An investigation into how the application of the processes and procedures are perceived by the UK Taekwondo community through the lens of Rawls’ theories of justice, fairness and equality

This thesis aims to examine five functions that have been discovered to have a major impact on the sport of Taekwondo. The investigation will consider, under five functions central to Taekwondo -team selection, sanctions (bans), issues concerning licensing and memberships and biased refereeing- as defined by World Taekwondo and British Taekwondo. These key functions are explored using the frameworks of fairness and justice, applying a theory of justice in this field, and recommendations are made for the implementation of new initiatives that could lead to vital reform in the sport.

The thesis interrogates the incongruities that can be found in the current policies and internal ‘rulebook’ of the governing bodies of Taekwondo and seeks to identify how these inconsistencies have compromised the foundations of fairness and justice upon which Taekwondo was originally based. The theoretical lens through which the sport and its ‘rules’ are viewed include theory of justice as fairness by John Rawls. Furthermore, his theoretical frameworks are applied to the concept of justice and fairness in sport. This doctoral study engages in a mixed methods tactic to capture data from different stakeholders. It is the intention that through a critical analysis of the existing framework, conclusions can be drawn which lead to the understanding that implementing justice as fairness is necessary in order to regulate Taekwondo and enhance its value set.