Sport England: Tackling Racism

Afzal Khan Excerpts

Wednesday 9th July 2025 Westminster Hall

[Naz Shah]

I thank the hon. Member for his intervention; he is absolutely right. I will come on to the role that sport plays in bringing communities together and why it is so important.

Just as its institutional nature was to pass off bias and discriminatory results in tournaments, so the BJJA dismissed Mumtaz’s requests, using improper processes and technical committees made up of the very same people who are embedded in the very same institutional culture—people marking their own homework, so to speak. It is an organisation that lacks constitutional clarity, organisational transparency and democratic credibility. No information about its governance structures or democratic procedures is publicly available, and there are no minutes of annual general meetings, committee meetings or executive meetings publicly available.

To top things off, Mumtaz’s complaints were never going to be heard, because the very person overseeing the process and in control of the BJJA, the chairperson Martin Dixon, and the BJJA’s secretary were themselves promoting openly racist, Islamophobic and homophobic content online on their social media pages. I was going to quote some of it, but I thought it best to leave people to see it for themselves.

Having no confidence in the BJJA, I supported Mumtaz to raise her complaint formally with Sport England, an organisation funded by the Department of Culture, Media and Sport that exists to help to bridge the gap between under-represented communities and sport. It is meant to help to remove barriers and increase participation. Sport England does not directly fund the BJJA, but it provides it with recognition, and as such holds the power to de-recognise it and ensure accountability.

This evidence of racism was forwarded to Sport England on 29 November 2018. It is worth noting that, despite Onna Ju-Jitsu having previously won Sport England’s Satellite Club of the Year award, Sport England, instead of looking into the complaint, proceeded to engage in a phishing expedition and decided to

“chase up Sensei Mumtaz Khan’s coaching qualifications”,

claiming that was standard procedure for high-risk sports. I note that Sport England did not do that when it awarded Onna Ju-Jitsu its Satellite Club of the Year award, and the same yardstick is not applied to other clubs across the country. Sport England subsequently deemed that Mumtaz Khan’s coaching was invalid, to quash her complaint about the BJJA. That is a textbook example of trying to cover things up.

[Afzal Khan (Manchester Rusholme) (Lab)]

My hon. Friend is making a very powerful case about the racism that exists in the sport, which of course none of us should tolerate. For me, tackling this racism in sport must also mean improving representation in decision making, which is important. Does she agree?

[Naz Shah]

I thank my hon. Friend for his intervention. I absolutely agree, because often sporting bodies do not reflect the diversity of those playing sport within their structures and systems. That is absolutely the case at senior management levels, and that must be addressed as well.

Coming back to qualifications, in comparison, sportscotland, Sport Wales and Sport Northern Ireland all confirmed—I have go this in writing—that they do not chase up qualifications.

Let me address the issue of Mumtaz Khan’s qualification allegedly being invalid, with these important details. In September 2018, a complaint was raised with the BJJA. In November 2018, a complaint was raised with Sport England. In March 2019, less than four months later, the BJJA did not send Onna Ju-Jitsu the annual forms to renew membership, bearing in mind that it has been a member since 2013.

In June 2019, Sport England makes an offer of mediation with Mumtaz, which she accepts. In July 2019, the following month, Sport England tells Mumtaz Khan that the need for mediation is being removed, because the BJJA said Mumtaz Khan had resigned her position as the diversity engagement officer, which she had never sent in. Sport England accepted, and recorded with its permission, a meeting at which the BJJA chair confessed that that did not happen. Mumtaz never resigned her position as the diversity engagement officer. It was said someone else had been appointed, but that was not true. That is a catalogue of BJJA telling Sport England: “This isn’t true,” “This isn’t right,” “These are confessions,” and that something that was clearly homophobic and racist is now just offensive. The list goes on.

In October 2019, Sport England decided to chase qualifications, which include being a member of a national body. That is where the contradictions start. Where I come from in Yorkshire, someone is either pregnant or not. No one can be both or a bit pregnant. No one can pick and choose measuring yardsticks when it suits, as Sport England has done. Sport England has said to Mumtaz, “Well, because you’re not a member of this organisation, you can’t make a formal complaint,” yet she can run a ju-jitsu club, and she needs to have all these qualifications, she needs to be insured and she needs to meet all these criteria. But when it comes to a complaint about racism and homophobia: “D’you know what? You don’t meet the criteria.” Which is it? Sport England needs to get its head round this. It needs to sort itself out and get its house in order. When Mumtaz raised a formal complaint against the BJJA, it removed her as a diversity officer.

I agree with Mumtaz Khan that she was targeted and victimised by Sport England for whistleblowing and raising concerns. It was only after my intervention as an MP that Sport England committed to even looking at the conduct of the BJJA. At first, when Mumtaz presented evidence of openly racist and homophobic slurs, they were judged merely just offensive. Someone put up a post saying, “I have found a cure for lesbians…Trycoxagain.” That is the kind of post we are talking about; they were homophobic and not just offensive. I am sorry, but I do not agree with that judgment.

Later, despite recognising clearly racist evidence, an attempt was made to squash the issue by asking the chair to send a letter of apology to Mumtaz, rather than taking action to hold people to account. Evidence of the BJJA breaching all seven examples listed in section 64 of the sports council’s recognition review policy of 2017 was sent by Mumtaz to Sport England in October 2022. Again, it was left to Mumtaz to point out to Sport England how to do its job.

Combined with the previous admission of racism, Mumtaz felt that that led to Sport England finally agreeing to take the matter to the other sports councils to gain agreement to derecognise the BJJA. After huge pressure, Sport England started a process to derecognise the BJJA, but never did; it gave the BJJA time to meet the criteria to get continued recognition. The BJJA did not meet the criteria in another six months, but Sport England did not go on derecognise it.

When Sport England made a statement, it was reviewing the information submitted by the BJJA, so any decision about derecognition never happened. On 21 May 2024, Sport England released a statement suggesting it was continuing the association’s recognition, subject to a number of conditions, despite the deadline of meeting the original conditions being eight months earlier. In my eyes, Sport England was clearly taking action to avoid derecognising or implementing serious changes in the BJJA.

Losing all hope in Sport England, Mumtaz Khan asked it to provide all the data. It was not just a cover up—it gets better! Sport England has accepted that it had, on her last attempt to make a subject access request and a freedom of information request, 4,763 emails, letters and documents relating to Sensei Mumtaz Khan and her club, but it will not give her any of them. I have even been to the Information Commissioner and we have done subject access requests. What is Sport England hiding? What is it trying to cover up? Why is it not releasing that information? That is an alarmingly high number of mentions for one individual and a small, local club, but we still do not have the information.

I ask the Minister: how can these students or others expect fairness through the BJJA when the issues are institutional and directly linked to the chairman, Martin Dixon, who promotes homophobia and racism, and when there is no accountability? We do not know what is in those papers; it reminds me of the Azeem Rafiq case all over again.

Martin Dixon has served as the chairman of the BJJA since 1992, a tenure spanning more than 33 years and counting. Although he has no doubt made many positive contributions to the BJJA over the years, this is a national governing body for a recognised sport in this country, not a fiefdom. If we do not get institutional change, including for those at the very top of the organisation, how can these students or others have any faith in competing in British jiu-jitsu?

Let me summarise the issue: an award-winning, British jiu-jitsu sensei, Mumtaz Khan, who competed and was an asset to the BJJA, established a club and allowed younger generations, many of whom were from ethnic minority backgrounds, to break barriers and enter the sport. Despite years of direct discrimination and bias against students in her club, all she wanted to do was ensure a fair playing field for all competitors in the sport. No one was asking for special treatment—just fairness and equality. After all, fair play, transparency and good competition are the nature of sporting success. Instead, the governing body and established national entities that were supposed to step in and take action to ensure that real accountability was in place resorted to denial, inaction and a cover-up.

This issue is about not just racism, racist sentiments or poor choices of words, but young people who face barriers to entry into sport due to the colour of their skin, their gender, their faith or their sexual orientation. When that happens, we are all worse off. This is an issue not just with the BJJA, but across all sports and across this country. I know at first hand the level of discrimination and racism faced by grassroots football clubs in my constituency.

We are regularly told by Sport England, the Department for Culture, Media and Sport and every major sporting body that there is “No room for racism”, that we must “Kick it out” and that we must “Change the game”. These are all commendable slogans, but that is the problem—they remain slogans. In this House, we know that it is not slogans but consistent, deliberate action that brings about real and lasting change in sports and in society. The only way to ensure ethical practice in sports is through accountability and transparency. Those are not optional extras; they are essential principles.

In 2021, ex-cricketer Azeem Rafiq gave evidence to the then Digital, Culture, Media and Sport Committee detailing his experiences after a report found that he was a victim of racial harassment and bullying. From that case, we know the level of institutional racism in a sport such as cricket where we would expect better. The Minister will also be aware that, in 2023, Prince William wrote to Alpha United Juniors, a junior football club in my constituency, with concerns about almost 60 cases of racism that those juniors had faced in grassroots football. Children as young as seven years old had been the victim of racial slurs and threats of violence.

The challenge, as we witnessed with Azeem Rafiq and now Sensei Mumtaz Khan, is that those who speak out about the evidence of bias, discrimination and racism are often subject to attacks themselves for merely raising the issue. When we look at those representing Britain at a global level in sports—Anthony Joshua, Tyson Fury or the likes of Amir Khan in boxing; Mo Farah, Kelly Holmes and others in the Olympics; Adil Rashid from Bradford or Moeen Ali in the England cricket team; and the likes of Marcus Rashford, Saka and others in football—we should recognise that allowing barriers to be broken enables the very best of us to compete and represent Britain at the highest level, which helps us to be the very best at sport across the globe.

[Afzal Khan]

My hon. Friend is making a powerful speech. I want to share an example from the Greater Manchester combined authority, which has, in partnership, launched a cricket strategy aimed at creating inclusive cricket, from encouraging young people to play cricket to creating a network of south Asian women to widen the reach of cricket in our community. Does my hon. Friend agree that such initiatives play a vital role in tackling inequality and racism and in strengthening community cohesion throughout the sport?

[Naz Shah]

I know how passionate my hon. Friend is about this issue in his constituency. I absolutely agree that we need such opportunities, because that is what it leads to. When we fail at the grassroots level due to institutional issues, we fail at success.

There is growing concern that Sport England continues to fund and legitimise governing bodies that are consistently weak on equality, diversity and inclusion. What is being done to move beyond policy paperwork and enforce meaningful standards for inclusion, not just box ticking? It is time for Sport England to explain how it holds funded organisations accountable on issues of equality and diversity, because recognition without results undermines trust.

What safeguards does Sport England have in place when repeated concerns about racism or exclusion are raised not just in jiu-jitsu but in other governing bodies? Has Sport England commissioned an independent review into ensuring transparency and accountability where patterns of exclusion emerge? We need to ensure that Sport England’s inclusion policies do not just exist on paper, but deliver a measurable change at every level of the sport. Although Sport England supports equality and diversity on paper, how is it measuring the real world impact across sport, particularly for marginalised communities? If we take the issue at the club I am talking about, it is clearly failing drastically.

Grassroots and ethnically diverse-led organisations often feel under-looked. How will Sport England ensure that their voices shape future priorities? Ultimately it is taxpayers’ money that funds the institution. I am grateful to the Minister for taking time out and meeting me when I raised concerns with her Department. I would like the Government to act to ensure that Sport England immediately derecognises the BJJA. I want the Government to conduct a full independent investigation into the leading national governing body and ensure the establishment of a new body that can provide confidence in the sport.

The Government should also arrange a full independent inquiry into Sport England’s handling of Mumtaz Khan’s complaint regarding the BJJA national governing body, and instruct Sport England to immediately release all the data held, unredacted, to Mumtaz Khan regarding her and her club from 29 November 2018 to date. I urge the Minister to take those matters seriously—no doubt she will. I also urge her to meet Mumtaz Khan and to hold Sport England and the BJJA to account. If we want British sport to reflect the values of fairness, respect and inclusion, we must ensure that those words are backed with real action.