Launceston Rugby Club Equality and Diversity Policy
Launceston Rugby Club respects the rights, dignity and worth of every person and is committed to treat everyone equally regardless of age, gender, ability, disability, ethnicity, religious belief, sexual orientation, social/economic status or political persuasion.
Policy Statement
Launceston Rugby Club is fully committed to the principles of equality and will strive to ensure that everyone who wishes to be involved in rugby union, whether as employees, members, volunteers or participants:
● has a genuine and equal opportunity to participate to the full extent of their own ambitions and abilities, without regard to their age, sex, gender identity, disability, marital or civil partnership status, pregnancy or maternity, religion, race, ethnic origin, socioeconomic status or sexual orientation
● can be assured of an environment in which their rights, dignity and individual worth are respected, and in particular, that they are able to enjoy rugby without the threat of intimidation, victimisation, harassment or abuse.
We recognise rugby union as a diverse sport, involvement in which can bring communities together, have health and economic benefits and impact positively on the future of rugby. Equal Opportunity is about celebrating difference and diversity and as such providing a structure that can respond to this in a proactive and positive manner. We promote equality of opportunity in rugby union at all levels.
In addressing equal opportunities, the club will ensure that equity is incorporated into all aspects of its activities, and in doing so, recognizes and adopts the following Sport England definition of Sports Equity:
“Sports equity is about fairness in sport, equality of access, recognizing inequalities and taking steps to address them. It is about changing the culture and structure of sport to ensure it becomes equally accessible to all members of society”
Purpose and Scope
This policy has been produced to prevent and tackle any discrimination or other unfair treatment, whether intentional or unintentional against its employees, members, volunteers and participants in line with the Equality Act 2010.
This policy is applicable to all Launceston Rugby Club employees, members, volunteers, parents and players at all levels of the game.
Legal obligations
Launceston Rugby Club is committed to avoid and eliminate unfair discrimination of any kind in rugby and will under no circumstances condone unlawful discriminatory practices. The organisation takes a zero-tolerance approach to harassment.
Key Principles
The club also supports the following four key principles as being fundamental to ensuring equity in our sport.
Entitlement: People have a right to participate in and access quality and appropriate experiences within bowls.
Accessibility: The club accepts its responsibility, wherever and whenever possible, to adapt provision to fit the needs of the many.
Inclusion: Wherever and whenever possible, the club will make every effort to ensure all have access to the same quality of provision, and if necessary, we will use positive action to ensure this.
Integrity: Whatever we do as a club in changing or adopting provision, it must be of equal worth, challenging, relevant and in no way patronising.
Equity Policy
In addressing these key principles, the club and all its members undertake to respond to issues of equity by:
• Recognising that Rugby is a ‘Sport for All’. They can and should be enjoyed and made accessible to everyone.
• Positively encouraging involvement, membership and participation from all sectors of the community, regardless of their gender, race, disability, age and social background, ensuring that Rugby Union is accessible to everyone.
• Acknowledging that equal opportunity is about recognising that people are different and therefore require different provisions.
• Taking positive action to increase the involvement from underrepresented groups in all aspects of our club
• Recognising that as a club, we need to adapt and work flexibly in order to respond to the needs of a wide and diverse range of people.
• Promoting an open and honest culture that values diversity and promotes equality of opportunity
• Ensuring that everyone feels a valued member of our club
• opposing discriminatory behaviour and dealing with any incidence of discriminatory behaviour seriously, according to the club disciplinary procedures.
Equal Opportunity
In our training and development of coaches, we will strive to ensure that they:
● Promote positive images of people with special needs
● Adopt, promote and practise the principles and practices of equal opportunities
● Are committed to providing entitlement and access to all their professional activities.
● Encourage high expectations and standards of achievement from all they coach
● Involve everyone in meaningful and appropriate activity to ensure a quality experience.
● Help everyone to achieve their full potential
● Ensure that participation can be enjoyed by all
Positive action
The principle of sports equality goes further than simply complying with legislation. It entails taking positive steps to counteract the effects of physical or cultural barriers – whether real or perceived – that restrict the opportunity for all sections of the community to participate equally and fully.
Launceston Rugby Club will therefore seek to support appropriate measures or initiatives that enable access to rugby union and participation by people from any group that is under-represented in the sport or has difficulty accessing it.
Policy review date September 2025 Reviewed by:
Shona McCombie Signed:
Next review date September 2026
