ABSTRACT
While it puts distance between itself and the use of the term ‘hate speech’, this chapter presents a concise review of the literature on hate speech, and it conceptualises hate speech in sport. Various scenarios where athletes and spectators are the speakers or are the targets become the subject of analyses. The chapter ultimately takes a critical look at how sport associations perceive certain events and symbols pertaining to history. Generally, the chapter points out that although the scope of the term hate speech should be broad enough to include every type of othering on the part of the speakers, the context of the expression, and more importantly, the position of the targets have to be borne in mind. The chapter concludes that given the autonomy-based defence of the individual, and in line with their associational goals, sport associations can restrict face-to-face and non-face-to-face hate speech.
