Changemakers: The Sports Edit

Moving towards inclusion and equity in Rugby Union

As part of my research into successful changemakers, I spoke to several people in the sporting world to see how they’d achieved social or environmental impact within their sport. This article comes from a conversation I had with the powerhouse that is Jatin Patel, Inclusion and Diversity Director at England Rugby.

A few years ago, I worked with England Rugby, the Rugby Players’ Association and Premiership Rugby to investigate classism and racism in English rugby union. After interviewing players, coaches and experts, I found examples of class-, race- and gender-based discrimination at all levels of the professional and non-professional game.

As a believer in the positive social impact of sport in general and rugby in particular, I was heartened to hear an anecdote that demonstrated significant progress.

Last year on the summer tour to Argentina, a young player of colour in the England team was subjected to overt racist abuse from fans while warming up on the pitch ahead of a game. The player spoke to their management about it and, after some time to reflect, made a formal report of the incident.

The management team immediately got to work - writing to the union involved, escalating through the proper channels and providing support to the player. Jatin’s take on it was that “they demonstrated care, empathy and willingness to take action, taking the risks and responsibilities off the player himself.” Through the changes made in recent years, the management knew what to do and were willing to do it.

Irrespective of the end result of the formal complaint, the action taken by the player’s management matters. It signals that these incidents are taken seriously, and builds confidence in the players that their safety matters and they will be looked after.

The question then becomes whether this kind of procedural implementation is helping to build a wider cultural change so that this kind of incident is prevented before it can happen. While it seems there has been significant improvement within rugby, elsewhere the news is not so positive. Kick It Out received their highest ever number of reports of abuse in football in the 2024/2025 season:

“The data, gathered from reports across the professional game, grassroots football, and online spaces, shows rising levels of abuse in several key areas, including sexism, transphobia, ableism, and faith-based abuse, alongside persistently high levels of racism, which remains the most reported form of discrimination.”

Interestingly, England Rugby has centred their conversations on inclusion, rather than diversity, in an effort to emphasise what unites rugby fans and players. This is a focus for rugby both internally and externally. Take the discourse around the women’s World Cup held in England last year. Everything was about inclusion. Anytime a Red Rose gave an interview they talked about how inclusive the game is, how there’s space for everyone - all body types and abilities.

Inclusion creates space for equality in sport to be everyone’s problem. It side steps the us vs them narrative and the idea that racism is only a problem for non-white people. It enables teams at every level - from the elite teams to grassroots - to look at their teams and solve these problems together. For rugby in England, DEI isn’t a tick box exercise that teams have to complete; it’s an ongoing conversation.

Focusing on inclusion also speaks to the commercial ambitions of the game. As England Rugby attempts to grow its audience, its audience will become increasingly diverse. Inclusion and representation is only going to matter more and more to the rugby community if England Rugby achieves its growth goals. The weight of expectation on rugby as a sport from the fans will ensure the governing bodies have to take inclusion seriously. In this sense, aligning the business and social responsibility strategies gives both a better chance of success.

Of course it is far from perfect, but rugby is an example of a sport that takes its role in society seriously. It takes the responsibility it has towards players and fans - at all levels of the game - seriously. The work is deep and ongoing; it is not PR in response to a crisis or shaped by the whims of external powermongers. Institutional changemakers can learn from this, and from the idea of collective problem solving. As individuals we can also take the reminder to hold institutions accountable.