Rich-Poor
Divide in
Sports
By: Evan, Valerie,
Zavier, Gigi
Group 7 , Class 24/07
History of Inequality in Sports
Sport participation is an important
component of a healthy lifestyle and is
known to be more common among
privileged individuals.
A study done by BioMed Central, an
online scientific journal that was
established in 2001, aims at quantifying
socio-economic inequalities in sport
participation and to analyse their trend
over 15 years (2005-2019)
Trends in Rich-Poor divide in sports
Based on the study
done by BioMed
Central, income
inequalities in
sports participation
seemed to increase
between 2005 to
2019 (as seen from
the RII and SII data
provided)
The RII/SII
generally increased
throughout the
years, followed by
a significant dip in
the values in 2019
Rich Poor divide in sports today
Even today, the Olympics — and especially the Winter Olympics — are often a better
demonstration of wealth and GDP than innate athletic talent. Olympians from richer countries
have more resources available to pursue their dreams of gold. They have greater access to
training, equipment and state-of-the-art facilities. This uneven playing field is particularly
prominent in more niche events like curling, bobsledding and ski jumping, all of which require
expensive equipment and unique training spaces.
Hence, there are an unknown number of talented athletes out there who will never gain the same
international recognition because they do not have the economic resources necessary to fulfill
their athletic potential.
Rich Poor divide in sports today
A 2021 study examined how high school varsity athletes from wealthier communities
are disproportionately more likely to become college athletes.
When it comes to landing a spot on a college sports team, a student’s chances are
profoundly affected by their parents’ wealth and education. Even college sports recruitment
favors white suburban athletes.
The study found that going to a wealthier school, having more school-sponsored sports
offered and playing multiple sports led to higher chances of becoming a college athlete.
The study also showed that among the 47 college athletes, 94% played sports by kindergarten
and 77% continually played on club teams that typically cost $1,000-$4,000 annually. Paying for
private coaching and elite training camps was also common and even more expensive.
The rich poor divide in sports in
relation to an individual’s
environment
1. Physical 3. Temporal
environment
The presence of facilities
environment
Whether individuals have
appropriate the appropriate to
available for an individual
play sports
2. Social
environment
The immediate physical and
social setting in which
people live or in which
something happens or
develops.
Physical environment
Having a greater amount of money opens up many more opportunities and
provides greater access to more sporting facilities with the latest equipment
needed to carry out their training. Those from wealthy backgrounds are able to
benefit more from training. As compared to those that are less fortunate, they
have to rely on public sporting facilities which might already be badly damaged and
misused. As a result, they might not be able to properly train and exercise. Due to
the advantages given to those of a higher income, those of a lower income might
not be willing to invest their time into sports knowing that there is a great
discrepancy between the 2 economic classes.
In America, Among richer families, youth sports participation is rising. Among the
poorest households, it’s trending down. Just 34 percent of children from families
earning less than $25,000 played a team sport at least one day in 2017, versus 69
percent from homes earning more than $100,000. In 2011, those numbers were
roughly 42 percent and 66 percent, respectively.
A study of 10th graders done by James Tompsett and Chris Knoester found that
going to a wealthier school, having more school-sponsored sports offered and
playing multiple sports led to higher chances of becoming a college athlete.
Compared to attending a school with hardly any students who were poor enough to
qualify for free or reduced lunch, attending a school where 75% or more of the
Social environment
“Kids’ sports has seen an explosion of travel-team culture, where rich parents are
writing a $3,000 check to get their kids on super teams from two counties, or two
states, away,” said Tom Farrey, the executive director of Aspen’s Sports & Society
program. Expensive travel leagues siphon off talented young athletes from well-off
families, leaving behind desiccated local leagues with fewer players, fewer involved
parents, and fewer resources.
“When these kids move to the travel team, you pull bodies out of the local town’s
recreation league, and it sends a message [to those] who didn’t get onto that track
that they don’t really have a future in the sport.” The result is a classist system: the
travel-team talents and the local leftovers.
Unsurprisingly, the leftovers often lose interest. As Chris Moore, the executive
officer of the U.S. Youth Soccer Association, told The New York Times, “If you can’t
make a travel team, some kids may say, ‘What’s the point?’ and quit playing
altogether.”
In short, the American system of youth sports—serving the talented, and often rich,
Social environment
Additionally, due to spending cuts and changing priorities at some public schools,
many physical education classes and organized sports have been curtailed,
stripping youths of lower incomes an opportunity to experience playing sports.
A recent report in 2022 from the Physical Activity Alliance, a nonprofit organization,
gave schools nationwide a grade of D– for physical fitness. That is a downgrade
from a C– in 2014, with the new grade reflecting even less access to regular
physical education classes, gym time and equipment in schools.
With lesser significance being placed onto sports, youths of lower income may find
it to be irrelevant and obsolete to them, completely giving up on it. Thus, displaying
a disparity between the two income groups.
Temporal environment
A common reason for people of low incomes to not participate in sport is because
of the other demands on their time. They are often very busy – trying to balance
social, work, school and family commitments before even taking into account
playing or volunteering their time for sport. Therefore it is important that they can
participate in sessions at a time suitable for them.
One of the main reasons poorer kids quit sports, according to a survey done by
Aspen Institute: time constraints. Their parents were two times more likely to cite
lack of time as why their child quit sports than wealthy parents. This likely speaks
to lower-income kids’ family responsibilities, such as caring for siblings or earning
money from a job, and transportation challenges to attend practices and games.
As competitive sports require more practice and training, more hours need to be
poured into the sport, which might not be possible for those of lower income due to
other responsibilities that they might have.
Science and Technology
Olympians from richer countries have
more resources available to achieve
success because they have greater access
to training, equipment and state-of-the-art
facilities. On the other hand, olympians
from poorer countries do not have the
same privilege of accessing such facilities
and technologies. This results in people
from richer countries generally performing
better in sports.
Science and Technology
- Competing athletes from richer
countries are supported by
professionals such as nutritionists,
sport scientists to help boost their
performance.
- They also have access to better
equipment and technologies. This
allows them to analyse their
performance and gain a better
understanding of their own body
and make necessary adjustments.
- These technologies are largely
inaccessible for people in poorer
countries.
Science and Technology
For example, the Olympics for Snowboarding
are dominated by richer countries. The
United States has won a third of the medals
in snowboarding since its inception at the
1998 games , which is more than twice as
many as the second-most-successful nation,
Switzerland. This is because richer countries
like USA are able to provide better facilities,
have more advanced technology and access
to sport scientists to help them improve,
unlike poorer countries which might not have
the resources to do so. This is further
exacerbated as snowboarding is a niche
sports that requires pricey and good
snowboards, access to alpine centres to carry
out trainings.
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Exercise
Exercise 01 Exercise 02 Exercise 03
Phase 01 5’30’’ 6’00’’ 4’45’’
Phase 02 2’00’’ 3’10’’ 2’45’’
Phase 03 4’11’’ 4’10 3’00
Rich-poor divide in
sports: can it be
reduced?
“A s l o
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inequa verty, injus
no ne o lit ti c
f us ca y persist in e and
n truly ou
rest. “ r world,
Case Study: Malaysia
Aug 2023 - Oct 2023
The “Payung Rahmah” In August of 2023, Since consumers,
programme, initiated by the initiative was especially those who are
the Malaysian expanded to over financially burdened can
Government, is designed 100 types of sports now enjoy 10%-30%
to financially aid the less equipment in AEON discounts on sports
fortunate through BiG Hypermarkets, equipment, they will be
discounting essential which will last until more able to afford them
goods and services October 2023 and less likely to find
sports inaccessible.
Team’s Thoughts
This economic inequality
highlighted by sports has a far While some governments
broader scope. It is something have pumped in their best
that touches every corner of efforts at closing the
society. It is not something that disparity, the nature of
has any single solution, but rather sports seem to evolve
it is something that requires every day, and whether
massive, wide-reaching systemic this issue will resolve or
change. worsen shall remain
unknown.
Becoming an athlete has not
Competition in sports has partly been easy for the poor due to
become a battle of who has the disparity in environments
access to better resources, rather and opportunities between the
than innate ability and talent. Do lower and higher incomes. Thus
these competitions then still have highlighting the unfairness of
meaning and value? income inequality in competitive
sports.
