Changing the game to beat racial biases

In the summer of 2021, researchers presented the result of a study on bias. For the first time, a control group was tested that was unaware of the race or gender of players involved in three selected matches (Pace and Power: Removing Unconscious Bias from Soccer Broadcasts; Gregory et. al., 2021).

Gregory and his team of researchers used broadcasting technology from Sportlogiq that reproduces skeletons in a two-dimensional render of video recordings of the matches.

With this technology, they were able to show a video clip to two different groups in the study. One group was shown the actual video, where the race and gender of the players were identifiable. The other group was shown the same video, but displayed as an anonymized animation, with both race and gender unidentifiable. The results were astonishing.

One of the clips was of Poland playing Senegal in the 2018 men’s World Cup. Of those who saw the actual video and were therefore able to detect race, 72% described Senegal - whose players were all black - as “more athletic or quick.” Of those who watched the anonymized animation, 62% picked Poland, whose players were all white, as the more athletic team.

The same study examined views on gender by showing clips from the NWSL, the US women’s top flight, and England’s League Two, the fourth tier of men’s soccer.

Of the people who watched the regular broadcast, 57% said the men’s game was of a “higher quality.” But, when gender was undetectable, 59% of viewers preferred the women’s game.

"Countless youth and senior players have shared with me how a coach labelled them..."

In talent identification, we talk about the impact of early identification and how it can positively or negatively affect a player’s self-perception.

In my journey as a coach, I have come across countless youth and senior players who have shared with me versions of how a coach labelled them.

Young black players have been told their only contribution to the game is their athleticism, their power, and strength.

Brown girls have been told their Hispanic heritage does not afford them the athleticism needed to compete at the highest level.

Girls and women of all ethnicities have been told by male coaches that their individualistic expressions on the field are selfish and that how they hold their teammates accountable is too harsh - attributes that are often praised in male players.

Like early identification, can labelling rooted in racial and ethnic biases affect a player’s self-perception - and, consequentially, their development?

Major clubs and federations invest heavily in people and methodologies to improve their talent identification processes and educate their scouts and talent ID managers. 

Should scout education involve bias training and cross-cultural communication? Can we trust our talent ID process to see past the racial and ethnic differences between the observer and the player? Decades of research suggests we cannot. 

My hope is we evolve and address the inequities of talent observation in this sport, so that the next generation of black and brown players are seen for what they bring to the field - and not by the color of their skin.