YOUNG EUROPEANS PRESENT STRATEGIES TO COMBAT RACISM IN SPORTS TO EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT

COMMENTARY ARCHIVES, 15 Nov 2008

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Representatives of the project “Youth Voices against Racism”, an initiative of UNESCO, FC Barcelona and the European Coalition of Cities against Racism (ECCAR), in partnership with the European Parliament, visited the Parliament in Brussels on 6 November and presented a document containing 10 recommendations to counteract racism in and through sports.

These recommendations emerged from a consultation organized with young people between the ages of 15 and 18, implemented by ECCAR, whose network comprises 82 cities in 17 countries. Between June and August 2008, coalition cities set up meetings with young people in schools, sports clubs and youth councils, as well as via local media and on line forums, to elicit their ideas for ways to promote tolerance, mutual respect and solidarity through sport. “It really is young people that carry the torch of this message and we wanted to invite them to become deciding agents in this question so that they can speak out to all levels of society,” explains Marcio Barbosa, Deputy Director-General of UNESCO.

The ten ideas presented to the European Parliament by the “Youth Voices against Racism” delegation are as follows:

1. Include antiracism and antidiscrimination clauses in professional sporting contracts.

2. Establish rewards for teams, clubs or cities with fans or players who demonstrate antiracist attitudes.

3. Broadcast antiracist ads and messages in stadiums during both amateur and professional sporting events. Use the advertising spaces in these areas for this purpose and promote songs and slogans that can be adopted by fans.

4. Create antiracist slogans to print on containers of drinks sold in stadiums.

5. Use commercial items related to sport, such as sportswear, flags and rubber wristbands, to transmit antiracist messages.

6. Organize events before, during and after matches that encourage fans from opposing teams to celebrate together in public places.

7. Establish penalties for any teams whose players are responsible for racist incidents either before or after a match.

8. Develop awareness-raising campaigns such as:

a)    Messages in the media –TV, radio, the press and internet- especially just before sporting events.

b)    Awareness-raising in schools, especially in physical education.

c)    Activities that involve famous sportspeople from different sporting disciplines.

9. Organize public multicultural sporting events both in open spaces- parks, squares, in the street- and in indoor sports facilities in which different ethnic groups can participate in order to achieve mutual respect and to dismantle racist stereotypes.

10. Encourage people of different ethnic groups, religions or other minorities to do whatever sport they are interested in. This would include improving access to public sports facilities and granting scholarships and special days of practice.

Attending the presentation of the recommendations were Jan Figel, European Commissioner for Education, Training, Culture and Youth; Marcio Barbosa, UNESCO Deputy Director-General; Joan Laporta, President of FC Barcelona (Barcelona Football Club); Emine Bozkurt, Dutch European Parliament member; French former soccer star Lilian Thuram; and Hans Hesselmann, President of ECCAR.

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