‘But you’re ok…’ British South Asians and Regulatory Barriers to Participation in Sport

This chapter employs ethnographical research to examine the regulatory barriers to participation in the particular context of British South Asian athletes in sport. Recent racial tensions in English cricket have not only raised important regulatory questions about addressing discrimination and inequality in sport and beyond, but also emphasizes the limited coverage of British South Asian voices in sport. Adopting an ethnographic approach, this chapter centralizes the author’s lived experiences as a British South Asian female, to evaluate their intersectional identity. Alongside this, with two decades of academic research into discrimination in sport, the chapter provides a British South Asian academic view on the role of the law and sport regulation as both a barrier and an effective tool for the protection of marginalized groups in sport. Although it may be difficult to shift entrenched societal thinking about race, the chapter argues for a holistic collaboration between law and regulation, government, sport and society to apply pressure, alter behavior, and create conditions for effective anti-racism reforms. Change can also be achieved through improved engagement with ethnographic research in law to better understand intersectional identity and the true impact of law and regulation upon marginalized individuals and groups.