Commentary, Opinion

All inclusive

September 10, 2026   ·   0 Comments

By Brian Lockhart

Many organizations, clubs, and government agencies like to use the phrase “we are inclusive” to make people believe they allow anyone to join or become a member.

It’s a nice-sounding phrase, but in no way actually reflects how most groups actually operate – not by a long shot.

It’s just one of those phrases they use because if they don’t, someone will question why they aren’t inclusive.

The TV show Seinfeld was great at pointing out the absurdities of modern life, like groups and clubs insisting on including buzzwords in their literature.

In the AIDS Walk episode, Kramer refused to wear an AIDS ribbon during the fundraising walk. He was bullied and ostracized by other people on the walk for not wearing a ribbon.

They accused him of not being ‘against AIDS’ even though he was actively participating in the walk and had a genuine concern about raising money for a good cause. But he didn’t want to wear the ribbon.

Being inclusive means actually inviting other people to take part in something.

A few years ago I was involved with a football club. One division was having trouble attracting new players.

They had a roster of around 21 players. For a full roster, a football team needs around 35 players to cover offence, defence, and special teams.

Playing the sport doesn’t require any previous experience because players were all taught the positions on the gridiron and how things work prior to the start of the regular season.

The coaches couldn’t figure out why more players weren’t signing up.

In one of the few times I decided to make a suggestion that was ‘inclusive,’ I proposed an idea to one of the coaches.

With 21 15-year-old players on the team, those kids have a lot of friends.

I suggested that after that day’s practice, the coach should ask all of those players to each approach five of their friends. Have the players say something like, “We have a short roster on our team this year. We sure could use a guy like you to come out and join our team. I think you would enjoy it and be good at it.”

It was a simple and inclusive invitation. Most kids would be flattered that a friend thought enough of them to ask them to join a team.

Even if just ten per cent of those kids decided to give it a try, they would have enough to fill out the roster.

However, the coaches didn’t think it was a good idea as it might attract kids who weren’t good football players. So, they kept the roster small, exhausted kids by having them play both offensive and defensive positions, and lost most of their games that year.

I’ve also seen this happen in high school sports. Some large schools couldn’t fill sports teams.

I once questioned why a school of several thousand kids couldn’t field a girls’ soccer team.

The reply was ‘no one signed up.’

The recruitment for filling a team was to place a notice on a bulletin board stating, “Tryouts are next Tuesday.”

Maybe if the coaches actually approached some kids and enthusiastically encouraged them to play, enough kids would have come out to join the team.

When I was in high school, I was relatively shy in the first couple of years. I wanted to play football; however, most of the players were from a different feeder school. I didn’t know any of them, and most of them didn’t seem to be enthusiastic about meeting new kids.

If one of those guys or a coach had approached me and suggested I join the team, I would have – no doubt about it.

An invitation to join would have made all the difference.

But there are a lot of clubs and organizations that don’t want certain people joining their ranks or being part of their organization.

A good friend of mine attended a rather prestigious private school in Grade 7. He only managed a single year before he was kicked out for various reasons.

Out of curiosity, I went on that school’s website recently and checked out their admission requirements.

Now there’s a school that is elitist, snobby, and rigidly exclusive all at the same time, and yet you never hear anyone complain about the admissions department excluding poor people, those with an incorrect surname, or someone whose family just isn’t up to snuff.

It’s really a place to ensure your daughter meets the right kind of boy to ensure they keep all the money in the family.

I have no problem with that at all. If you want to create a group that excludes people you don’t like – go ahead.

To paraphrase Groucho Marx, “I wouldn’t want to join a group that would have me as a member.”

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