Teams Gather For Beyond Sport United
The world’s leading sports teams gathered at Yankee Stadium for the second Beyond Sport United on Tuesday, with the leaders of the world’s most popular sports coming together with star names and influential figures from the world of sport and beyond to explore and expand their organisation’s role in using sport for positive social change.
The day opened with activist, author and diversity specialist Richard Lapchick facilitating a panel featuring former NBA player and activist, John Amaechi; Executive Director of GLSEN, Eliza Byard; and Piara Powar, founder of FARE (Football Against Racism in Europe) – speaking on awareness of wider social issues, including bullying, racism and gender exclusion.
Speaking on the event, former NBA star turned psychologist Amaechi said: ‘The power of sport is often thrown about, used to sell t-shirts and such, but when you look around this room you can see the number of influential people around who, when they speak, others will stop. I think that’s a pretty remarkable group of people to get together and if we can get everyone on the same page, demanding that people in equal positions of power pick up their game – that would be an amazing transformation.’
The panel spoke passionately on the subject of racism in sport, particularly in light of the high-profile cases surrounding football over the past year. FARE founder Piara Powar told Sport Industry TV that the problem of racism in sport would never go away entirely, but is getting better.
‘I would say it is getting better, but as a consequence of moving on from some of those basic issues that we need to deal with we are now dealing with issues that are more testing. It’s easier now to police a fan out of a stadium and get the message across to those fans, but what do you do when the captain of the team playing is a perpetrator of racism. That’s the challenge that English football has faced, with varied degrees of success.’
‘From every bit of adversity comes a challenge and an opportunity, and that’s what people are looking to see. The right questions are now being asked, how can the football system be improved, and how we engage communities in a better way.’
Delegates took part in a number of intimate breakout sessions and workshops to fine-tune the sharing and learning experience around the day, with main-stage panels offering expert opinions and debate.
The afternoon saw a discussion of shared value between a panel featuring leaders of business including Western Union, who announced in September that they will turn every successful pass in this season’s Europa League competition into funding to support one day’s education for young people around the world.
Known as PASS, the initiative aims to reach one million school days over the next three seasons.
Others speakers included New York Yankees first baseman Mark Teixeira, WNBA President Laurel Richie; former Tampa Bay Buccaneers linebacker Derrick Brooks; NASCAR Foundation Board Member and NASCAR Hall of Fame Inductee Rusty Wallace; GLSEN Executive Director Eliza Byard; and ex-professional soccer player and founder of Grassroots Soccer Ethan Zohn.
