The Final International conference for the project Monitora, monitoring racism in sport, was held in Rome on October 11, 2024, at the Città dell’Altraeconomia within the Sabir Festival. The conference was very well attended, with 72 people involved.

The conference was divided into two panels: the first one focused on a more general discussion on how to build a sport culture free from discrimination and racism, while the second one dealt with the results and outputs produced during Monitora's two years in four European countries (Italy, Belgium, Finland, and Hungary).

The first panel, coordinated by Grazia Naletto (Lunaria), had as guests Omar Daffe (Lega Serie A), Matteo Tracchi (Ecri – European Committee against Racism and Intolerance, connected online), Marlyse Royer (Stop racism in sport), Mattia Peradotto (Unar – National Office Racial Discrimination) and Luca Vettori and Arianna Scarnecchia, authors of the podcast produced by Altreconomia review “Fuori dai giochi- gli spazi preclusi dello sport”.

The second panel, coordinated by Roberta Pomponi (Lunaria), featured the partners’ representatives as speakers: Alessandro Mazzola (Université de Liège), Davide Valeri (Uisp Aps), Jean-Marc Alingue (Liikkukaa), Balint Josa (United, connected online), Daniela Conti (Isca), and Stefania N’Kombo Josè Theresa (Lunaria).

Here are the main highlights of the discussion.

Panel I: Is everything allowed in sports? For a sports culture free from racism

The first panel opened with a general reflection on the common conception of sport. Sport is often seen as a world apart and separate from the rest of society, where everything can be justified or deemed legitimate. This leads to a sports culture that fails to address, most of the time, cases of discrimination and racism that, especially in grassroots sports, remain invisible. This is tied to a general unwillingness to report racist incidents due to the tendency to downplay the seriousness and impact of discrimination and racism on the people involved, the sports world, and society as a whole. Moreover, the dimension of structural racism also plays a vital role in hindering equal access and equal protection in sports for all.

The contributions of the first panel revolved around two main questions derived from this general reflection:

1. There is a tendency to focus on the importance of sanctioning actions in combating discrimination and racism in sports. Is this approach acceptable, or would it not be necessary to devote more attention to prevention activities, and in particular, to building a new culture of sports based on the principles of participation, equal opportunities, and solidarity?
2. How do we build a culture of sport free from discrimination and racism? What are the main critical issues that need to be addressed, and what initiatives and experiences did your reality/organization promote in this direction?

The panelists highlighted how sanctions are not enough to counter racism in sport, and, although they are important in giving a clear signal, they need to be considered on a case-by-case evaluation of the best approach to take in the given situation. Most importantly, what is fundamental to contrast discrimination in sport is working on prevention, especially through education. These two approaches should go hand in hand to bring results.

It is necessary to train all actors involved -athletes, fans, coaches, and sports operators- to know how to recognize and prevent certain discriminatory behaviours and give them the tools to detect discrimination, but also to react properly when in front of a discriminatory case.

Prevention through training activities is also crucial for media actors, who provide the public with a narration of the facts that contribute to shaping a general narrative around racism in sports. This was one of the main focuses during the panel, which also highlighted how the world of journalism is still mainly inhabited by white men who often focus only on élite sports and fail to give space to other voices that stay unheard. An example given was the so-called second-generation youth in Italy who face many issues in practising sports due to the citizenship law still in place.

Finally, an important reminder was given by Dr. Tracchi, who underlined how Ecri had already adopted 2008 Recommendation No. 12, specifically dedicated to combating racism in the world of sports, which provides practical measures and guidelines for governments to develop national strategies to combat racial discrimination in sports. Still, no government has yet taken this step forward.

Panel II: Racism in Sport in Europe: Monitor, Prevent, Act

The second panel focused on the results of the research, training and dissemination activities developed during the Monitora project in all partner countries (Italy, Belgium, Hungary, Denmark, and Finland).

Racism is an everchanging phenomenon which needs robust monitoring systems alongside long-term sensibilization activities to be countered. Both monitoring and sensibilization initiatives should be developed locally and across the territory.

Sensibilization and raising awareness activities should not be limited to communication campaigns that often risk ending with themselves; on the contrary, they should target sports operators and athletes to make them aware of not only what discrimination is but also of how to react when face-to-face with a racist incident.

Indeed, especially in grassroots sports, there is a strong tendency not to report discriminatory cases, which often remain invisible, also due to the general focus on elitè sports. However, this is also because racism is either not recognized or not acknowledged, or even worse, normalized. This last case often happens in Hungary, where talking about racism is becoming more and more difficult, but the other partner countries report a normalization or banalization of racism in sports.

Other countries could replicate a good practice highlighted during the conference, and that was the adoption of a regulation in Italy that obliges sports clubs and associations to provide themselves with protocols against discrimination (legislative decree n. 39/2021)

A final focus was given on what Monitor has done and is still doing to help contrast racism in sports, especially at the grassroots level. The partnership has developed four national reports and one international report on racism in sports, as well as an online training module that was also tested in local in-presence training, which aims at engaging grassroots sports operators in monitoring and reporting racist incidents. It gives a general overview of the different forms of discrimination that cross the sports world, what monitoring is and how it should be carried out. Finally, it provides guidelines for designing a protocol to monitor racism in sports and an editable version of the protocol, elaborated by the partnership, to give the opportunity to develop it directly.

Lastly, the discussion turned to the dissemination activities brought forth by the partners with the online campaign “Stop racism not the game” that was developed, alongside the training and local events, to sensibilize sport operators, but also all the people around the sport world, towards reporting and monitoring cases of discrimination.

A final reminder and observation given at the closure of the conference was on the need to create safe places to report racism since the focus should always be the protection and safeguarding of the person.

Funded by the European Union. Views and opinions expressed are however those of the author(s) only and do not necessarily reflect those of the European Union or the European Education and CultureExecutive Agency (EACEA). Neither the European Union nor EACEA can be held responsible for them.