NEWS Edition 60 March 2010
A monthly e-news publication
supported by all Sports Councils
Welcome
Hello and welcome to the 60th newsletter. Congratulations to Amy Williams for winning Gold in the Bob Skeleton event at the Winter Olympics. This means that, as in 2006, the only British medal was won by a female, another boost for women’s sport.
Now that the winter Olympic and Paralympic games are over and the clocks have gone forward (hope everyone remembered!), thoughts turn to major equality events for the rest of 2010. These include:
§ Sporting competitions such as the BT Paralympic World Cup, May 25-31 in Manchester
§ A range of grassroots initiatives to reduce underrepresentation in sport, as a number of organisations are now progressing towards the Intermediate level of the Standard
§ The anticipated introduction of new equality legislation once the Equality Bill receives Royal Assent.
Please forward this newsletter to anyone you think may be interested and get them to contact Roger Clifton at if they would like a copy sent directly to them.
The main features in this edition are:
§ Winter Paralympics report
§ Local cricket developments for people with disabilities
§ LGBT news
§ Support towards the Standard for County Football Associations
§ A variety of general information of interest and new resources of use
§ Achievements
§ Calendar of forthcoming events.
No British medals but some encouraging aspects at the Winter Paralympics
Further to the announcement of the British Winter Paralympic team in the February edition of this newsletter, Kelly Gallagher, a visually impaired skier from Bangor in Northern Ireland, was a late addition to participate in the Alpine Ski events in Vancouver. This followed the successful completion of an international classification process. Gallagher said of her selection: “I am over the moon at being selected for the team. It is every athlete’s dream to represent their country and it’s very exciting to be the first Paralympic skier from Northern Ireland”.
Her selection was certainly justified as she finished fourth in the giant slalom, the best result for a British visually impaired skier since 1994.
Phil Lane, ParalympicsGB Chief Executive Officer, reflected on an overall disappointing outcome to the 2010 Games, but has already started turning his
thoughts to the 2014 event, which will take place in Sochi, the first ever Paralympic Games to be held in Russia: “Whilst we are obviously disappointed not to be bringing a medal back, there have been many positives to take from these Games and build on for Sochi”, he said. “We have come along way from taking just two skiers to Salt Lake City in 2002: our seven skiers produced five top ten finishes. The curlers got very close and, had two stones in two matches gone their way, they would have been in the semis”.
Lane added that ParalympicsGB will be providing as much support as possible to its winter sports in the next four years: “We’ve seen a rise in standards across the board and whilst both sports have got some promising players coming through, it’s clear that we need to keep investing to continue the progression we’ve seen here. In particular ParalympicsGB has been working closely with the Ministry of Defence’s Battle Back scheme, and a small delegation of Battle Back athletes travelled to Vancouver to witness the atmosphere of a Paralympic Games. The purpose for inviting them was twofold, both to inspire and motivate the athletes who are aiming for London and Sochi and to take a close look at sports where we currently aren’t represented like Nordic and Biathlon and to see how we can work closely together to plug some of these gaps”.
Martin Hewitt, one of the Battle Back athletes who went out to Vancouver, was delighted with the experience and said: “The Paralympics have been inspirational. It’s been moving in places and I’ve been humbled to see the top end athletes achieve what they have here. Not only have they demonstrated athletic prowess to the highest level but they’ve overcome serious injury or disabilities which itself is a huge challenge. Despite that they managed to push themselves to highest level of their game”.
ParalympicsGB are already making plans that will hopefully have an effect on the development of the winter sports. “London will be the main focus for us when we return”, said Lane, “but we will continue to plan for Sochi and the winter sports will be represented at our next Talent Day in Bath on May 12th”.
As with the Olympic sports, a post-Games review with UK Sport will now take place before investment figures for the 2014 Games are announced. John Steele, UK Sport’s Chief Executive, said: “We will conduct exactly the same process as we do after every Olympic or Paralympic Games. This will see us sit down with each of the sports in which we invest, not only to discuss performance in Vancouver but also, importantly, the general direction in which the sport is heading and medal potential for Sochi. All this information is then considered against our known resources before final decisions are made”.
For more information about the 2010 Games, visit Paralympics.
Introducing Patrick Ward
Following on from the article in the last edition of this newsletter from Ian Martin, National Disability Manager at the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB), our thanks to Patrick Ward, the New Disability Development officer for Essex County Cricket Board, for the article below that explains how the programme is being delivered at a local level.
Background
I have been working in the leisure industry since 1999. During this time I have worked in private and council run leisure facilities and also running a community sport project based around social inclusion.
I have been interested in Disability sport for as long as I can remember and this interest was raised whilst at University.
Current situation in Essex
Disability Cricket in Essex has been running for many years, but in the last 12 months has really taken off. The existing development team worked with clubs and set up a variety of initiatives aimed at getting disabled people into Cricket. This was done in partnership with Cricket for Change who are continuing to support Disability Cricket in Essex.
There are currently 8 clubs in the Essex district which have a disability section. We also have 5 county squads for adults and juniors with visual impairments and those with learning and physical disabilities.
For 2010 we are running an Essex Disability Club league featuring 4 teams, each will be holding their own festival day at which the others will compete.
We are also looking to launch as much Table Cricket in Essex as possible. In the last 6 months we have run 3 table cricket courses allowing over 80 coaches to learn the necessary skills needed to deliver Table Cricket across Essex. Through Sports unlimited funding we are arranging to deliver an in-school Table Cricket programme, for this we are delivering to 14 schools in the Essex area to give them a chance to sample Table Cricket under the guidance of a qualified coach.
We have also recently run the first Essex Table Cricket festival where 3 schools were able to come along and take part in a round robin tournament, more details about the festival can be found on our website www.eccb.org.uk
My Role
My role is to develop the whole of Disability Cricket across all of Essex. I will be working with the 8 clubs running a disability section to help them grow and give them continued support. We are always keen for other clubs to set up a disability section and will work with any club who has the need and desire to set up a section. I am also responsible for developing the county squads. We currently have teams representing Essex in the British Association For Cricketers with Disabilities (BACD) southern hardball league, the Essex Tigers Visually Impaired team and we also run junior squads to feed into the adult teams at a later date.
Future plans
As well as carrying on the existing work, I am looking to build better links with the schools in the county to allow more young people to access our clubs and also look to make links with disability clubs in the county, allowing adults to access the clubs as well.
I am looking to develop table cricket across the county and hopefully get enough people interested so that we can get countywide competitions running, some of which may hopefully feed into the National competitions.
It would be good to see the county squads grow as much as possible and for us to get a good system in place which will allow as many people as possible the chance to try out for a county place.
On top of this I would like to get holiday activities running as much as possible during the summer, we are looking to run disability sessions along side the main stream sessions to allow siblings to attend the same event where possible. These will be run alongside the clubs to allow a clear pathway for those who attend.
For more information on Disability Cricket in Essex please contact me:
Patrick Ward
Disability Development Officer
Essex County Cricket Board
The Ford County Ground
New Writtle Street
Chelmsford
Essex
CM2 0PG
Tel: 01245 254047
Mob: 07787 294980
Email:
Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender (LGBT) advice, support and events
Rugby Football League praised for its commitment to fight homophobia
The Rugby Football League (RFL) has been hailed as an inspiration to other sports employers for its commitment to challenge homophobia and embrace diversity. Stonewall has singled out the RFL for special praise after Rugby League’s governing body was ranked 169th out of the 352 organisations that participated in the Stonewall Workplace Index.
David Shields, Stonewall’s Director of Workplace programmes, said: “The RFL has done well to secure a place on Stonewall’s Workplace Equality Index this year. Competition was fiercer than ever as we received more entries than any previous year. The RFL has shown a clear commitment to equality for their lesbian, gay and bisexual staff since joining our Diversity Champions programme in 2009 and this is reflected in their achievement on the 2010 index. The RFL’s success in the Index should act as an inspiration to other sports employers who want their staff to be themselves at work and perform at their best”.
Sarah Williams, the RFL’s Equality and Diversity Manager, said she was delighted by the news and announced that the organisation is reaffirming its commitment to being inclusive by launching a Rainbow Forum for LGBT people. “All our hard work has really begun to pay off and we are moving closer towards developinga workplace culture, policies and programmesand sport that is inclusive of LGBT employees and challenges homophobia. We are committed to further improvements andas suchwe are proud to announce the launch of an LGBT employees forum; the RFL Rainbow Forum. This is unique because it is open not just to RFL staff but to all players, coaches, match officials, support staff,club staff and volunteers. The Rainbow Forumwill provide a support network for all LGBT people involved in our sport as well as helping the RFL to develop a better understanding of the needs and expectations of LGBT employees. The forum also sends a clear and public message that Rugby League values and supports gay people involved in all aspects of our sport”.
Sarah emphasised: “We would also like to take this opportunity to thank Stonewall, in particular Dave Small, for all their support and guidance over the last year. We have found the process and experience of taking part in the index invaluable and look forward to improving further in this year’s Index”.
To join the Rainbow Forum please email . As an inclusive group, heterosexual/straight members who wish to support their LGBT colleagues are also welcome to join the Forum. You can read more information about the Forum at Rainbow, or find out more by contacting Sarah Williams on 0113 237 5037 or email
Addressing Homophobia in Football
The following information has been supplied by The Football Association's (FA) Equality Manager Funke Awoderu.
The FA's aim is to create a safe supportive environment in which people can play and watch the game. This is a core priority for The FA across the board. We have developed a Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ) document which offers an update on our work in addressing Homophobia in Football. This is an evolving area of work that the association is committed to. The FAQ will give you some detail behind the work we have been, and are currently engaged in, particularly our achievements and can be accessed via FAQs.
The FA recognises that addressing homophobia in football will require a
multi-layered approach and we are committed to working with the football authorities to continue to make appropriate interventions. Our new Advisory Group for Tackling Homophobia met for the first time on Thursday 25 March 2010 and members are representative of the LGB community. We feel that they are well placed to advice football on its strategy and policy in this arena.
Funke Awoderu leads the work in this area and can be contacted for further information via email .
European Gay and Lesbian Sports Federation (EGLSF) General Assembly
The recent EGLSF Annual General Assembly, held in Manchester, was infused with a sense of history from the start. The meeting was attended by sports clubs from countries throughout Europe including: Russia, Italy, Finland, Hungary and Belgium. The weekend began with a reception in the Manchester Museum, built in 1867, and continued with a personal welcome of all delegates by the Mayor of Manchester in the City’s ornate neo gothic Town Hall.