AIBU to wonder why all white is alright?

[VeraStanhope]

I'm not a sport buff, but I have had to sit through the GB womens' hockey matches. Wondering how they all have kept lovely slim, straight noses in what looks a brutal sport, I suddenly realised mid-final that all the players are white. Celebrating with all white support staff at the end of the match. Friend who is the sports buff says "well it is a posh sport". How is that okay to accept that in 2016?

Very rare to find non-whites in the horse world, which always seemed odd to me as surely a love of animals (horses in this case) isn't limited to whites only, however they're not at the grass-roots so they won't be any at the top level. It's a far ranging 'sport' and it goes by skill and ability (and guts and determination and luck), so not really possible to have any discrimination.

I know two black riders and no Asians.

At a training level, all sports, especially for those who make the Olympics, require a crazy amount of finance and pArental support. Without both those, you can't compete. That's not a black/white issue though, but a rich/poor one.
You're right that that's not fair, but I don't think there's a lot that can be done about it.

'm not convinced it is necessarily completely wrong for a team to be made up of completely white players- unless you happen to know that more talented black or asian female hockey players were excluded from the team? Nor would it be wrong for the majority of a squad/the whole squad to be asian or black, in my view.

I don't think OP is saying that at all - simply questioning why elite hockey seems to be very white, and whether it is ok to be complacent and say 'well, it's quite a posh sport' when it fact it has the potential to be a much more inclusive sport than some other traditionally 'white, posh' sports where the kit (horse, boat) is quite a bit more expensive and out of reach to most people than a hockey stick is.

arethereanyleftatall it's good to hear that money and ethnicity aren't a factor in your local hockey team.

From the grass roots the only way is up....... [fingers crossed]

Jassy - it isn't just the stick, it's mainly the Astro hire and this cost of training. My, very low level, hockey clubs annual membership is £400 per year, for one training session plus one match for approx half the year.

I think the 'black people have more fast twitch muscle' thing has been debunked!

I thought it was because running was one of the more inclusive sports open to everyone because it's cheap, no need for equipment etc etc. Most children can run or find a running club.

Hockey, cricket, rugby, tennis, lacrosse, horses and polo are v MC

Hockey is definitely posh! Hence the phrase "jolly hockey sticks" to denote a certain type of poshness

See

My unposh comp played hockey. One pupil was on the Olympic team (yonks ago, not this team).

I can only recall one black person in showjumping (Oliver Skeete) and I'm lead to believe he quit because of prejudice.

I noticed that all of the USA mens basketball team were black.

jacks11 yes I don't disagree a quota would be absurd. I also believe each player deserved to be there, although it wasn't my choice to watch it was very entertaining watching such talent and skill.

Maybe I should have had the discussion with my friend about elitism but I was gobsmacked tbh. Me, naive? Probably!

Hockey isn't lucrative sport not many olympic sports are really. It costs a lot of money to train, travel and either work flexibly around it or not at all for parents in the first instance and then the athletes themselves. So it is all very much about money and opportunity.
Also a sporty friend of mine suggested that a lot of team sports come through university teams and training, not sure how accurate that is but I guess it makes sense.

Hockey is the main sport for girls round here- nowt posh fwiw

Non of the 48 on the olympic podium were black- so netherlands and germany as well.

We also discussed it. Same in show jumping, sailing, shooting- all more upper middle class sports.

Running isn't cheap either. You're supposed to replace your trainers every 300 miles. That's probably once every two or three weeks for Olympic runners! At £100 at least a pair.

My ds1 uses to coach children's hockey at local level and played Mens first county.

The girls were predominantly white in the Cheshire Schools.
In Greater Manchester and Lancashire there was far more diversity.

It bothered him greatly that only the better well off, with committed parents were able to progress to their county team when scouted.

There isn't the funding to provide the resources for children to be escorted and parents aren't always available to transport.
You can't rely on lift sharing as the kids come from all over the place.

With some funding he really belives he could have made a difference

No sport at this kind of level is cheap, even at non Olympic level the athletes will need people to train them ( they don't work for free) they will need to use facilities, they need to buy equipment. Money not colour is the key to success

I can only recall one black person in showjumping (Oliver Skeete) and I'm lead to believe he quit because of prejudice.

He was never a top level show jumper. Only known through reality tv really.

Why is all-white not alright? 80% of the UK is white. The indigenous people of England are white, why is a white team odd? It just so happens that the best hockey players were white. I couldn't care less if the team was all white, all black or all green and blue. They're picked on merit. Also, it's played at every bog standard school now pretty much.

Jassy - it isn't just the stick, it's mainly the Astro hire and this cost of training. My, very low level, hockey clubs annual membership is £400 per year, for one training session plus one match for approx half the year

Stil a fair whack cheaper than horseriding or sailing or rowing. I take your point though.

I'm an immigrant from a country where hockey is pretty widespread in schools (and played on grass by schools), so I don't know whether the equivalent is true here - just going on what others have said on this thread.

For me it's an interesting one - why is hockey seen as posh? Are there girls'/women's team sports that aren't perceived as posh?

Certain sports tend to be dominated by certain ethnicities. Sprinting, as someone else said, is dominated by non-white people.

Just like the best basketball players in the world are black.

No point over-thinking it. There's nothing exclusionary or racist about it: different groups of people excel in different areas.

Through my job, swim teacher, it has occurred to me that the area where children from lower income families mainly miss out, is sport (and probably music).
School is there to plug the gap for education, but sport to any decent level is done outside of school, and parental support, be it financial or time, is mandatory.

Hockey is not a 'posh sport'.

It may have been back in the day when the phrase 'Jolly hockey sticks' was invented, but it certainly isn't now and as a 47yr old woman I can tell you that it wasn't when I attended a bog standard comprehensive in the 1980s.

But even if it was a 'posh sport', does your friend think there are no 'posh' black people around?

I work in tennis and I agree, for a child to succeed in a sport parents need to be willing to give up a lot of time and to have plenty of spare cash

However, I don't think I'd consider hockey a posh sport. At least where I live it's not. Posh sports are equestrian and rugby union, for example.