Category Archives: Communities

Sport and physical activity participation in Chile: Some Observations

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By Josefina Rioseco Vallejos

Introduction

Between 2006 and 2016 the Chilean government increased its investment in sport as part of an overall Sport and Physical Activity (PA) Policy aimed at improving infrastructure, participation and the promotion of sport and PA.

By 2017 the government had established national minimum activity guidelines for participation as 75 or 150 minutes of moderate or vigorous PA a week for those over 18, and 60 minutes of moderate activity a day for those under 18.

In one year alone, 2018, the equivalent of £50 million had been invested in the development of seven projects.

The 2018 national PA activity survey for over 18s, identified that 8 out of 10 Chilean over 18 are physical inactive, while the report card for PA for children and youth identified Chile with the lowest overall average participation rate amongst the 40 countries included.

 

Social and Demographic Background

With a population of about 18 million people, Chile is a socially, culturally and demographically rich and diverse country. The different ethnic groups as a % of the population includes:  white and non-indigenous 88.9%, Mapuche 9.1%, Aymara 0.7%, other indigenous groups 1% (includes Rapa Nui, Likan Antai, Quechua, Colla, Diaguita, Kawesqar, Yagan or Yamana), unspecified 0.3% (2012 est.) A rich group of languages that reflects its history and cultures including Spanish 99.5% (official), English 10.2%, indigenous 1% (includes Mapudungun, Aymara, Quechua, Rapa Nui), other 2.3%, unspecified 0.2% (2012 est). In terms of religion from largest to smallest groups Chile consists of Roman Catholic 66.7%, Evangelical or Protestant 16.4%, Jehovah’s Witness 1%, other 3.4%, none 11.5%, unspecified 1.1% (2012 est.)

Chile is in the advanced stages of demographic transition and is becoming an ageing society – with fertility below replacement level, low mortality rates, and life expectancy on par with developed countries.

Nevertheless, with its dependency ratio nearing its low point, Chile could benefit from its favourable age structure. It will need to keep its large working-age population productively employed, while preparing to provide for the needs of its growing proportion of elderly people, especially as women – the traditional caregivers – increasingly enter the workforce.

Over the last two decades, Chile has made great strides in reducing its poverty rate, which is now lower than most Latin American countries. However, severe income inequality means it has a low rank among members of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development.

Unequal access to quality education perpetuates this uneven income distribution.

Sport and Physical Activity Trends

The National Sport and PA survey (2018) for over 18 years, showed that 66.2% of people in this category were physically inactive. A position that had slightly improved when compared to 2006.

For those aged between 5 and 18 years , the“Report card on PA for children and youth” 2018, graded Chile with the lowest overall average (“D” of a “A” to “D” scale, with A being the highest and “D” the lowest) among 40 evaluated countries.

A grade that was based upon 20% of the age range meeting PA requirements, and only 14,4% (Girls) and 26,3% (Boys) having participated regularly in organized sport.

Also, 1 out of 5 children from 8 to 18 years were physically active.

For adults aged between 18 and 39 participation rates rise to 43% representing the largest physically active age segment of the population. It then decreased to 32,5% and 21,9% for 40-49 and 50-59 respectively. Only 25% of the elderly are deemed to be active.

Regarding to gender differences, Chilean men adults are generally more active than woman adults (45,3% vs 25,6%). As for youths the trend is similar, been boys more active than girls (45% vs 16%).

Lastly, socioeconomic status (SES) in Chile is directly related to rates of physical inactivity: 82,5% of the lower-incomes population are physically inactive (82,5%). This gradually improve throughout the higher-incomes status (51,9%).

Reasons

The reasons given for such rates of activity and inactivity vary between different sections of the population.

Gender

Some of the key cited reasons within the national survey for over 18 years included: “lack of time” due to work is the most popular reasons for refusing PA for both genders.

Besides working schedules, women are often also responsible of child-caring and house duties, reducing time for other sport activities.

Furthermore, “lack of motivation” is given as a common reason in woman who are more likely to spend their free time watching TV rather than exercise than men.

Lastly, women tend to assume PA as a health constructor rather than contributing as an entertainment element- a factor that the survey cites as a reason for decreased engagement.

Youth

As for youths some of the key cited reasons in The Report Card, included stereotypes about men and women, being self-conscious over appearance, lack of support by peers and schools and the fact that sport and PA opportunities provided did not match the tastes and preferences wanted by Chilean youth.

Elderly

As for elderly some of the key cited reasons within the national survey included illness and disease that rendered some of the elderly inactive. Other reasons include lack of support provided either by their family or communities or both and having limited spaces to be safely active. Lastly, the adverse effect of having low-incomes due to an unsatisfactory pension system meant that some choices open to others were limited including the cost of access to sport venues.

Socio-economic status

Some determinants of lower SES on PA and sport have been recognised with the differences in annual incomes (£2,000 vs £17,000) having consequences for those on lower incomes as it leads, for example, to limited access to PA facilities when compared with the most affluent groups.

Solutions

While recognising that contexts are vitally important to fully understanding what is happening in country X or Y and what the solutions might be. A number of suggestions might be considered by the Chilean Government.

  • Schools and teacher’s commitment are needed to create life-long motivation, habits and wider participation in physical activity and sport for all children and youths.
  • Safe and accessible and spaces should be improved, expanded, and accompanied by a range of activities delivered qualified staff to engage elderly in sport participation.
  • Social support for programmes are vital for all age ranges, and can be addressed by getting families, friends and peers involved.
  • Woman’s participation rates need to be increased in schools, by choosing sports and modes of delivery according to woman’s preferences and needs.
  • Educational workshops also need to address negative attitudes by males towards female sport participation. An increase in the number of leadership roles for women in sport in Chile needs to be advanced. Equality in sport necessitates not just equality in terms of participation but also representation on boards and the media.
  • Workplaces should consider implementing strategies to enhance sport and physical activity in the workplace, joining local sport leagues, hosting internal sport leagues, taking work team off-site for lunch workouts and hosting wellness workshops.
  • It is necessary to address the barriers contributing to low participation amongst low socio-economic groups including facilitating greater access to sport venues, fitness classes, hosting local leagues, delivering sport workshops, increasing opportunities for engagement by firstly recognising and then addressing structural barriers to involvement.
  • Committed long term public and private sponsors to support lower SES population would be a significant enabler.

Concluding Remarks.

With population of about 18 million total Chile has an issue with physical inactivity in specific demographic populations, as 8 out of 10 Chileans over 18-year-old are physical inactive. If government funding targeted an increase in the PA and sport budget for specific populations (youths, women, elderly and low-SES), the physical inactivity levels could be reduced.

Increasing levels of PA and sport participation, can not only help with the development of life-long habits, facilitate preventative spend, a healthier overall population, while supporting evidenced outcomes in other areas of social life such as education, labour, and reducing an inequality gap.

Some observations on sports and physical activity in Chile is the most recent of the Sport Matters research blogs that has focused upon aspects of sport in Chile. It adds to the information provided about  The Fútbol Más Program covered in the January 2018 edition of Sport Matters.

Sport, disability and gender: Voices from sub-saharan african girls and women

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By Susanna Neumann

“Girls and women with disabilities should not be ignored because sport is their right!” (Interviewee 6, 01.08.2019)

“Sport is the key; it is the main key of everything! Sport brings us together, no matter the disability, no matter the gender, no matter the status, no matter where you come from. Sport will always unite us together!” (Interviewee 9, 08.08.2019)

Introduction
People with disabilities (PWD) are considered as the largest, poorest and most marginalised minority. More than a billion people – corresponding to 15% of the world’s population – are living with some form of disability, out of which half are women and girls (WHO & World Bank, 2011).

Girls and women with disabilities (GWWD) face many barriers and obstacles in their struggle for (basic) human rights including equality in and access to sports. They are subject to multiple instances of discrimination, on the grounds of both gender and disability (UNDESA, 2016).

While a substantive body of work has focused upon gender and disability discrimination in and through sport in high income countries and wealthy contexts there is less evidence about GWWD’s sport experiences in low and middle-income countries (LMIC) in sub-Saharan Africa (SSA). 80% of the world’s disabled people live in LMICs (UNDESA, 2019; Connell, 2011; Grech & Soldatic, 2014; Karr, 2011; WHO, 2005).

The Study
The small qualitative study informing the research in this blog aimed to add to a limited body of knowledge of the sport experiences of GWWD in SSA, and Uganda in particular. Voice was given to nine (former) female athletes with different physical disabilities, as well as related stakeholders from Uganda (four interviewees), Kenya, Benin, Nigeria, the Netherlands and the United States of America. In total, six women and three men were interviewed.

Barriers and Challenges
Those interviewed gave voice to a number of barriers and challenges faced by girls and women’s experiences of sport within this context. These were as follows:

I. Cultural Barriers and Negative Perceptions
Cultural factors and negative attitudes were identified as the greatest barriers facing PWDs’ to participation in sport. All interviewees indicated that GWWD in SSA experience multiple instances of discrimination based on gender and disability due to “a deeply rooted patriarchal ideology”.

“That particular cultural factor is a big problem. Because when you have not accepted that this category of human beings has a lot to contribute to the society, you don’t see anything good that can come from that section of the population.” (Interviewee 3, 24.07.2019)

“Perception is what we need to change to overcome those challenges. When it comes to women and girls, oh it is terrible!” (Interviewee 2, 03.07.2019)

“The complexity of culture and tribal, religion – all these elements make it hard for women.” (Interviewee 5, 01.08.2019)

II. Lack of Self-Esteem and Self-Confidence
A lack of self-esteem and self-confidence among GWWD, which prevents them from participating in sport and physical activity was also highlighted.

““Oh a women with disability, how are you going for sitting volleyball, how are you going to run?” It is even: “In our culture it is not allowed, how are you going to compete with men?” Things like that. So for the women, they completely think it’s impossible. They make them loose their self-esteem and once they lose that, it gets really, really difficult.”
(Interviewee 2, 03.07.2019)

“Me, personally, I used to play rugby and because of the outcomes of, you know, having muscles I stopped. Just like that. Because I did not want to have that body”
(Interviewee 6, 01.08.2019)

III. Lack of Awareness and Visibility
The lack of awareness and visibility of disability sport in SSA was seen as a further barrier. The importance of educating and sensitising the public, not only to overcome negative perceptions but also to show that GWWD can play sports was strongly emphasised.

Sport is an effective tool to overcome these barriers. Various scholars have noted that sport provides a context to highlight ability rather than disability. This increases the self-confidence of GWWD as well as enabling sports based interventions aimed at challenging and changing the negative attitudes of society (Bantjes et al., 2019, Albrecht et al., 2019, de Cruz et al., 2019, Bantjes & Schwartz, 2018, Corazza & Dyer, 2017, Devine et al., 2017, Silva & Howe, 2016; Martin, 2007, 2013; Kosma et al., 2007; Giacobbi et al., 2006; Farias-Tomaszewski et al., 2001; Taub & Greer, 2000).

Through sport, “we can demonstrate what these folks are capable of and then it opens doors to do other things including employment, access to voting and things like that.”
(Interviewee 1, 01.07.2019)

“It is important to engage different stakeholders in different activities, like awareness creation, like advocacy and lobbing, like showcasing their ability within disability.” (Interviewee 2, 03.07.2019)

“Sport has contributed a lot to changing the general perception of PWD in this country.” (Interviewee 2, 03.07.2019)

“It was not easy for me to begin sport. It is after a lot of programs of awareness raising like demonstrations or film projections that I decided to practice sport. I’m from the first generation of women doing sport.” (Interviewee 4, 27.07.2019)

“They need to be educated on the benefits of sports, and on what happens when they participate in sports. And also see that they are responsible of their lives, so it shouldn’t be their husband or parents or any other person’s fault.” (Interviewee 6, 01.08.2019)

IV. Sexual Harassment and Abuse
The results of this study emphasised the importance of providing safe spaces as well as support systems for GWWD in sport. The voices asserted that participants face a high risk of gender-based violence and sexual harassment by their coaches and/or managers. This has been identified as “one of the biggest problems” faced by GWWD.

“They are harassed, sexually harassed by their fellow sportsmen or team leaders or coaches or managers. It keeps them away, disabled or not.” (Interviewee 6, 01.08.2019)

“If the facility is far away from where they are coming from, because anything can happen along between the facility and the home of the athlete. So they need to know that they are safe. They need to know that they won’t be sexual harassed or abused. By probably their coaches, or managers, or anyone in charge. … Provision of safe spaces would be good. But sometimes it is not possible. Sometimes men washrooms and female washrooms, they are close to each other.” (Interviewee 6, 01.08.2019)

V. Structural Barriers
Lack of money and the insufficient implementation of rights and legislations regarding PWD such as the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, are structural barriers that make it more difficult for PWD to claim their right to participate in sport. It was stated that various national legislations and policies regarding PWD in Uganda exist. However, the right of PWD to participate in sport is still not guaranteed. Addressing these issues will also require a stronger effort to reduce corruption, which remains a problem in many African countries (Chiweshe, 2014; Kakonge, 2016; Mwisukha & Mabagala, 2011).

“There is just so very little money and there is so much corruption, that often money goes into the pockets of those that are not always the most reliant and so it really depends upon who gets elected and who ended to run these Paralympic Committees.”
(Interviewee 1, 01.07.2019)

“Most of the women are single mothers. They really focus on how to make money. Or how to parent, or how to make sure they raise their kids they have given birth to.”
(Interviewee 6, 01.08.2019)

“They are the poorest countries but there are some very, very, very rich bastards. Most of the time they are also in the top and in the governments.” (Interviewee 5, 01.08.2019)

The integration of GWWD in sport in Uganda and other parts of SSA has not yet been achieved because of a number of obstacles and barriers. According to Marshall (2018), gender parity in sports will not be achieved any time soon, especially for GWWD – neither in SSA nor in other parts of the world. However, in the last few years, countries have begun to adopt measures to improve gender equality in sport.

Sport for Change in Uganda
Although this study is small, it is the first to report that such trends and experiences are also apparent in Uganda. By drawing upon the traditionally marginalised voices and experiences of female athletes with disabilities and related stakeholders, several progressive, and previously unexamined efforts made by the Paralympic movement in Uganda to address the discrimination of GWWD in sport were revealed.

Quotas and Gender Parity
Recently, the Uganda Paralympic Committee (UPC) applied a top-down approach by introducing quotas to increase the number of WWD in sport leadership positions. The most recent approach involved an explicit demand to nominate a female vice president for every male president in office. Quotas were also applied at the athlete level during sport competitions.

“(…) at least 40 percent of the leadership goes to women. From the Paralympic Committee and the 19 sport organisations. So those 19 sport associations, when they are electing their leadership, 40 percent must be women.” (Interviewee 2, 03.07.2019)

“If we are sending for example, four athletes, two must be women, two must be men. If we are sending three, then two must be women and one must be a man. It has helped us to address such issues.” (Interviewee 2, 03.07.2019)

More emphasis is being placed on increasing awareness and visibility. Nationwide sensitisation campaigns involving the media are being conducted to change the public perception of what GWWD are capable of and how sport can be a tool for prosperity. A recent achievement in this regard was the collaboration of the UPC with universities in the form of sport scholarships.

“If a PWD is engaging in sports at any level the competition of entering universities becomes then very easy for those in sports. So that one has opened up the eyes of the public. Oh, let my child go and participate in sports, because there is this opportunity.”
(Interviewee 2, 03.07.2019)

“We can sensitize these parents by having door-to-door meetings or creating something, like a festival for girls, and we can invite parents to come and see what their children can do.” (Interviewee 8, 07.08.2019)

Overview
This study confirmed that GWWD face a great deal of discrimination in SSA. Various contextual and cultural barriers and challenges hinder GWWD in realising and enabling their right to participate in sport. One of the remarkable findings of this study is the efforts being made to overcome gender inequality in and through sport for GWWD in Uganda.

Recommendations
This research based blog provides insights into some of the factors that should be taken into account when addressing gender discrimination in disability sport in SSA:

• Cultural beliefs and viewpoints of disability must be understood because they are so influential that in some cases they are limiting PWD more than the impairment itself (Groce, 1999, Haihambo & Lightfoot, 2010).
• Raising awareness and providing education about sport opportunities for GWWD are crucial to overcome cultural barriers and to change the perception of society, especially parents. Sport festivals have proven to be a good medium for this purpose. Particular attention should be paid to communities in rural areas, where the rights and opportunities of PWD are less well known.
• Workshops should be conducted and further measures should be taken to empower GWWD and to increase their self-esteem.
• Safe spaces and (social) support systems for GWWD should be provided to minimise the risk of sexual harassment.
• Schools are the main facilitators of inclusive sport opportunities and for many disabled girls, schools are the easiest and first point of contact with sport and PA. For this reason, it is important to ensure that GWD attend school. Further, schools need to be educated about inclusive sport and adapted physical activity.
• Governments should update their commitments to the cause of PWD, and GWWD in particular because most existing policies and legislations have not been translated into reality (Onyewadume, 2007, Aldersey, 2010).

The Making of the Caman “An elegant weapon, graceful to wield” –

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Dr Hugh D MacLennan, Academy of Sport, Edinburgh University

In the year when the art of making a caman or shinty stick was officially designated “critically endangered” the 2019 Dr Johnnie Cattanach Memorial Lecture at the Highland Folk Museum, focussed on the art and history of making the caman.

The caman is, along with the ball, the most important element in any shinty match and has, over the centuries, undergone little change in terms of its fundamental shape. There have been subtle and important variations though in terms of the shape, size and head.

Over the 125-year history of the Camanachd Association, the caman is one of the least regulated parts of the sport. While making the caman has of necessity been a matter of craft, the history of stick manufacture, however, has been subject to significant external influences which have radically altered the way camans have been made and finished. Not the least of these influences has been the simple scarcity of satisfactory wood.

The caman was described in a late 19th Century newspaper article as “an elegant weapon, graceful to wield, and of delightful capacity for hacking an opponent’s head, or elevating his knee-cap”. The caman has been to war and weddings, funerals, featured in court cases (including a murder in Argyll) and international matches, and is now recognised as one of Scottish sport’s most recognisable iconic images.

Camans have been used to commemorate the passing of playing and club legends; they have at times, gone from the sublime to the quite frankly slightly ridiculous. They have been presented to Kings (probably, but certainly the Duke of Edinburgh) and queens – Miss World; Royalty, Prime Ministers and sporting icons. There is also an argument, in fact, that some of our greatest prizes, the silver-mounted caman, have been distributed well beyond their initial careful intention, as devised by the great John Macpherson and the Sporting Stores in Inverness, of being solely awarded to the winning captain in the Camanachd Cup Final.

The caman (the Gaelic for a shinty stick which also had a “bas” – foot and “cas” – handle), has, over time, been made of birch, beech, ash, hickory or any other piece or combination of timbers; from one-piece “naturals” to laminated boards, all with the common aim of defining and achieving that elusive sweet-spot; various man-made materials have been postulated and even tried, from aluminium to fibre-glass – yes seriously – and various forms of plastic. In the Western Isles stiff pieces of seaweed known as stamh were pressed into service along with all sorts of flotsam and jetsam – until the sheer lack of trees on the islands did for shinty until relatively recently.

Camans have been treasured possession and life-long friends, cared for lovingly, and in their silver-mounted versions, regarded as being one of the most highly prized honours in the sport. A shinty club can be an item of real beauty; its shape, feel and balance exquisite; made of the finest timber, it can be, for sure, elegant and graceful to wield, and yes, as we all know, it can be mis-used and abused as well.

The finest camans are the sporting equivalent of a magic wand – not unlike a snooker player’s favoured cue – an extension of an exponent’s physique and personality. And we have many great images and photographic evidence to prove it.

They have featured in the design and items jewellery from kilt-pins to necklaces; they have been the subject of debate in Parliament with various attempts being made to remove VAT from the cost; they now cost around 50-60 pounds where they once, in my day, cost shillings and sixpence.

They are rarely thrown out and most shinty playing homes have the wreckage of a player’s career somewhere in a garage or a loft. They have never, to date, been cited as evidence in a divorce case, but the possibility is not to be dismissed. “It’s me or that pile of sticks in the garage” is not an unknown refrain.

One of the most often rehearsed debates in shinty is about the quality of the sticks – and the balls – similar in fact to the wider perennial debate about standards of play, collectively and individually. The universal and unchallenged opinion is that players today are not as good as they once were; the game is not so good, traditional skills are rare; “so and so” makes a better stick than “so and so” does or did.

Camans have been subject to reports about their demise for many years; the Highlands and Islands Development Board in 1981 commissioned a report on the supply of camans and balls. They have been gathered and displayed in exhibitions such as the Shinty Forum in 1974 and Hampden 2015. They have been tested to, and beyond, destruction all with the aim of establishing the indefinable qualities of shape, weight, balance and feel.

The history of the making of shinty stick production has gone through numerous stages from the point they were made by the players who used them. From branches cut from trees locally, they reached a point where they have been made in a process of more or less industrial scale.

Organisations such as John Macpherson Sporting Stores (arguably the most important in the history of the sport), Willie Munro and then John and Mabel Sloggie (also hugely important in terms iof continuous supply), Rivdal, Prolam, Leisuropa, Heron, Tanera, Treecraft, have been matched if not in terms of scale, then in terms of skill, ingenuity and craft by the likes of Neil Blair, George Mead in England, Billy MacLean, Hughie Buchanan, Dod Macpherson and Jack Buchanan – that list is not definitive and is virtually endless. The companies and various individuals’ efforts to make camans, have often helped keep the game alive in Highland communities. In the case of John Macpherson and John and Mabel Sloggie they certainly stood between survival and the game grinding to a halt.

A number of Museums, principally the Highland Folk Museum in Newtonmore and the Clan Macpherson Museum hold a significant number of camans, old and new. It is now time for some mechanism to be developed to display these to followers of the game, players and those who are fascinated by the beauty and heritage of sporting implements.

Every shinty stick has a story to tell and some of these are well documented in Gaelic and English, in works of great scholarship, newspaper columns and in oral form through recordings and video.

Shinty should have a way of highlighting the importance of the caman and stick-makers and paying tribute to its finest exponents. These thoughts may go some way towards galvanising everyone into achieving such a valuable and significant outcome.

Sail-training and intercultural learning: Voices from the sea

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By Yujun Xu

University of Edinburgh 

• Research suggests that sail-training at sea provides an alternative space for intercultural learning and that the confinement of the ship provides for an opportunity for transformative cultural experiences- but is this the case ?

Enabling generation z to develop intercultural competences and become international citizens with obligations to others can take many forms. The relationship between sail-training, youth and intercultural learning remains an underexplored area both locally and internationally.

This evidenced research blog provides a qualitative insight into the potential of sail-training to be a transformative experience that provides for real educational outcomes in an informal educational setting.

Sail-training, liquid time and generation z

The tall ships are informal educational settings but does sail-training have a special role to play in youth development and intercultural learning? Is it time for a radical rethink about the definition of learning in outdoor spaces and the educative value of learning for youth development in a world that is tense, looking for answers and where better cultural relations between the different people of the world is needed?

Living in a liquid time when everything is on the move and potentially surrounded by diversity, the youth of today and in this case generation Z (born between the mid-1990s and early-2000s) have been significantly influenced by high technology and mobile device based social media in comparison to previous generations.

Tall ship sail-training spaces provide possibilities for experience and collective associations that can combat the often exclusionary effects of traditional educational spaces. The ship at sea can be viewed as a bounded socio-cultural space. The culture potential for inter-cultural learning allows individuals to experience differences in a constructive and empowering way.

Participants of sail-training have an opportunity to reach beyond the everyday social norms that have hitherto constructed and constrained their identities. Tall ship sail-training provides a reflective learning space that can contribute to effective intercultural learning, the breaking down of cultural barriers and the forging of better cultural relations – but are such relationships sustainable and transformative? Listen to some of these voices.

Voices from the sea

Such questions are at the heart of a much bigger study that traces sail-training participants experiences on board and afterwards in order to test what has actually been learned. The four voices presented here are but glimpses of a broader group of sail-training vignettes. Listen to the voices from the sea on certain themes:

• Talking about the natural environment: ‘We have experienced very rough weather, which is always helpful for bringing a group together, having really bad weather, having tough times together in the ocean also makes a difference from other sports’. (Crewmember, I)
• Talking about confined space and limited privacy: ‘We are more isolated than other sports. Here on a ship, you wake up each other using a personal wakey up you hold someone’s bucket. Then you are really close.’ (Crewmember, S)
• Talking about freedom from social media: ‘The social media detox definitely forced people to talk more. A lot of time in social settings, people seek refuge on their phones if they feel uncomfortable. They go to their phones and just look down. I feel that not having access to the internet made it a lot easier for people to avoid doing that. I think it brought up my focus a lot more.’ [Sail trainee, D]
• Talking about teamwork and collaborative experience:. ‘I think to experience the power of the group. Being a part of a group is a very good experience to see how the group can work together, how one plus one can be three, and I don’t think that everyone has experienced that. And sailing is a perfect way to experience that.’ [Crewmember, J]

How can we make sense of the voices from the sea: What are they really saying?
From the trainees’ and crewmembers’ points of view, sail-training is different from other sports or educational fields because of the environmental isolation. The isolation led to unique challenges and toughness that brought together the group and drove the group members to help each other and become relatively dependent on one another. This facilitated the trainees’ intercultural learning, understanding and flexibility. To some degree, the 24/7 intensity stimulated the participants’ critical thinking about their intercultural experiences.

Sail-training serves as an alternative education space and for Generation Z to temporarily escape the fluid time of the modern society and create opportunities for them to develop their intercultural understanding, and encourage their experiential engagement and creativity.

Tall ships, internationality and the search for common purpose

The United Nations, especially UNESCO, has been actively supporting and promoting learning and conversations between and within intercultural groups and communities. Regional unions such as the European Union (EU) are also reacting to the contemporary situation and endeavouring to commit to EU exchanges more often for more people. Such a goal if facilitated by Erasmus funding (+) to encourage youth to participate in a wide variety of programmes and activities to reinforce their European identity, as well as facilitate their understandings towards the self and the other.

As yet few initiatives and sources of funding are available to promote experiential exchange and interaction amongst Asian countries and other regions or parts of the world. 2018 saw the Tall Ships fleet sailing to the Pacific Rim for a truly unique race. This regatta marked the first race between the southern Korean Peninsula and the eastern coast of Russia and the fleet was joined by a flotilla of yachts from Chinese Qingdao International Yacht Club. It is suggested Asian countries could use youth development through sports and outdoor activities, including tall ship sailing, as a common purpose to develop more peace-oriented intercultural or exchange projects if not a more peaceful orientated world.

Concluding remark

Sail-training is a unique space in which inter-cultural learning between people and nations can be forged. In a tense and changing world why should this and other opportunities not be grasped in order to facilitate better cultural relations, diplomacy and international understanding?

The evidence presented here supports the idea that sail-training at sea provides an alternative space for intercultural learning and that the confinement of the ship provides for an opportunity for transformative cultural experiences.

Mo Salah changing social and political attitudes: Some Liverpool Voices

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By Salma Abdalla and Grant Jarvie

Introduction
Few Muslims in British public life and British sporting life have been as open about their Muslim identity. This short evidenced research blog presents a series of voices around a set of themes, primarily Liverpool voices. They are a reflection on the impact of one footballer credited with changing social attitudes to perceptions about Islam in Britain since arriving at Liverpool Football Club in 2017. They resulted from a six-month period of fieldwork during 2017-18.

Athletes as social and political game changers
Mo Salah is part of a significant history of talented sports people who have used the highly visible public platform provided by sport to shed light on a number of social and political causes. A number of athletes have fought and aligned themselves to different social and political causes.

Ten Key Facts:
• Born in Nagrig, in the Gharbia district of Egypt (10% of people live in poverty).
• Salah’s football journey has included El Mokawloon Basle, Chelsea, Fiorentina and Roma.
• 2017 joins Liverpool Football Club for £36.9 million.
• In October 2017, Salah scored the penalty that sent Egypt to their first World Cup finals in 28 years.
• Stanford Study reports a reduction in hate crime in Liverpool, dropping by 18.8%. since Salah the club.
• Scored the opening goal in the Champions League Final
• The Salah effect linked to changing attitudes towards Muslims on Merseyside.
• Has supported struggles for women in Egypt stating that We need to change the way we treat women in our culture”.
• 2019 Times 100 list of influential people.
• Salah has maintained a close relationship with his family, neighbours and friends in Nagrig. He nurtures this relationship by supporting various development projects in village, ranging from youth centres to schools and hospitals.

Effect on Muslims as a source of pride and belonging:
“I think he has made the Muslim community in Liverpool and across the globe very proud. He has been a torchbearer of our faith in difficult times. He has broken many different barriers related to Islamophobia” (Male Muslim Liverpool Fan 1).

“My obsession or pride towards him isn’t because he is Mo Salah, my pride is because he is a Muslim doing amazing in the game and I love the fact that the second he does something wrong white people will jump to protect him” (Male Muslim Liverpool Fan 2).

“I am not a football fan but now Salah makes us talk about football. We feel proud and we show our support for him (Non-Football Muslim 1).

“Salah is showing that there’s avenue within sport and that you can do that as a Muslim and as an Arab, which is changing perceptions of local communities (Female Muslim football Fan 1).

Changing perceptions:
“He has changed the many different negative perceptions that people hold about the Muslim community and Muslim players (Male Muslim Liverpool Fan 1).

“I don’t know if he has made convers to Islam but he has opened people up to thinking about Islam in a different way…” (Non-Football Muslim 2).

“I think Salah challenges perceptions of what a Muslim is in Britain at this point in time” (Female Football Fan 2).

Wide acceptance and personality:
“Perhaps it comes down to success and I think regardless of a player’s background, religion, ethnicity, if you’re bringing your club success then fans are going to get behind you… (Female Football Fan 2).

“They footballers make millions and while Salah never speaks about it – he wants to do charity, he wants to do things for the community and he acts as a normal human being – he can make an impact because he is all about family, love of community and people in Liverpool relate to him” (Male Football Fan 4).

“He is experienced at being a Muslim or Islamic …. People are aware of the way it is talked about but he manages to do it in a way that is completely non-threatening” (Male Football Fan 5)

Celebrating faith:
“He is unapologetically Muslim, the beard, the prostration, the hand in the air and his name is Mohammed.. it is all of these things and on top of that he is a brilliant footballer” (Male Football Fan 2).

Context:
Most respondents agreed that the context, the place and the rise of Salah in Liverpool cannot be ignored.

“Liverpool is quite inclusive in that aspect and they seem to tie together as a family because of historical things that they kind of experienced together , their anthem you’ll never walk alone has a kind of encompassing feeling” (Female Football Fan 2).

Jurgen Klopp:
“It’s fantastic it is exactly what we need in these times .. To see this wonderful young man, full of joy, full of love, full of friendship, full of everything in a world where we struggle to understand all the things happening on the planet”

“Mo is a very smart person and his role is very influential. In the world at the moment, it is very important that you have people like Mo”

Conclusion.
The qualitative voices presented here add to some of the quantitative empirical work around what many are calling the off-field Salah effect. The voices talk to the impact of the player in Liverpool but equally a number of commentators have also reflected upon the impact of the footballer upon an Egyptian youth looking for role models.

The Hampden Case

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By

Grant Jarvie
University of Edinburgh

The Scottish Football Association decided to stay at Hampden and in this short review we consider some of the evidence, arguments and background to the decision.

While the costs of the Hampden v Murrayfield cases were different the final judgement may not have been just about economic costs but social, cultural, community and financial assets and voices that all needed to be listened too.

Prior to the decision The Scottish Football Association (SFA) rented the 115-year old ground from its Queen’s Park owners under the terms of a lease which expires in 2020.

In June 2017 the SFA reiterated that the preferred option was for Hampden Park to remain the home of the national game and that a decision would be made within 12-18 months.

14 months later and within the time scale set by the SFA the decision was made.

The historic case is no small thing. This is not just about the fact that: the origins of the relationship between football and Hampden go back to at least 1873; the oldest football international in the world is associated with Hampden; or that Hampden is part of the story of Glasgow at play that cannot be simply be relocated.

Scotland has given a lot to the world of sport and the relationship between football and Hampden is an important part of that success story. Glasgow has established itself as an emerging international sporting city and Hampden is part of that success story. It is the only Scottish city and one of only two UK cities in the top 20 sportcal index of international sporting cities. Hampden helps to connect Scotland and Glasgow with other parts of the world.

While Italy does not have a national football stadium a survey of FIFA members showed that 65% of UEFA members (Europe) 83% of CONCACAF (North, Central America’s and the Caribbean); 81% OF CAF(Asia); 80% of CONMEBOL (South America) and 41% of AFC (Africa) members all have national football stadiums.

The attempt by the Scottish Rugby Union (SRU) to shift the football powers from Glasgow to Edinburgh was ambitious and the decision to bid may still have spin offs for the SRU. The competitive advantages of ground ownership, greater stadium capacity allowed the SRU to offer the SFA financial inducements of up to £2 million per annum.

The SRU recognise the pull of football. Global impact studies will show that one in five people around the world connect with football is someway or another. It has a pull and attraction that is unparalleled and Scotland has an internationally recognised foothold in this world that many sports would like to tap into.

The fact that football playing members of football governing bodies are more than double that of rugby would not have gone unnoticed. The gradual increase in playing members sees football growing from 120,000 playing members in 2014 to 137,134 by 2017 compared to rugby’s modest growth from 47,598 in 2014 to 48,654 in 2017. In terms of adult men and women and junior boys and girls football numbers are far higher than rugby.

This is not the golden age for opinion pols. A 2017 survey of Scottish football fans showed that: 15% of the 2,923 involved wanted Hampden Park to continue as the national stadium; 34% of fans favoured a move to Murrayfield; playing at grounds across Scotland was the preference of 25%; 24% wanted a “new Hampden” built while 97% believed fans should have input to the decision. But what were the views of the 67,887 Scottish Football Supporters Association members who didn’t take part in the survey? Were the views represented mainly those of the bigger clubs who would financially benefit from the demise the National Football Stadium?

The prospect of regular Old Firm football matches being played at Murrayfield prompted the Scottish Police Federation (SPF) to put a marker down about the additional human and financial costs associated with policing the M8 corridor should the move to Murrafield have been sanction by the SFA Board. It is one thing for an Edinburgh Tory councillor to suggest that this is just a matter of resources but it is another thing entirely to find such resources on a regular basis.

The SFA would certainly have had to contribute to the cost of Murrayfield policing. It is a matter of judgement as to whether scarce SFA resources should be spent on policing or grassroots community developments given the proven benefits of football in relation to social cohesion and crime reduction.

In a nation that believes that devolved power and voice should be listened to the Mount Florida Community Council made their views known. The third Hampden Park, located on Mount Florida some 500 yds south of it’s predecessor opened in 1903. In a letter to Hampden Park Limited the Mount Florida Community Council put forward the case for remain on the grounds of the cost to local heritage, the local economy and local identity.

Glasgow City Council leader Susan Aitken warned of a historic stain that would be impossible to erase should Hampden, Queens Park, King’s Park and Mount Florida be abandoned. The promise of increased capacities through the introduction of safe standing, improved transport links and a user friendly council to assist the SFA with any stadium alterations were all forthcoming. Glasgow City Council need to stand by promises made.

In someway Hampden suffered, as does Scottish sport, from not having a unified voice fighting and advocating for Hampden. The danger would be that Hampden and Scottish Football did not fully realise what it had until it was too late.

The reason why Hampden had to remain the national home of Scottish Football is that Hampden is the national and international recognised home of Scottish Football. Most FIFA member countries have national football stadiums. Hampden can and should be improved but it would have been be cultural theft and vandalism to move it out of it’s current location. Celtic, Rangers, Hibs, Hearts, Aberdeen and the SRU may have gained financially in some small way if football moved away from Hampden but Scotland as a whole would lose nationally and internationally.

Scotland has a recognised base, role and reputation through football and therefore why would and should it have moved to a base where in the words of the SRU’s chief operating officer ‘Rugby has to take priority’. This is not mutuality, this is not equality, and it would not have been good for Scotland or Scottish football.

Scotland’s future with football looks bright and the most recent Social Return on Investment Report highlighted the fact that football was worth £1.25 billion to Scottish Society. At least four things are worth highlighting:

GIRLS’ AND WOMEN’S FOOTBALL
Continues to grow and develop, inspired by the Scottish Women’s
National Team qualification for the FIFA Women’s World Cup in 2019.
The Scottish FA have some ambitious targets to develop the game on and off the pitch. We have some of the best players in the world who act as role models for players and young people across Scotland.

HAMPDEN AS HOME
Ownership of Hampden Park will enable the Scottish FA to control the future of the stadium. It will open up opportunities to continue to develop the infrastructure and create a national stadium that could engage the next generation of football fans.

FOOTBALL FOR ALL
The Scottish FA are committed to working with clubs and partners to make football accessible for all. It aims to make our game as diverse as possible to represent our communities.

COMMUNITY CLUBS
Scotland has some of the finest examples of community clubs in Europe. As clubs continue to grow and develop football has been working hard with the football family to
offer advice and guidance, both on and off the pitch, to allow clubs, no matter their place in the pathway to fulfil their ambitions.

FOOTBALL SRI FACTS
£200m to the economy
£300m worth of social benefits, including crime reduction
£700m worth of health benefits

Professor Grant Jarvie
University of Edinburgh

Kofi Annan 1938-2018 “We must use the power of sport as an agent of social change”

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By Grant Jarvie

A Sporting Tribute to Kofi Annan

As a person the commitment to justice, human rights, peace and development were resolute. As a person Kofi Annan understood the potential of sport to convey humanitarian messages.

In a tribute to the former UN Secretary General’s work and commitment to some of the shared ideals with the Academy of sport we present extracts from speeches that recognised the potential of sport to be an agent of social change.

“Sport is an important tool to promote many of the things that are dear to me – democracy, social and developmental change, social cohesion and understandings among people” Kofi Annan (2010).

On Ghana and FIFA World Cup in South Africa

“The lasting trophy to take away from the tournament is this incredible moment of unity. I wish we could preserve it and invoke it more broadly for the development and wellbeing of the continent. There is no reason why we should wait another four years for another moment of solidarity; we can draw upon what you have created, now”

“Crucially, this unity went far beyond the shores of our continent. Millions of non-Africans cheered for you, too, something that would have been unthinkable a few decades ago. I am sure, we have all felt at some stage of our lives that the world is united against Africa. But this World Cup, and particularly your last match, has shown the enormous goodwill towards our continent. You won – we all won – because you opened so many hearts and eyes”

On the UN and sport 

“Indeed, when Secretary-General, I admit we at the United Nations were often a little jealous of the power, and indeed, universality of sport.

Both the IOC and FIFA have, for example, more members than the UN. At the last count, the UN has 192 members compared to 208 who belong to FIFA.

It was why I was so determined at the UN to use sport more effectively to achieve development goals.

It is a huge tribute to sport in general – and to all of you here – that you have long recognised sports’ wider responsibility to society and its ability to drive social change”

Sport as an engine of social change 

“As Secretary-General, I appointed the former President of Switzerland, Adolf Ogi, as the first Special Adviser on Sport for Development and Peace.

This was followed by the establishment of an Inter-Agency Task Force and, in 2005, the UN’s successful International Year for Sport and Physical Education.

Our aim was to ensure sport was seen not as a by-product of development but as one of its engines.”

On sporting capabilities and challenges

“But some outside this knowledgeable audience might ask whether we are not asking too much of sport.

They are right to remind us that sport, above all, is a game to be enjoyed whether as a participant or as a spectator.

But this is to underestimate its convening power and far-reaching potential. Sport is the universal language, understood from Milan to Manila, from Montreal to Montevideo.

It engages and brings our world together in a way few, if any other activity, can manage.

It has an almost unmatched role to play in promoting understanding, healing wounds, mobilizing support for social causes, and breaking down barriers.

It can – and does – encourage pupils to stay in school and parents to get their children immunized.

It is used effectively to promote HIV/AIDS awareness and has helped drive global campaigns against such evils as child labour and landmines.

It provides both a powerful symbol for national identify but also brings people together across continents.

At its simplest, of course, sport and physical activity directly builds fitness and co-ordination, improving mental and physical well-being and resistance to disease.

Sport teaches the values of team-work, discipline and leadership as well as the reward of effort. Each are valuable lessons for life.

It builds confidence and social skills and is key to the healthy development for our children.

And in a world in which billions of us live a more sedentary lifestyle than even a generation ago, it is increasingly vital for all of us.”

On sport and society 

“But the positive benefits of sport go much further than its physical and mental impact for the individual. It is vital, too, for the health and strength of our societies.

Sport, used properly, challenges prejudices, heals divisions and champions tolerance.

I have seen time and time again how sport helps overcome the most deep-rooted conflicts and tensions.

The annual Twic Peace Olympics in southern Sudan takes place in a region which for many years has been scarred by ethnic and tribal conflict.

War was still raging when the first games were held a decade ago after organizers spotted how make-shift games of volleyball allowed refugees from different tribes to play together.

Sports fields, no matter how rough, have been places for centuries where fears and suspicions can be put aside.

The Twic games allow those from different communities to meet and compete with and against each other in friendship.

Now supported by a whole range of different organizations, the annual games attract global interest and are seen as a symbol of what sport can achieved in the most difficult situations.

Sport has, of course, frequently been used to cross divides between countries from the days of ping-pong diplomacy between the US and China to the way North and South Korea appear together today at international sporting events.

But it can also help heal divisions within countries and enable countries to come to terms with past and present tensions.

Just think of how the success of the Iraqi national football side in winning the Asia Cup in 2007 sparked scenes of jubilation in every community.

The side which included Sunnis, Shias and Kurds showed their fellow citizens – and the world as a whole – what could be achieved by working together.

The 400 metre gold medal won by aboriginal athlete Cathy Freeman at the Sydney Olympics did more to bring Australia together and enable it to face up to the past than any number of Government task forces or report.

And, of course, the far-reaching impact of South Africa’s triumph in the 1995 Rugby Union World Cup was recently portrayed in the film Invictus.

President Mandela understood that, just as the sports boycott had helped undermine the apartheid, sport could also heal its deep scars.

Sport promotes social integration, overcoming prejudices of race, background and gender.

It is sadly not yet the case that racism has been rooted out of sport. There is, as I know you fully recognise, much more to do.

But without sport, I believe racism would be much more prevalent in many of our societies.

It is hard to continue thinking yourself superior to those of other races or backgrounds, if your sporting hero has another skin colour or religion.

The selection of players from backgrounds for national teams has helped bring races together – and also built a new sense of national pride and belonging.

France’s World Cup triumph in 1998 – a team which featured Zidane, Desailly and Blanc – had a positive effect on how the country saw itself.

Sport is also proving important in breaking down gender barriers, and providing role models for empowering girls and women.

The international success of female athletes in many parts of Africa is giving the continent new heroines role models, challenging prejudices and helping girls achieve their own ambitions.

This is another important impact of the Twic Games at which girls, in a very traditional society, are treated as equals.

We have all seen, too, how sport helps people look anew at those with disabilities and provides a valuable route for integration.

The Paralympics and Special Olympics have been an extraordinary success, enabling us to focus on what people can do rather than what they can not.”

Sport , civil society, partnership 

It is through partnership, not only with development agencies but with civil society and the private sector that we can maximise the impact of sport for good in our world.

Thank you for all you are doing. With clear goals and renewed effort, we can achieve together a great deal more in the years to come to harness the potential of sport to improve lives across our planet.”

Concluding remark

Kofi Annan has been a powerful voice for the poor and a tireless advocate for peace, international security and human rights. The extracts presented from speeches during his period as secretary-general of the United Nations demonstrate that he understood the realpolitik of sport in society and the challenge remains to make the sense of purpose, mission  and leadership provided by his successes and failures into more of a reality. Kofi Annan understood that sport could be a resource of hope and optimism. 

The use of Sport initiatives to promote Human Rights in Palestine

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By Asil Said 

 

Introduction

Books and Boxers and the Right to Movement are but two interventions aiming to make a difference to the lives of youth in Palestine. This Academy of Sport- Sport Matters blog provides an evidenced insight into the struggle for sport as a human right within Palestine. 

Sport, Palestine and the International Community

Sport and physical activity has international recognition as a simple, low cost and effective tool for development, and a means of achieving national and international development goals. The United Nations Agenda 2030 has provided sport with a mandate to contribute to social change.

In Palestine, due in part to the charged political situation and unrest in the region, sport has a significant opportunity and potential to be used as a tool for social change, promoting values such as gender equality, racial equality, health promotion, education, human rights awareness and social cohesion.

Sport has not claimed a position of priority within Palestinian policy agendas and it remains one of the least funded, supported and regulated sectors of development.

This is perhaps surprising given that youth (ages 15-29) comprise 30% of the total Palestinian population. All children and youth under the age of 29 comprise over 50% of the population.

The lack of sport activities and initiatives has contributed to an unhealthy environment that has led to participation in conflict and/or criminal activity.

Sport and Human Rights:

Participation in sport and physical activity is a recognised right to which people are entitled:

  • Article 1 of the Revised International Charter of Physical Education, Physical Activity an Sport adopted by UNESCO’s General Assembly (2015) states that:

“The practice of physical education, physical activity and sport is a fundamental right for all”.

  • Article 30 of the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities affirms the right of persons with disabilities to: “Participation in cultural life, recreation, leisure and sport”.
  • Article 31 of the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child states that: “Children have the right to relax and , and to join in a wide range of cultural, artistic and other recreational activities”.
  • Article 10 of the UN Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW) states men and women should have “the same Opportunities to participate actively in sports and physical education”; and Article 13 states that: women have the “right to participate in recreational activities, sports and all aspects of cultural life”.
  • Sports has more recently been recognized by the United Nations and the International Olympic Committee for its active role in contributing to Agenda 2030 and  the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

Sport and physical activity is also an important facilitator of a number of other internationally recognized human rights, including:

  • The right to participate in cultural life, enshrined in Article 27 of the UDHR and Article 15 of the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (ICESCR).
  • The right to health, enshrined in Article 25 of the UDHR, Article 12 of the ICESCR, Article 5 of the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination and Article 11 and 12 of CEDAW.
  • The right to rest and leisure, included in Article 24 of the UDHR and Article 7 of the ICESCR.

With the goal of increasing the participation of young people in sport as a human right and using it to assist in the achievement of human rights for youth in Palestine, many private initiatives, (led mainly by NGOs, local community organizations and individual athletes) have advanced successful interventions linking human rights to sports and youth in Palestine.

Books and Boxers: 

ElBarrio Gym is a for-profit business established in 2016 aiming to enable and assist sport in Palestine. The initiative “Books and Boxers” focuses on male adolescents in Ramallah’s poorest public schools (ages 13-16). It teaches boxing through a programme implemented with the help of the Palestinian Ministry of Education.

The programme is implemented with the aim of lowering high school dropout rates in the city of Ramallah, which is 15% higher than the reported 2.4% dropout rate for males enrolled in secondary education institutions in Palestine. With a violent culture surrounding such areas and public schools, ElBarrio wanted to use sport as a means to an end and  to create a shift in the way boys felt about education.

In addition to boxing training, ElBarrio Gym looked to provide psychological support for the participants, giving them the privacy and space to share their feelings and thoughts, as well  providing academic and educational support to sustain enrolment in school.

The programme hopes to reiterate the success with boys by targeting female students of public schools not only working towards lowering dropout rates but also shifting socially constructed barriers and perceptions related to female participation in martial arts and violent sports.

Nader Jayousi, the boxing coach responsible of the programme stated in an interview:

“The programme aims to create a safe space for the kids to practice sport, release their anger and learn that being active can support them and offer them an alternative future from the one they think they will have”.

A picture taken from the after school program “Books and Boxers” implemented by ElBarrio Gym in Ramallah, aiming to lower the dropout level of secndary school boys using the sport of Boxing. Source: elbarrio.ps

Right to Movement: Running to tell a different story: 

 The Right to Movement Palestine (RTM) is an entrepreneurial, non-profit, social start-up, that is part of a global running community aiming to run for the basic human right to freedom of movement. The initiative was named after article 13 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights stating: “Everyone has the right to freedom of movement and residence within the borders of each State and everyone has the right to leave any country, including his own, and to return to his country”.

In Palestine, RTM laid the foundation for what is now the annual Palestinian Marathon in the city of Bethlehem. The location highlights movement restriction imposed by Israeli occupation and the fact that West Bank Palestinians are unable to find an unbroken distance of 42.1km in any of their major cities.

The marathon runners must turn around after arriving at a checkpoint to complete the official distance.

In addition to their daily running tours in different parts of the Occupied Palestinian Territories, RTM aspire to establish a running culture in the Palestinian community through empowering young people to practice sports, supporting women’s access to sport and reinforcing the right to physical activity.

Diala Said, one of the organisers of the group in the city of Ramallah said in an interview

“Around the world, you can just put on your shoes and go running, this inspired me to claim not only my own right to move, but the right of my fellow Palestinians to exercise and move freely”.

A picture taken from the 2016 Palestinian Marathon organized by RTM, showing Palestinian athletes running alongside the Israeli “Separation Wall” in the city of Bethlehem, to highlight the lack of right to movement in the occupied Palestinian territories.

Source; Right to Movement Facebook Page: https://www.facebook.com/righttomovement.org/

What next?

To fully utilise sport as a tool for human rights, a change in national and international policies is fundamental. This change starts with increasing the involvement, investment and communication between sporting and human rights organizations, which will in turn support the sustainability of sports initiatives while emphasising a range of individual and collective benefits associated with participation in sport as a human right.

In addition,  advancing widening access to sport programmes and initiatives (current ones and ones to be developed) to financial, institutional and development support as well as effectively activating government resources needs to be fought for.

A recognition of the role that sport can play in advancing  human rights within the Palestinian community needs to take place alongside more deliberate and direct strategies and policies working towards the mainstreaming” of sport.

 

Clausewitz on ice: sports diplomacy and the Pyeongchang Winter Olympic Games

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By Stuart Murray

Introduction

The topic of sports diplomacy at the 2018 Pyeongchang ‘peace’ Winter Olympics has made headline news the world over. Newspapers, television and social media posts are full of stories about North Korean sport (sic.) diplomacy, Kim Yo-jong’s handshake with Moon Jae-in, the thawing of the frosty North/South relationship, a grim Mike Pence saying ‘we’re not playing’, and, of course, North Korea’s cheerleading squad. Most of these stories, however, miss the mark by quite some distance. There is nothing new about sports diplomacy nor anything genuine about the North’s attempts to build bridges with their sworn enemies. Dictators, it has to be remembered, love sport just as much as sports lovers or the general publics.

Sport and Diplomacy – An Overview

The relationship between sport and diplomacy can be traced back over millennia, way, way beyond the Ancient Olympiad. Games, play, running, sport are woven into human DNA, and can be evidenced across all periods of the human story. This is why modern humans still play, watch, and, arguably, enjoy running, wrestling, boxing, fighting, fishing, hunting, javelin and more.

Besides a bit of fun, sport also provides a vital diplomatic function. It sublimates conflict, transcends acrimony in hostile relationships, promotes comity over xenophobia, and helps mediate the estrangement caused by the political structures humans create, be they rudimentary or advanced. Again, this diplomatic function of sport is as ancient as the sport of running. The earliest human societies used sport for social, cultural and diplomatic purposes, especially to avoid inter-group conflict. This idea relates to the psychologist Gordon W. Allport’s classic Contact Hypothesis. Simply, sport provides a ‘level playing field’ for separated people to meet which, in turn, reduces tension, division, xenophobia, and the sort of misunderstandings that often lead to inter-group violence. From the First Peoples of Australia to ancient Egypt and the Cradle of Civilization, there is plenty of evidence of sport being consciously employed to increase contact, and, ergo, reduce the prospect of violence between disparate people, nations and city-states.

Mandela captured the diplomatic essence of sport, famously, and correctly, noting in 2000 that it “has the power to unite people in a way that little else does.” This statement encapsulates both the spirt and purpose of Olympic Diplomacy. Perhaps the most well-know iteration is the concept of the Truce. During the Ancient Olympiad, the Truce (Ekecheria, the Greek word for ‘a staying of the hand’) afforded athletes, spectators and officials protection while travelling to and from the Games. The Ancient Games were also an expression of Pan-Hellenism. While Sparta, Argos, Athens and many others had their military rivalries and political differences sport was something they all had in common. It transcended politics, in other words.

The Olympics

The modern Games are similar in nature, spirit and purpose to their ancient predecessor. Their architect, the French educator and historian, Pierre de Coubertin, intentionally infused them with the ancient spirit. In Paris in the year1894 – and sounding very much like a Delphic priest – he raised a glass “to the Olympic idea, which has traversed the mists of ages like an all-powerful ray of sunlight and returned to illumine the threshold of the twenty first century with a gleam of joyous hope.”

These qualities are manifest in the Pyeongchang Winter Olympic Games, though sometimes it’s hard to detect them beyond the hype, razzmatazz, politics, mascots, diplomacy and rampant, rapacious commercialism. All athletes must, for example, swear an Olympic Oath that dates to the 1920 Antwerp Summer Games. And, curiously, every aspect of the Games – from security to athlete accommodation to the rules and regulations – are infused with the ideal of Olympisim, which seeks to “create a way of life based on the joy of effort, the educational value of good example, social responsibility and respect for universal fundamental ethical principles (IOC 2015). In such a context, Olympic sport is much more than just competing, winning and representing a nation abroad. It is a both a vehicle to, and representation of, philosophy, education, social responsibilities, and universal and spiritual ethical principles.

The Games – ancient or modern, summer or winter – also have an overt political character. While clearly a sports-idealist, Coubertin was also a savy political operator. From the outset, he knew the Olympic Games could promote sport as a spiritual and diplomatic force for good but only if it worked with, and within, a world of nation-states. “The leadership of Coubertin”, as Beacom – author of International Diplomacy and the Olympic Movement – notes, was “inherently political with internationalist aspirations,” and, “sensitive to the power of nationalist aspiration.” The Olympics, in other words, are a classic example of sport, politics, and, by extension, diplomacy ‘mixing.’

North and South Sporting Detente

This brings us back to the North/South sporting detente occurring at the Pyeongchang ‘peace’ games. Before getting carried away by all the talks of ‘peace at last’ it is important to remember a few, hard truths about the relationship between sport, politics and diplomacy. The Games unite swathes of people but, in the hands of egotistical or savvy political operators they can be used to cast a spell over the global sporting public.

First, it must be remembered that sporting mega-events are often hijacked by political leaders for jingoistic purposes. Usually it’s the host nation showing off but in the case of the Pyeongchang Games, the potentially unruly, Stalinist and kleptocratic northern neighbour has played the better, nationalist game – the olive branch offered weeks before the game, the huge military parade complete with goose-stepping soldiers on the eve of the Winter Olympics, and the charm offensive of Kim Yo Jong, are but a few examples of classic hijacking.

Second, Kim’s sister, it must be remembered is no diplomat. She is Vice Director of the Workers Party’s Propaganda and Agitation Department, with a remit of pumping good propaganda that venerates her basketball-loving brother, as well as the beloved State. The objective observer is left with the impression that the North is playing a complex, multi-dimensional game aimed at different audiences: domestic, Korean, regional and international.

Third, the sports diplomacy on show in Pyeongchang is not new. It is downright old-fashioned, Machiavellian and traditional. Sport is being employed – by both the North, the South and the stony-faced Mr. Pence – as a ‘continuation of policy by other means’, to borrow from Clausewitz. The North hasn’t had a change of heart or policy because of some two-week snow festival on its doorstep.

Conclusion
The DPRK policy has not changed since the time of Kim’s grandfather: survive, profit, and drive a wedge between the American, Japanese, and South Korean alliance….by any means possible, sport included. Coubertin would, no doubt, be suitably appalled and thrilled at the same time.

Stuart Murray is an Associate Professor at Bond University and Global Fellow at The Academy of Sport, Edinburgh University, and author of Sports Diplomacy: Origins, Theory and Practice (Routledge, 2018).

Sport for Development, Football and Chile: Voices from The Fútbol Más Program

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By
Constanza Campos Correa
University of Edinburgh

The biography of the Chilean soccer star Alexis Alejandro Sánchez is indicative of the social and economic advantages that success in professional sport may bring to individuals who grew up in challenging circumstances. Football continues to be a social mobility pathway for the few and not the many. While wealthy transfers tend to be headline news what is less well known is the way in which football works for other people in Chile.

United Nations
The United Nations has recently (2015) provided sport with an international mandate to contribute to the 2030 Sustainable development goals. Sport for development and peace (SDP) and sport for change (SC) programmes differ from sport development programmes because they intentionally plan to deliver other outcomes through sport. One of the issues with such programmes is the lack of evidence involving participants who can testify to the extent to which the sports interventions have been effective after a period of time.

The Fútbol Más Program
The Fútbol Más Program was created in 2009, the organisation works in eight different countries along three continents, with around 5.000 kids and in 70 neighbourhoods. Their background of being an organisation created in the Global South, expanded to the rest of the world more than 10 years ago, and their international reputation, provided the perfect scenario to explore the impact of an SDP programme in Chile.

The Study
This small study explored the way in which one football programme worked for a group of young Chilean kids who participated in the Fútbol Más Program. Very few SDP and SC programmes systematically track over a period of time the benefits, successes and challenges experienced by the participants several years after they have left the programme.

This study worked with a group of nine kids who had left the programme five years ago with a view to listening to their accounts of how the programme had impacted upon their lives. This research worked with a specific group of nine young adults who, in 2012, won the national league of the organisation. The participants were between 17 to 19 years old from a small neighbourhood in the north of Chile.

Two waves or phases of analysis were undertaken. The first wave of analysis listened to the participants during three different phases of their lives in relation to the Fútbol Más Programme, before, during and after. The responses covered five different areas, education, health, inclusion and community building, mass participation in physical activity and social behaviour.

The second wave of analysis listened to feedback to the programme organisers.

The five areas mentioned above are covered in turn:

Education
One of the most important aspects observed in education is that six of the nine participants explained that they had learned new social abilities such as sociability and self-confidence with the programme and that these were especially useful and observable within the school.

These new skills gave rise to important changes in the personality of the participants, affecting them in positive ways, such as how to be part of a group, how to create correct interaction with their peers and how to express more personality within the classroom.

They described these new skills as being very useful in their day-to-day lives.

“They taught us values, so that influenced me to change some aspects of my personality. For example, I used to be very shy and I could not talk in front of the class. When I started to participate in the programme, I felt like I had more personality”.

Health
Although more difficult to measure, two of the participants described positive changes in their physical health after participating in the programme, such as weight loss and support to come through the experience of having heart disease.

In addition to this there were recorded some important changes to participants in relation to happiness and positive feeling, and in the majority of cases, those feelings were maintained over time. Consequently, the programme achieved one of their main goals, which is to contribute to the happiness of children.

“The motivation was different. I woke up to go to the school with a more positive attitude, and I waited for the Fútbol Más classes with a lot of expectation”.

Inclusion and Community Building
Participants perceived a significant change in the community as a result of the presence of the programme in the local neighbourhood.

They described a high level of the respect and support from the community towards the programme. Because of this, it could be observed that the programme created an impact in the community, integrating them into the project and creating a positive development of social capital such as stronger networks, higher levels of trust and pride in being part of the community.

Additionally, the project affords the participants the opportunity to continue in the project as leaders and monitors, integrating and creating opportunities for the young people of the community as well.

“It is a big responsibility for me to still be involved with the community, because the parents want me to be the teacher of their kids, and they chose me as the best leader one year”.

Mass Participation in Physical Activity
It can be observed from the participants’ responses that currently eight out of nine young adults practiced the World Health Organisations (2017) recommended hours of PA in comparison with five out of nine participants that were practising the recommended hours of PA before Fútbol Más.

It might be perceived that Fútbol Más has the potential to make a good contribution in the area of Mass Participation in lower class income groups, which is the social group who participate less in PA in Chile.

Consequently, the programme could be creating or enabling sustained PA participation over a long term period (five years), and helping to achieve what sport policies in many countries fail achieve with lower class income groups.

This participation in PA is created at no monetary cost. This area is important to highlight, because football, especially in an unequal country such as Chile, is a good alternative as a social tool used to tackle poverty.

At the same time, this might give rise to illusions for young children and families to become famous football players, which just a small number of children manage to do. This illusion is not the sole problem, for this illusion might also be surrounded by business and the need to pay to play in football clubs.

That it is why Fútbol Más could contribute to create a participation in Physical Activity, with no cost to the government or families.

Social Behaviour
The main findings were associated with how the programme could be a means of prevention. Judging by the responses of the participants, all of them highlighted the main values of the programme (respect, responsibility, happiness, creativity and teamwork) as an important aspect of the programme that could influence their social behaviour in a positive way.

 

Also, most of the positive responses relating to the influence of those values in their actual lives were from participants who were no longer part of the organisation.

This could suggest that the main values taught to them by the organisation creates an impact on the participants across a long term period (five years), and could be discouraging them from participating in some forms of anti- social behaviour.

“I think Fútbol Más helped me to be a better person as a player. I learned how to be modest with my achievements in football, to be more generous with my teammates and respectful with the teachers. Also, they taught me to believe in me and to be sure of what I want to achieve in my life”.

Second phase analysis
This brief contribution will limit itself to making two further observations that can be drawn from the conversations with the programme participants.

Remarkable aspects
One of the most valuables characteristics of the programme described by the participants was the academic and human quality of the teachers. This aspect is very important for the purpose of the project, because it is this strong connection and impact (generated by the teacher towards the participants) that would contribute to making it possible to the long term impacts from the SDP programme for the participants.

Possible changes
The participants were also asked about their concerns about the programme, and one of the main topics discussed was related to the end of the project. This stage was for all of the participants, a hard one to accept, even when some of them continued in the programme and had a chance to develop within a new area in the organisation.

The main frustration from the participants originated from the impossibility to compete with the programme, and, at the same time, in this stage some of the participants felt frustrated about their dreams to become a professional football player. In this crucial stage for the participants, it would perhaps be beneficial to extend the categories so that the participants could continue until they were 18 years old and further sustain sustain the development of participants, and perhaps support the young adults in this complicated stage when they are dealing with important decisions about their futures.

“I really liked the competitive part of Fútbol Más, to have matches, to try to be the best and to play with other teams. I think this aspect motivates me the most to play football and to be part of a team”.

Concluding Comment
Very little has been written about sport for development in Latin America and this study makes a small contribution in trying to contribute to the gap in sport for development research in Latin America and in this case Chile.

Biography
The researcher herself is Chilean and the motivation behind the small study was to help to contribute to an area of knowledge about Chile and provide a further basis for dialogue about SDP in a larger Latin American set of contexts.

The researcher is grateful to the many people inside and outside of Chile who offered advice, support and knowledge. The researcher has worked both as a sports journalist in Chile and a research assistant with the University of Edinburgh.