Diversity in Leadership

Being questioned about your loyalty to a country you've given everything for. Watching the doors of leadership stay firmly closed long after you stopped playing. Two athletes who reached the top of British sport and still had to fight for their place at the table.  In this episode of Equity in Action, John Williams brings together two pioneering figures in British sport who, despite competing at the very same time, had never met - until now. Michelle Griffiths Robinson is a Team GB Olympic triple jumper, women's health advocate, and champion for inclusion across sport and physical activity. Devon Malcolm is a former England fast bowler, Windrush generation son, and a man who took his fight for race equality all the way to the High Court. Between them, they carry decades of hard-won wisdom on race, equity, and what fairness in sport actually looks like when you're living it.  From Devon's legal battle to challenge racial bias in cricket, to Michelle calling out unconscious bias on behalf of her daughter at English Schools - and her unflinching question to a charity board that had never employed a Black person in fifty years - this conversation is honest, warm, and full of insight for anyone working to advance EDI in sport and physical activity.  Together, Michelle and Devon offer perspective that athletes, coaches, parents, and governing bodies can't afford to ignore:  You can't be what you can't see: Representation in coaching, officiating, and leadership isn't a nice-to-have. It's the difference between a young person staying in sport or walking away from it.  Diversity at the table changes everything: If the same people keep making decisions, you'll keep getting the same results. Boards, clubs, and governing bodies need diverse voices not just to reflect communities, but to understand them.  Sport is a foundation, not a ceiling: Both Michelle and Devon made a point of raising children with choices beyond sport. The goal of inclusion in physical activity is to open doors, not to funnel people through the same narrow ones.  Use your voice - especially when it costs you something: Devon risked his house and his career to challenge racism in cricket. Michelle took on an institution to protect her daughter. Equity doesn't advance without people willing to push back.  Give something back: Nelson Mandela called Devon after the 1994 South Africa test to tell him how fast sport reaches young people. Decades later, he's still putting that reach to work.  _ _   Sporting Equals is a leading UK charity promoting race equality and equity in sport and physical activity, creating a landscape where ethnically diverse communities feel included, represented, and able to thrive.