Paper Sample on Sports for Development Grant Proposal: Rugby against Discrimination

The Sports for Development Grant Project chosen was rugby. It isn't exactly a popular sport in the United States as it has been greatly replaced by American football due to the similarities. Rugby can be traced back to 1823, it is rooted in the United Kingdom, and it has not been well developed outside countries that consider it a core sport, as such policies against discrimination are not well developed. In the USA it was introduced in 1875, and it has been continually developed.

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Rugby is a highly physical and contact sport, and it has various positions; thus, various player attributes fit specific positions. This work is particularly meaningful to me as it would enable penetration of this sport right from the grassroots to the major leagues, and it will help share with others the benefits of this sport. From this project, I hope to gain experience and learn more pertaining to rugby as a game, and furthermore how it can change the conventional thoughts regarding the sport to be more inclusive, and equal and reduce the discrimination associated.

Becker (1975) defines discrimination as unequal treatment of equally competent personnel. Discrimination appears in various forms including; employer, co-worker, and customer discrimination. In sports, rugby notwithstanding, customer discrimination is rife, as Kahn (2000) describes it as the employer pays more money to the worker whom customers prefer to associate with. Solving these issues isn't an easy task as it includes a complete overhaul as such, the problem should be addressed right from the grassroots.

Introduction

Mission Statement

The mission statement of our Organization is as quoted in the title, Rugby against Discrimination. This mission statement is multi-faceted as it doesn't focus on any specific form of discrimination but all forms. The discriminations we focus on mitigating are those based on race, gender, ability, social class, and age. We want to show that rugby is a game for everyone.

Key Components

The key components of our Organization would include a Resource Allocation and Planning department, a Procuring department, a Sensitization department, and a Coaching department. The resource allocation and planning department would be core as it would be integral in distributing the grant in the most efficient way toward the realization of our mission. It would also act as an overseer of the actions of the other departments. It would also play the part of the human resource department, i.e. hiring and firing of personnel. It will also be very important in planning the events within the Organization's calendar.

The procuring department will be responsible for accruing the various equipment required for rugby, including the balls, uniforms, and medical equipment among others. The sensitization department would be key in educating the masses with the notion that knowledge removes bias. It would be tasked with developing frameworks against certain biases in rugby and teaming up with the coaching department to rid the game of these biases.

The coaching department will be directly related to the game. It will include like-minded veterans and coaches of the rugby profession to spearhead our mission as they are directly in contact with the players. Their role will be to implement the frameworks developed by the sensitization department with maximum precision.

Value Proposition

Our Value Proposition will be quite unique, as it will be all-inclusive, in terms of gender inclusivity, and race inclusivity, among others. We will have programs for people of all ages and abilities and also seek to develop a framework that looks into rugby as a game and a framework where we consider the ability requirements for each of the 15 positions and thus ensure inclusivity in terms of ability. Therefore, our Organization will be key to the development of the game whilst promoting equality.

Significance of the Project

Social issues addressed

Our Organization will look to address various issues in regard to discrimination. These include:

Gender Bias - We seek to address the issues of gender bias despite similar contributions, this is in terms of salary allocation, and resources invested among others, in the case of rugby, they are huge bias towards women rugby as they receive lower salaries and aren't allocated enough resources.

Racial discrimination - this issue is key in reducing discrimination, players in the rugby leagues should not be selected on the basis of race but rather ability and contribution to the team, thus any prejudice towards a specific race should be frowned upon.

Social Inequality - We want to address this unfairness where only the high class can be associated with rugby. We will do this by going to the grassroots in search of talent and also sponsoring rugby camps in lacking societies. This will all be in an effort to prove anyone can play rugby, whatever the background, race even ability. It can be played as a form of recreation without any sort of prejudice for the fun of it. Rugby shouldn't be bound by age; we seek to promote this notion by promoting rugby to the aged as a sort of interactive physical exercise.

Poverty and Unemployment- the leading cause of poverty is Unemployment, our project will offer employment opportunities not only to the staff but also to the talented juniors who will be scouted and offered a position by various clubs and play for pay, thus improving others and their life quality.

Drug Abuse- we seek to reduce the cases of drug abuse for the youth by providing them with activities to spend their time instead of idleness which will lead to indulgence in drugs. We will also provide counseling and show them they are better uses of their time.

School Dropouts- we will offer scholarships and grants to talented youth in challenged areas; this will give them an incentive to remain in school. By keeping the youths in school, we will also contribute to the number of youths joining criminal gangs and contribute to safer neighborhoods.

Obesity- rugby being a contact sport and involving a lot of physicalities, is perfect for physical education classes, it helps reduce the threat of obesity in people of all ages and fosters healthy bodies by repeated exercising all while having fun.

Beneficiaries of this Project

This project will have a host of beneficiaries, including: Women in rugby, racially segregated communities, Youths from low-income neighborhoods, and low-income communities as a whole among others. The range of benefits will include scholarships, grants, rugby camps, and many more.

Schinke & Hanrahan (n.d) say that sport may be a solution to societal ills, risks, and hardships assuming that these programs are thoughtfully conceived and made available when and where needed to those who need them most (p. 2). This way, sport, in this case, rugby, will be able to draw a host of beneficiaries.

Theoretical Framework

The theoretical framework most suited for this project is A Sports Participation Model based on Becker. According to Grima et al. (2017), the economical-time allocation theory of Becker (1965) prepared a groundwork to the general theoretical model of sports participation. The decision to participate in sports is based on monetary and time restrictions. The main reason this framework is most suited to this project is that this theory has been further developed to include several demographic and social variables. Thus, it could incorporate the discrimination and societal issues addressed by our project.

This framework helps explain the social issues we are trying to address by theorizing that sports participation is based on financial ability and available time. It backs that there is discrimination based on societal class; the higher classes are able to participate more in sports. It also provides demographics that further support the societal issues addressed by our project.

References

Becker, G. (1965). A Theory of the Allocation of Time. Economic Journal, 75, 495-513.

Becker, G. (1974). A Theory of Social Interactions. Journal of Political Economy, 82(6), 1063-1093.

Grima, S., Grima, A., Thalassinos, E., Seychell, S., Spiteri, J.V. (2017). Theoretical Models for Sports Participation: Literature Review. International Journal of Economics and Business Administration Volume V, Issue 3, 2017 pp. 94-116