Leagues ahead in tackling prejudice through sport

Sarah Williams has just received an MBE for her work promoting equality and diversity at the Rugby League. Catherine Scott meets the woman aiming to use sport to spread the diversity message.
Sarah Williams and representatives of clubs with the  "Tackle It" shirt at a Downing Street reception, below.Sarah Williams and representatives of clubs with the  "Tackle It" shirt at a Downing Street reception, below.
Sarah Williams and representatives of clubs with the "Tackle It" shirt at a Downing Street reception, below.

when Gareth Thomas was subjected to homophobic taunts during a Castleford Tigers game it was a sad day for rugby league.

But for Sarah Williams, equality and diversity manager at the Rugby Football League, it signalled a sea change.

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“Two years prior to Gareth coming out we had already done a lot of work with the Rugby League staff around equality issues,” says Sarah.

“So when it happened we were in a position to handle it immediately.” Castleford was fined an unprecedented £40,000 in 2010.

“It sent a shock wave through rugby league and the wider community. It showed how seriously homophobia was being handled. It made clubs and other sports realise that they had to have strategies in place. Gareth was very positive about the way it was handled. The club couldn’t be held responsible for the chanting of its fans, but it was its responsibility to deal with it.” Following the incident Sarah developed and distributed a guidance for clubs on tackling homophobia effectively.

“As a result of the incident a lot of positive things came out of it. I had so many ground staff ringing trying to make sure it didn’t happen at their ground. I don’t believe an incident like that would happen today.”

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You might not imagine that the macho world of rugby league would be the most enlightened of places. But you would be wrong. Just employing Sarah as the League’s first equality and diversity manager was a bold move and one which helped it become recognised as the most proactive governing body in UK sport on issues such as race, sexuality, gender, disability, age and religion.

But no one was more surprised at landing the job in 2007 than Sarah.

“I didn’t know the first thing about rugby league,” admits Sarah. “In fact I’d never had an interest in sport full stop. The appeal to me was that it was a job where I could make a difference in the long term.”
Sarah had previously worked in the voluntary sector in both health and education working with minority and disadvantaged groups.

But when she left school she had no idea what she wanted to do. She tried nursing but it wasn’t for her. She married young and had two children.

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“When I was 25 I had two children at primary school, I was divorced and so I got a Gingerbread group for lone parents together.”

It was here she got interested in social issues and decided to go back to studying, attending Sheffield Hallam University to study social sciences as a mature student before working in the voluntary sector. Now in a lesbian relationship, she has five children aged between seven and 27, and juggles work and bringing up her children.

Sarah says her ignorance about rugby league was a help rather than a hindrance.

“I had no preconceived ideas. Although I didn’t have an interest in sport I knew people involved in sport had to have passion and it felt like a very positive emotion,” she says.

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“The stereotype of rugby league is very different from the reality. It is a very forward thinking sport. They had black players when they weren’t allowed to play other sports.”

This meant when Sarah did take up her post, she wasn’t faced with any closed doors.

“Quite the opposite,” says Sarah. “It just needed someone to explain why equality and diversity is important.”

Sarah is more than aware that for many the words “diversity” and “equality” are a turn off.

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“A lot of people have been sent on equality courses and they have come away feeling negative having been told what they are not doing,” says Sarah.

“All the training I do is very positive. Everyone can make a contribution. We have a lot of fun. I’m not perceived as the ‘PC’ (politically correct) police. Strategies are important but you have to make it real; make people understand why it’s important.”

And Sarah seems to be having a lot of success. In the Queen’s Birthday Honours this year she was awarded an MBE for her services to equality and diversity

“The honour is a fantastic recognition, not just of the work I do but more of rugby league and the way in which the sport has led the way in its approach to equality and diversity,”says Sarah.

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“I have only been a catalyst because we could not have made the strides we have without the support of the governing body, players, coaches, supporters, administrators, clubs and every section of the sport.”

One of her proudest achievements is the Tackle It campaign which launched in 2011. The Sheffield Eagles made history by becoming the first sports team in the UK to wear a strip displaying an anti-homophobia message when they took to the pitch sporting the slogan ‘Homophobia: Tackle It!’.

Now Sarah is taking the Tackle It campaign into secondary schools in the hope of educating the wider community.

“By using sport we really hope to get the message across. There are so many analogies that can be drawn between rugby league and the rest of life.”

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Although she believes attitudes are changing, she thinks it will be some time before a lot more sportsmen and women decide to come out about their sexuality.

“It’s one thing coming out in your workplace, it’s another coming out and then having to play in a stadium full of people who might choose to use that fact against you, and the press.”

She is also keen to get 
more women into the 
sport, as well as disabled players.

And she now loves her adopted sport. “I love being involved with rugby league. I watch it and more importantly I take my children to watch it.”

Fight against homophobia hailed

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In 2010 the Rugby Football League became the first sports governing body to appear in the Stonewall Index of employers who are taking action on discrimination, at number 169; the following year the RFL climbed to 93 and then last year reached Number 53 in the Stonewall Top 100, prompting Stonewall to praise the way in which rugby league leads the way in tackling homophobia by awarding the RFL the prestigious Stonewall Sports Award.

Sarah has worked in a number of ground-breaking areas, including publishing research on the perception of Rugby League among young Asian Muslims; helping devise coaching courses for 
black, minority and ethnic (BME) players, women and disabled players; setting up the RFL Rainbow Forum, an online group open to all lesbian, gay, bisexual 
and transgender (LGBT) staff, players, coaches, 
match officials, club staff and volunteers; and produced information packs and guidance for clubs.

For more information visit www.therfl.co.uk