Sport and the Resettlement of Young People From Refugee Backgrounds in Australia

Abstract

Within recent years, policy makers and practitioners have increasingly drawn on sport as a vehicle to assist with the resettlement of young people from refugee backgrounds. This article presents the views of sport development and resettlement service staff responsible for supporting the participation of young refugees within sport. Our data suggest that while there are a myriad of well-established barriers beyond the sporting context that restrict the participation of young people from refugee backgrounds, there are considerable issues within mainstream sports settings and structures that will continue to reduce the value of sport in the resettlement process. Sports providers continue to attempt to integrate young people from refugee backgrounds into existing mainstream sport structures that may not meet their needs or provide inclusive environments. We outline how sporting practices reflect broader integration/ resettlement policy rhetoric and suggest problematizing the structure and culture of sport is essential if it is to be of value in resettlement work.

Being Able to Play: Experiences of Social Inclusion and Exclusion Within a Football Team of People Seeking Asylum

“…With the perceived value of sport participation dominating Australian sport and integration policies, National Sport Associations (NSAs), State Sport Associations (SSAs) and local government bodies were quick to adopt the governing logic, securing funding to run programmes and seeking to capitalise on the dual benefit of meeting strategic participation targets and accessing possible athletic resources, whilst assisting in building a healthy and cohesive multicultural society (Jeanes, O'Connor, & Alfrey, 2014). There is no denying that sport in Australia is a "key site of culture production and social prestige" (Spaaij, 2015, p. 303) and some research demonstrates that sports programmes aimed at newly arrived populations can be important platforms for social capital, identity building, feelings of belonging, leadership and pro-social behaviour to occur (see Centre for Multicultural Youth Issues, 2007;Nathan et al, 2010Nathan et al, , 2013Palmer, 2009;Spaaij, 2012Spaaij, , 2015.…”

“…National sporting bodies are risk averse and reluctant to invest on 'minimal return' (Cortis, 2009;Jeanes et al, 2014;Olliff, 2008). Therefore, their approach is mostly a top-down, one-size-fits-all model which ultimately strengthens some of the barriers (e.g.…”

“…Jeanes et al (2014) and Spaaij (2012) point out that the modern and systematic definition of integration is a collaborative and reciprocal process on both the part of the host society and the migrant, whereby the newly arrived have "the ability to participate fully in economic, social, cultural, and political activities while maintaining one's cultural identity" (Spaaij, 2012(Spaaij, , p. 1519. The question remains, therefore, what are the required conditions to 'participate fully'?…”

Mixed-sex in sport for development: a pragmatic and symbolic device. The case of touch rugby for forced migrants in Rome

“…Nonetheless, researchers have highlighted the ambivalent effects of such activities by showing how segregated sport provision can offer safer spaces (Brady 2005;Jeanes, O'Connor, and Alfrey 2014;Spaaij and Schulenkorf 2014) that are more attentive to the specific gender, cultural and religious background and needs of their participants (Elling, De Knop and Knoppers 2003;Watson, Tucker, and Drury 2013). These intersectional issues become particularly visible and have been largely explored, for instance, in the analysis of Muslim women's involvement in sports and physical activity (e.g.…”

“…*** Despite the growing consolidation of the sport-for-development sector (Giulianotti 2011), only recently have policy-makers and practitioners drawn on sport as a vehicle to foster the social inclusion specifically of males (Evers 2010) and females (Guerin et al 2003;Palmer 2008) from refugee backgrounds (Jeanes, O'Connor, and Alfrey 2014). Sport participation has been shown to bring some benefits, although these are difficult to measure (Amara et al 2005;Coalter 2010), such as facilitating the beneficiaries' interaction with the local environment and reducing anti-social behaviour.…”