Fdration Franaise de Tennis

Stade Roland-Garros
2 avenue Gordon Bennett
75016 Paris
France

Dear Sir/Madam,

Roland Garros Colour Coded Work Scheme

Let me begin by congratulating the Fdration Franaise de Tennis (FFT) on the successful
conclusion of the 2017 French Open Championship. Without a doubt, the French Open is one
of the greatest sporting spectacles in the world. This years event was memorable for me as I
witnessed Rafael Nadal achieve the "La Decima" and Jelena Ostapenko defy the odds to win
her maiden Grand Slam title. But equally memorable was observing the racial disparity in the
assignment of roles and responsibilities between black and white workers/contractors at
Roland Garros. I trust that you would not dismiss this letter as the ranting of a paranoid black
spectator playing the race card.

During his victory speech, Nadal paid tribute to the volunteers and workers who work behind
the scene to make the French Open a successful tournament. Even though tennis players are
the centre of attention, it is the stewards, umpires, ball boys/girls, security guards, cleaners,
court maintenance crew and the caterers that make things happen. However, if one carries
out a critical examination of the allocation of the various tasks at Roland Garros one would
notice the existence of a "colour coded scheme." I appreciate that this colour-coded scheme
might have escaped the attention of the FFT. It might have even escaped the attention of
hundreds of thousands of fans who were probably focused on watching their tennis idols ply
their trade. But it didn't escape my attention because as tennis coach - Richard Williams
would say, "Black and White is the way I see it."

One of the high-profile roles at the French Open is that of the host/hostess and stewards. The
host/hostess are the smartly dressed men and women who attend to the needs of the VIP
guests. There are two categories of stewards namely the external and internal stewards. The
external stewards check the tickets at the entrance to the show courts. The female external
stewards are elegantly clothed in "Suzanne Lenglen" inspired cream dresses (see Appendix
A) and the male stewards wear white polo shirts and orange trousers. The internal stewards
stay inside the show courts and act as a second layer of control to ensure that the spectators
have their tickets. They are easily recognisable by their white BNP Paribas inscribed Adidas t-
shirts. Besides these high-profile duties, there are other functions like the security guards,
caterers and retailers.

During my four-day visit to Roland Garros, I observed that while a mixture of black and white
workers carried out most of the low profile roles, predominately white people carried out the
high profile and visible functions. In the hosting department, nearly all of the host and hostess
attending to the needs of the VIP guests were white. The racial composition of the stewarding
team became apparent shortly after the Men's single final when the stewards formed two
human walls in front of the Philippe Chatrier Court to bid the spectators farewell. From the
images in Appendix B, it is clear that there is a whitewashed stewarding team.

It wasn't until I went to the toilet that I began to observe the racial disparity at Roland Garros.
When I got to the toilet at Court One, I noticed that the attendants in the toilet were black.
This trend wasn't specific to one toilet on a particular day. Over the course of my four-day visit
to Roland Garros, I noticed that the two toilets at Court One in addition to the toilet at the
Suzanne Lenglen Court were manned by black and brown faces (see Appendix C). I didn't
see any white person sitting at the "toilet reception desk." Besides being over-represented in
the toilet department, black and brown faces also topped the chart in the Roland Garros
Refuse Collection Department (see Appendix D).
Admittedly, there might have been white people manning the toilets and black people working
in the high-profile roles, which I might have overlooked, however, this is likely to be the
exception rather than the rule. For the sake of clarity, I am not accusing the FFT of racism. I
also appreciate that the FFT outsources some services to third parties and might not have
participated in the recruitment process. However, the FFT has a responsibility to ensure that
the service providers act in a socially responsible manner.

The FFT cannot and should not fold its arms as only white hostesses get the privilege to
interact with important guests; as only white ball boys and girls get the privilege to take
pictures with Nadal (see Appendix E); as only white stewards get the privilege to wear their
fashionable dresses while only black and brown people get the privilege of clearing the dung
of white people visiting the tournament.

Tennis is often viewed as a lily white sport and the proliferation of black faces clearing the
dustbins and cleaning the toilets and the exclusion of black faces in customer facing roles in a
major tennis championship such as Roland Garros only reinforces the claim. Furthermore, the
French Open is sort of a pseudo-French Embassy so the colour coded allocation of job tasks
at Roland Garros could give justification to those who believe that racism is rife in France.

I strongly believe that there is dignity in labour after the entire tournament would be a failure if
there were nobody to clean the toilet and clear the rubbish. However, I also believe that black
and brown people should be adequately represented in other areas at Roland Garros. The
FFT may also want to check that the black and brown workers are not being exploited and
ensure that the workers are paid a living wage.

Even though France doesn't keep data on the ethnic composition of its population, the racial
allocation of jobs at the French Open is at odds with the racial composition of France in
general and Paris in particular. I urge you to investigate my claim and if it is true, please put
structures in place to ensure that tasks are allocated on a fair and equitable basis rather than
on a privileged colour basis.

Selah

Yours faithfully

Ahmed Sule
suleao@aol.com
June 2017

cc

Women's Tennis Association

Association of Tennis Professionals
International Tennis Federation
Laura Flessel : Minister of Sports
Grand Slam Committee
Appendix A: Female Stewards by Ethnicity
Appendix B: Stewards Human Wall by Ethnicity
Appendix C: Toilet Attendants by Ethnicity
Appendix D: Refuse Collection by Ethnicity
Appendix E: Ball Boys and Girls by Ethnicity