Chamber and committees

The Scottish Government unequivocally condemns any form of racism hatred or prejudice, in sport and wider society. There is no excuse – it is totally unacceptable and will not be tolerated. Scotland is a diverse, multi-cultural society and this diversity strengthens us as a nation. That is why we work with sport scotland and a range of organisations throughout the country to tackle all forms of hatred and prejudice in sport.

Any reports of racism must be investigated swiftly. Most recently after allegations of racism in cricket in Scotland, sport scotland, announced that it is taking immediate steps to appoint a team of independent experts to carry out a full a review of racism within Scottish cricket.

In addition, in June 2021, sport scotland, with the other Home Country Sports Councils responsible for funding sport and physical activity across the UK, published the outcomes of a joint review into Tackling Racism and Racial Inequality in Sport (TRARIIS). sport scotland has begun identifying TRARIIS work for each of its three Equality, Diversity and Inclusion strands (People, System and New Ideas) in order to embed this into the organisation’s business planning and use to inform future Equality Impact Assessments. A full update is available on the sport scotland website.

Ethnically diverse communities are a priority group for sport scotland’s 2021-25 Equality Outcomes published earlier this year.

We need to eradicate any forms of racism in sport and we will continue to work with partners to achieve this.