Michael Lawrence aiming for positive input in RL’s work against discrimination

Michael Lawrence always knew that taking the knee would not be enough on its own to force positive change in sport.

The Huddersfield forward was at the forefront of Sky’s Black Lives Matter coverage when Super League restarted last August, giving an insightful interview alongside Giants team-mates Ash Golding and Jordan Turner.

Lawrence recounted how an opposition player was racially abused by one of his own supporters in an academy game, resulting in his coach leaving the club. Turner and Golding had both experienced their own forms of discrimination.

It sparked conversation within rugby league – and Lawrence wanted that to be the start of long-standing change for the better. Now the 30-year-old has been appointed to a new eight-person Inclusion Board that will oversee the progress of the sport’s own ‘Tackle It – Rugby League versus Discrimination’ programme. He explained: “The more diverse rugby league is the better.

“A lot of stuff went on 10 or 20 years ago that people would overlook, and I don’t think they overlook them now which is the difference. People have now got a voice and that kind of stuff isn’t accepted, which is good.

“In rugby league there’s a five-year plan being put together now with some measurable goals. It’s a long process but we want to see stuff moving in the right direction, so that when I eventually do step down from the board the sport will be in a better position.”

Lawrence admits that the reaction to Black Lives Matters helped shaped his opinion on the best way to achieve progress in rugby league. He said: “The response was a lot of positives but also a lot of negatives as well. It showed there’s still a lot of work to be done within the sport, and sport as a whole, to make it more inclusive and diverse.

“There was mixed reactions to the Black Lives Matter initiative and that’s one of the main reasons I wanted rugby league to push its own identity.

“A lot of people were opposing the political side of Black Lives Matters, and I wanted to step away from politics and focus on rugby league being inclusive and diverse and against any kind of discrimination.

“I’m a big believer in seeing things through, and I didn’t want taking the knee to be the end of it. I wanted to be part of an action plan and see some worthwhile change.”

Lawrence experienced a positive response to sharing his own experiences, but says the abuse being suffered by football players on social media illustrates the issues sport faces.

He added: “I’ve never had that, but there’s a lot of stuff going around which is pretty disturbing. I’ve never been racially abused by a fan or on social media, but some of the stuff footballers have had, no person should have to deal with.”

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