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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

AIBU to wonder why all white is alright?

241 replies

VeraStanhope · 19/08/2016 23:09

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". Shock How is that okay to accept that in 2016?

OP posts:
WorraLiberty · 20/08/2016 00:58

We played hockey indoors, in the sports hall.

No field was needed because even back then, the school didn't have one.

Never did have to begin with.

FlashBangOut · 20/08/2016 01:00

Ok maybe hockey isn't massively classist, most of us played it at school.

But go down to the local hockey club and see what the cars look like I'm the car park. I'm going to guess you won't see many mondeos!

WorraLiberty · 20/08/2016 01:02

How many kids do you see throwing a rugby ball around on a council estate?

Hand on my heart, I see loads.

Although I mostly see it over the park, probably because a rugby ball doesn't do well on concrete.

I also happen to live in one of Britain's largest council housing areas.

The only thing I will say is, its possibly because the local senior school is a rugby academy and because all the local primary schools do tag rugby.

Football is still more popular though but I think you could say that about most areas, because it's easier to have a kickabout with less people than it is to play rugby.

It doesn't really work with just a few mates.

KeyserSophie · 20/08/2016 01:03

No it hasn't. Black athletes who trace their ancestry to West Africa have substantially more fast twitch muscle fibres than white athletes. That gives them a significant advantage in sprinting and is why whites are virtually absent from the top ranks of sprinting.

Similarly the majority of elite men's marathoners come from a single Kenyan tribe (something like more men from this tribe have run

MorrisZapp · 20/08/2016 01:03

What a bloody strange thread title.

MapleandPear · 20/08/2016 01:06

Way to take the shine off one of the best team sporting perforamces in recent years. Buzz Killington.

WorraLiberty · 20/08/2016 01:06

But go down to the local hockey club and see what the cars look like I'm the car park. I'm going to guess you won't see many mondeos!

Again though, you will in my area.

In fact you'll see a lot of kids arriving on foot or getting off at the bus stop opposite the club.

Particularly since the 2012 Olympics, a lot of money has been poured into poorer boroughs, to offer more sports facilities.

Actually even before that, the National Lottery really helped with funding and continues to do so here.

BeJayKayven · 20/08/2016 01:06

I don't think hockey is an elitist sport. I remember looking at the BBC website during the London olympics and seeing "just pop down to your local velodrome" and actually laughing out loud 😉

BeJayKayven · 20/08/2016 01:07

...obviously in relation to cycling

browntintedspectacles · 20/08/2016 01:13

Bollocks is hockey elitist. Our local club openly embraces all abilities and backgrounds. Many are from poorer areas. Both my kids play cost £60 a year for one £100 for 2. You don't have to play through school to join in. My 7 year old Audi is the poshest car in the car park. Find a local club and they will be happy for anyone to join in.

WorraLiberty · 20/08/2016 01:13

Imo these sports are elitist...

Velodrome cycling
Dressage or any kind of equestrian sport
Rowing
Fencing
Archery
Shooting

There are probably tons more but that's all I can think of, off the top of my head.

They're not offered by schools as extra curriculum activities here (apart from fencing at primary school) and they cost a fair bit if you can actually find a local club.

BoneyBackJefferson · 20/08/2016 01:13

BeJayKayven

I hadn't realised that Manchester was upper class.

powershowerforanhour · 20/08/2016 01:19

India used to dominate men's hockey way back when, then Pakistan. They've fallen off a bit but not dropped off the map completely. I wonder why there are no 3rd generation players in the GB teams like there have been in the England cricket team. You'd think that hockey culture would persist (or was hockey always a posh colonial sport there, like polo, and just carried on in the posh schools after independence?)

powershowerforanhour · 20/08/2016 01:27

(btw I do know that polo wasn't invented in England)

ThumbWitchesAbroad · 20/08/2016 01:32

I didn't think hockey was a particularly posh sport either - I know my sister and friend played it when they were at a comprehensive school (NOT any kind of "posh" one either).
Lacrosse, on the other hand, is much more of a "posh" sport in the UK.

ShelaghTurner · 20/08/2016 01:58

When I was growing up my parents had friends whose daughter played hockey for England. They were good solid council house stock, as were we. Not a posh bone in their bodies.

BeJayKayven · 20/08/2016 01:59

Boney lucky you to have a 'local' velodrome. In Scotland they opened the Sir Chris Hoy (love him btw) Velodrome for the Commonwealth Games just in time for closing the only other one in (Edinburgh) so not exactly accessible.

MrsLion · 20/08/2016 03:16

The comp I attended was far from posh and big on hockey.
So definitely not a 'posh sport' in my experience.

OnceThereWasThisGirlWho · 20/08/2016 03:31

MrsTerry It's at least better than the Winter Games, which DH and I refer to as the White Countries games.

Isn't that simply to do with sporting opportunities relating to climate?

LikeDylanInTheMovies · 20/08/2016 04:00

Words but to progress at Hockey you'd need to be at a club and as others have pointed out the membership fees would be prohibitively high.

A mate's dad was a PE teacher in south London and found that Rugby Union clubs could be incredibly snooty and would find subtle ways of telling working class or BME kids they weren't really welcome.

MrsTerryPratchett · 20/08/2016 04:35

But Once why is there a whole games for a tiny tiny population of people who live near snow. Why not have summer games every two years or have games that reflect the diversity of sports worldwide? If you have games where the relatively small populations of Europe, North America and Russia win pretty mush every medal, you're probably doing it wrong.

MuffyTheUmpireSlayer · 20/08/2016 04:46

I took the OP's point to be more about the fact that her friend equated 'posh' to 'white' and that that, unfortunately, tends to be true in the UK, rather than an equal opportunities argument really.

Why are MC sports, learnt in MC schools where MC parents have MC money, predominantly white? Why do ethnic minorities tend to be poorer?

bearleftmonkeyright · 20/08/2016 04:53

So much depends on family commitment in order to get that person to their Olympic medal. I live very close to Uttoxeter and everyone in the area is extremely proud of Adam Peaty. He has had the most down to earth upbringing, but he has the most brilliant family who have supported him in achieving his goal.

OnceThereWasThisGirlWho · 20/08/2016 05:03

MrsTerry But isn't that just because that's how it's originated, what with the Olympics starting in Europe?

I like the idea of other climate/region specific games though...

MuffyTheUmpireSlayer · 20/08/2016 05:11

Bearleft it's lovely that he has such a supportive family. For some reason that always seems to be the case with swimming! I don't think it has anything to do with him being white though. There must be BAME families that are equally supportive of their athletically talented DCs.