Shaun Gayle features in episode 4 of Sky Sports' My Icon series on Wednesday
Wednesday 4 October 2017 06:18, UK
Individual sports must reform from top to bottom if they truly want to be diverse, says Super Bowl winner Shaun Gayle.
An instantly-recognisable figure on these shores due to his work as an NFL pundit, Gayle hails from an area very close to the historical city of Jamestown in Virginia.
Jamestown was the entry point for slavery in North America more than 400 years ago and though Gayle believes racism remains "pretty obvious" in some parts of Virginia, he says sport has been "avenue to help overcome racism" in the region.
Gayle won the Super Bowl with the Chicago Bears in 1985 and while the locker room in his era was diverse, black head coaches were few and far between.
The introduction of the Rooney Rule in 2003 has helped tackle the issue in the NFL and Gayle believes organisational change is needed if other sports are to become more representative.
"Other sports that need to take that additional step to be more diverse need to take a look at not just the participants but also the coaching, the management and the ownership," he says.
"These are the things that have to change if you want to see sports as truly diverse.
"We can't just have a situation where the people on the pitch are one race or one colour and management is a different colour.
"We can't have that. If you want to see true change, it has to be from the top to the bottom."
Gayle talks about his journey in the latest instalment of My Icon, which premieres on Wednesday at 7am on Sky Sports Mix. The episode is also repeated on Wednesday at 1pm, 6pm, 10pm.
Coinciding with Black History Month, Sky Sports' #MyIcon campaign brings you 31 exclusive interviews with top BAME sports personalities across the month of October. For more information click here.
