequalities that exist between people in a society.
I think that sport organisations and teams have a responsibility to help grow the local community. Teams and athletes and organisations need to be responsible citizens and give back to their community like everyone else. Using their resources to help develop sport programming for youth, or a really great example is the 49ers EDU programme: “The 49ers EDU creates meaningful and relevant experiences through informal education by leveraging [American] football as a platform to connect, engage, and inspire K-8 students and teachers in STEAM.” (Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts and Math)This is one really great example of how teams can be involved in their communities and help create a better society! They use their resources to help reduce inequalities in their city to help those in need.
The popularity of sports make it a great way to tackle inequalities in cities and with communities that are often hard to reach. Sport makes it more personal and more understandable. The 49ers EDU programme works with youth to connect them with STEAM, because it often seems very irrelevant to their day to day lives. They use sport to connect youth to STEAM. This programme is aimed at young people from disadvantaged backgrounds to help them see how they can pursue jobs in the STEAM fields.