Camanachd Association reaches new heights in Equality Standards

Winners of the 2019 Disability Festival, Stanecastle

Camanachd Association reaches new heights in Equality Standards.

The Camanachd Association want our communities to be a place where every single person can take part in Shinty, enjoy shinty and succeed in shinty whatever their motivation or background.

This month, it was confirmed that the Camanachd Association have taken a big step forward achieving the Intermediate Level accreditation within the UK Equality Standard for sport. This follows over a year of work towards furthering the Camanachd Association’s commitments and practices towards achieving a more equal society, in the workplace, on the pitch, and beyond.

National Development Manager, Graham Cormack; CEO, Derek Keir & Equalities Director, Ross Brown delivered a presentation to the Equality Standard for Sport Panel on Friday the 12th February which enabled them to approve the Camanachd Association’s application to Intermediate Level.

LEADING ON EQUALITIES

One of the Camanachd Association’s core priorities for the next 12 months is inclusion and ensuring that opportunities are available for all including the wider community to engage with our great sport. This focus on Equality, Diversity & Inclusion will guide us beyond the pandemic and ensure shinty clubs retain their rightful place at the heart of many communities.

Some of the equality provisions the Camanachd Association are currently supporting include:

  • Prioritisation and support for the development of opportunities for girls and women in partnership with the Women’s Camanachd Association.
  • Opportunities for people with a disability (in partnership with Scottish Disability Sport)
  • Equality training for all CA Staff, Board members, Disciplinary and Behaviour in Sport committee members.
  • Equality training embedded in Coach and Match Official Education.
  • Equality embedded in the CA ClubMark Accreditation scheme
  • Signatory and advocate of LGBT participation in our sport and working to make continuous improvements to greater inclusion for LGBT people in Shinty. Members of the Equality Networks LGBT Sports Charter since 2018
  • Support for Equality campaigns including Respect – Show Racism the Red Card and Rainbow laces where we continue our work to promote inclusion and diversity across all levels of the game and increase the public’s understanding of LGBT issues. Shinty is a sport for all.
  • Health & Wellbeing Club Initiatives in partnership with Health Boards and the Scottish Association for Mental Health.
  • Shinty Chaplaincy programme

Following the news that we achieved the Intermediate Standard, Ross Brown, Camanachd Association Equalities Director said:

“I am pleased that the Camanachd Association have had their significant work recognised by the panel.  We are motivated to remove all barriers people are faced with in accessing our great game and look to promote innovative schemes to encourage priority groups into sport.  Internally we have adapted our policies and procedures ensuring we have a strong focus on equality, diversity and inclusion from the start.  It is a very exciting time to be part of the team restarting shinty after the difficulties of the global pandemic and look forward to bringing our equality, diversity and inclusion values to the pitch in 2021”

Graham Cormack, Camanachd Association National Development Manager said:

“We are proud to have achieved the Intermediate Level and gaining this accreditation is a major part of the work that we have planned over the next 12 months. My thanks go to the Equality Working Group as well as the wider staff and board for the help they provided in this achievement. I would like to also recognise the expert guidance we received from Chris Gibbons from Inside Inclusion, his invaluable guidance has aided us a great deal.

The Camanachd Association has been regularly joined by partner organisations to discuss how we can improve our offering to be even more inclusive moving out of lockdown and we can’t wait to put these plans into action.

If any club wants to improve its offering then please do not hesitate to get in contact with you Regional Development Officer”