News

News http://www.playthegame.org/ News feed from playthegame.org en News http://www.playthegame.org/typo3conf/ext/tt_news/ext_icon.gif http://www.playthegame.org/ 18 16 News feed from playthegame.org TYPO3 - get.content.right http://blogs.law.harvard.edu/tech/rss Tue, 18 Sep 2012 10:30:00 +0200 Hosting Play the Game 2013: Calling interested partners http://www.playthegame.org/news/detailed/hosting-play-the-game-2013-calling-interested-partners-5344.html Play the Game calls upon potential partners to declare their interest in hosting Play the Game 2013. Play the Game calls upon potential partners to declare their interest in hosting Play the Game 2013, the 8th world communication conference on sport and society. Play the Game 2013 is expected to gather 3-400 leading media professionals, academics, sports officials, sports business executives and students from 40-50 countries worldwide. It is envisaged that the conference is arranged over four-five days in the second half of 2013. Play the Game is an international conference and communication initiative aiming to strengthen the ethical foundation of sport and promote democracy, transparency and freedom of expression in sport. It is run by the Danish Institute for Sports Studies (Idan), a research institution set up by the Danish Ministry of Culture, but working with full independence from government. The task of Idan is to create overview over and insight into the field of sport nationally and internationally. Over the past 15 years, Play the Game has achieved a unique status as the leading platform in international sport where qualified observers and high-ranking sports officials engage in open, unrestricted and constructive debates about the main challenges to modern sport. The task for 2013 is to further develop the form, content and legacy of the conference which in its previous editions has been met with enthusiasm by the participants, leaving a mark on their professional future and on the international sports agenda. Co-organisers will be represented on the Programme Committee and be closely involved in all aspects of the conference planning. The conference attracts worldwide media attention and contributes to identifying the host city and country with high ethical standards in sport and sports administration. It offers opportunities to raise international issues of relevance for the host country, and it helps local journalists, academics and sports officials to increase their impact and strengthen their network on a global scale. Former host cities are Copenhagen, Reykjavik, Coventry and Cologne. Extensive documentation from previous conferences can be found at www.playthegame.org/conferences

A host can be a sports organisation, a city, a media company, a university/education centre, a sports club or a combination of all. Also, well-organised groups of interested individuals may be considered, but in order to become a host one must be able to present a convincing constituency and solid organisational and financial capacities. Formal requirements
As a first step in the selection process we kindly ask possible co-organisers to send us a declaration of interest no later than Tuesday 10 April 2012 at noon. The declarations of interest will be followed up by a clarifying dialogue and a joint specification of the practical and financial requirements. If necessary, a formal bidding process will be carried out among the most qualified bids. The selection process will be managed by the directors and conference manager of Play the Game (see below). They will make a recommendation to the board of Play the Game which is expected to make the final decision in June 2012. In the declaration of interest, candidates are kindly asked to give a rough idea about how they intend to raise the necessary funding for the below mentioned expenses. We also ask the candidates to lay out an overview over the local project organisation as well as outline a strategy for marketing of the conference in the host country. Main costs for co-hosts are related to:

rental of appropriate conference venue and technical equipment
transportation costs for 30-40 invited speakers from across the world
hotel and meals for the same invited speakers and for Play the Game representatives (board, staff, Programme Committee) on a 3-4 star level
social and cultural programme
a national pr and marketing campaign for the conference
travel subsidies for participants from less privileged countries

Ideas about specific conference venues and further organisational partnerships in the city/region/country will add to the viability of the declaration. Please submit your declaration of interest to: Play the Game
Att. Conference Manager Maria Suurballe
maria@playthegame.org
Office line +45 70 27 55 77
mobile +45 20 20 68 38 - to whom further questions can be addressed (NB! on leave 3-15 March). Written material, CD’s or likewise can be posted to Play the Game
c/o Department of Sport Science
Aarhus University
Dalgas Avenue 4
DK-8000 Aarhus C
Denmark Play the Game wishes to express its gratitude for the broad interest shown so far in hosting our 2013 conference, and we look forward to hearing from all candidate hosting partners before Tuesday 10 April. Best regards Jens Sejer Andersen, International Director Henrik H. Brandt, Director ]]> News article Wed, 22 Feb 2012 10:59:00 +0100 UEFA Euro 2012 – lasting Legacy or a ‘New Portugal’? http://www.playthegame.org/news/detailed/uefa-euro-2012-lasting-legacy-or-a-new-portugal-5343.html Despite major delays, new and spectacular stadiums in Poland and Ukraine will be ready to host this... In this summer’s UEFA Euro in Poland and Ukraine eight stadiums – four in Poland and four in Ukraine – will host the tournament’s matches. All of them are newly built or have undergone major renovations due to the event. The overall cost for the eight stadiums is $ 3bn and, except for the Ukrainian venues of Donetsk and Kharkiv, all of the UEFA Euro 2012 venues are publicly owned. As keirradnedge.com highlights, the overall cost for Ukraine alone to host UEFA Euro 2012 may surpass $14bn. Major infrastructure investments in airports, roads and sports facilities have been necessary, and although Donbas Arena and Oblast Sports Complex Metalist were mainly privately funded, the Ukrainian government has spent more than $1bn on the other UEFA Euro 2012 venues, the Olympic National Sport Complex in Kiev and Arena Lviv. Just like Ukraine, Poland has invested a massive amount of money in this summer’s event. According to polskieradio.pl, Poland has spent $26bn on roads, airports, hotels and stadiums. In contrast to Ukraine all of the UEFA Euro 2012 venues in Poland are publicly owned and the different government levels have altogether spent close to $1.5bn on the four stadiums. Beyond the eight stadiums that will host UEFA Euro, four additional stadiums in Poland and Ukraine have been built or renovated due to the event. The four additional stadiums were included in the joint application from Poland and Ukraine but did not make it as UEFA Euro 2012 venues. The overall cost for the four venues was $500 million. Portugal’s doubtful legacy
The massive investments raise questions about the legacy of the UEFA Euro 2012 venues. Will the stadiums be used after the event and to what extent? Will the long lasting economic and social legacy be positive for the host countries, or will it rather result in a huge debt? Play the Game is currently writing a report on the legacy of stadiums that have been built or undergone major renovations to host a major international sporting event. The first draft of the report is scheduled to be published in March and shows, among other things, that several of the venues of UEFA Euro 2004 in Portugal have had a problematic legacy – to put it mildly. Portugal spent close to $1bn on the 10 stadiums that were built or majorly renovated due to UEFA Euro 2004. The investment was almost twice as much as estimated in the bid. Just like Poland and Ukraine a majority of the 2004 venues in Portugal are publicly owned. Six of the ten stadiums were mainly funded by the hosting municipalities and it is primarily the municipality owned stadiums that have had huge legacy challenges. A common denominator for the publicly owned venues is the absence of decent attendance figures. Several venues are struggling with low attendance figures and it is solely the venues with the three major Portuguese clubs, SL Benfica, Sporting Lisbon and FC Porto, as anchor tenants that have good attendance figures. These venues were also mainly funded by the clubs. The absence of spectators and events has resulted in major economic difficulties for several of the Portuguese municipalities. One stadium has lacked an anchor tenant since the 2011/12 season, three stadiums have been for sale and some of the municipalities have huge debts in connection to their UEFA Euro 2004 venue. Building for UEFA rather than local needs
Just like in Portugal, it is most likely that the privately funded venues in Ukraine have the biggest chance of having a positive legacy. Both Donbas Arena in Donetsk and Oblast Sports Complex Metalist in Kharkiv would probably have been built even if Ukraine had not hosted UEFA Euro 2012. As their attendance figures show, a local sporting demand exists in both cities and the venues were not only built to meet UEFA’s stadium requirements for UEFA Euro stadiums. It is, however, obvious that several of the other UEFA Euro 2012 venues were built to meet the requirements of UEFA and that the current local sporting situation in each host city not has been taken into account. The pattern is similar to the one in Portugal where several of the constructed venues at present have major problems attracting bigger crowds and are relatively empty in relation to their capacities. Poland and Ukraine have invested three times as much in stadiums as Portugal did, and it is an obvious risk that many of the venues will be a heavy future financial burden for many of the host cities. It is therefore crucial that the anchor tenants of the UEFA Euro 2012 venues increase their attendance figures dramatically and that the venues host additional events to avoid empty stadiums and empty municipal pockets. But is that going to happen? UEFA’s responsibility
In the worst scenario the two host countries will not only face misplaced and useless investments – public money that that could have been used much more efficiently elsewhere – but a straight economical loss. All together both countries are estimated to have made an investment of $40bn, of which $3bn was on stadiums. The apparent risk of financial deficit for both of the host countries contributes to the need to question the economical sustainability of hosting a major sporting event. Can the political and cultural benefits of organising UEFA Euro 2012 justify the extravaganza? Or is it simply a waste of resources or just a smart way to lure public investment into the pockets of private entrepreneurs? Is it desirable to host a sporting event and invest billions of dollars when it is most likely that both the stadiums and public pockets will be empty when the event is over? The legacy of UEFA Euro 2004 in Portugal clearly shows that the expected bright future and positive legacy from a mega event can turn into a financial burden very easily. But other venues that have hosted UEFA Euro games have also experienced difficulties afterwards. If more than a very few large European countries are expected to be able to host sustainable UEFA Euro tournaments in the future, UEFA has to rethink to whom they award the event and how they can limit the current trend of increasing demands and costs burdens on the taxpayers in the host countries. Although bidding countries and host cities have a responsibility to be much more realistic in their assessments of major sports events and their long lasting legacies, the one and only who makes the playing rules is UEFA.

Euro 2004 and Euro 2012 stadiums

First draft of mega-event stadium study scheduled to be published in March Over the past six months the Danish Institute for Sports Studies/Play the Game have examined 75 stadiums in more than 20 countries that have been built or undergone major renovations up to the hosting of a major international sporting event (i.e. FIFA World Cups, continental championships in soccer and the Olympics). The objective of the upcoming report has been to study the state of each stadium and examine the stadium’s legacy in terms of events and spectator attendance. A part of the report’s result was presented at the 2011 Play the Game conference in Cologne and the first draft of the final report is scheduled to be published in March 2012. See the conference presentation Read the article

Jens Alm is an analyst at the Danish Institute for Sports Studies. A special thanks to Francisco Pinheiro, who has contributed with information on the Portuguese venues. ]]> News article Mon, 20 Feb 2012 09:24:00 +0100 2012: A promising start for the villains of sport http://www.playthegame.org/news/detailed/2012-a-promising-start-for-the-villains-of-sport-5342.html Comment: FIFA and the IOC have recently wasted a couple of good opportunities to discourage minor... Applause for corruption
Whether this explanation was true or a convenient quick-fix for the occasion, Blatter came under renewed pressure from another court ruling on the very last working day of 2011. On this occasion the Supreme Court in the Canton of Zug, where FIFA calls home, ruled that FIFA should disclose the names of the people who were included in the settlement in 2010. This was a blow to Blatter who had fought to avoid this court order in spite of his public promises. Behind the legal action stand a number of media outlets, but the ruling could be appealed before the end of January, and it has been. It is naturally a secret who has appealed the case. It is known to be two of the implied suspects – for example, the President of the Brazilian Football Confederation and upcoming World Cup host, Ricardo Teixeira. It could also be the President of the South American Football Confederation Nicolás Leoz, whose name has already been confirmed officially in the ISL case. It could be the President of the Confederation of African Football (CAF), Issa Hayatou, who had to collect a reprimand from his colleagues at the International Olympic Committee in December, as they believed that the BBC and British reporter Andrew Jennings had provided sufficient evidence that Hayatou had unduly received 100,000 French francs from the ISL in 1995. The Olympic humiliation was, however, not worse than Hayatou was greeted with applause at the following Executive Committee meeting at FIFA. You see it before your own eyes and sense that the relationship between the two most powerful bodies in world sport is pretty tense. Teixeira, Hayatou and Leoz are all members of FIFA’s Executive Committee, and therefore it is not just a question of establishing the historical truth to get their involvement in the ISL documented and judged. These three, and several other tainted members of FIFA’s elite, will in the coming year decide which political reforms should be put in place to help curb corruption in FIFA, so it is extremely important to be clear about their conduct up to now. In spite of his promise to reopen the ISL case, Blatter also has an objective interest in dragging out the publication of the document or dropping it all together. According to Andrew Jennings, Blatter could decide at anytime to put the documents on FIFA’s website, but he is burdened by the secret documents himself. Havelange stood to get two to three years’ suspension
The man who, with his appeal, ensures that the ISL case will now come before the Swiss Supreme Court could also be the oldest fox in sport’s political games – former FIFA President João Havelange, who is 95 years old and was once Sepp Blatter’s mentor. Havelange was, more than anyone else, put in his place – in fact, put out of place – when the IOC handled the ISL affair in December. After 48 years as an IOC member, Havelange was pushed to step down from the IOC with regard to his age and health a few days before he otherwise would have been asked to leave. The reason could be what Andrew Jennings had already exposed mid-way through the last decade: In 1997 FIFA received a bank transfer of a million dollars from the ISL by mistake. The transfer roused panic at FIFA’s headquarters because the amount should never have been entered on FIFA’s bank statements. It was, Jennings demonstrates, intended for João Havelange’s private bank book for reasons we can only speculate about. According to Play the Game’s own information the IOC’s leadership was ready to suspend Havelange for two to three years because of the incident. Why he was not faced with a life suspension is partly due to the fact that the incident happened a number of years back and partly because that even a couple of years’ suspension can have far-reaching implications for a 95-year-old – with all due respect for Havelange’s undeniable sense of survival. Faced with this disgrace Havelange chose to leave of his own accord, so the case’s file could be put back on the secret shelves. Therefore we do not know its details fully. IOC has upheld the spirit of its reforms
Havelange’s and Hayatou’s examples clearly show that the International Olympic Committee has learned a considerable amount more from the so-called Salt Lake City scandal, which shook the IOC’s foundations in 1998, than FIFA has learned from a soon to be one-and-a-half-year flood of political and economic scandals. This in spite of – or because of – the fact that football’s scandals involve much larger sums of money and are woven even deeper into FIFA’s entire political structure. No-one in FIFA has felt any desire to comment on Havelange’s greed or his fall from the Olympic summits. In FIFA his status as Honorary President is undisputed. By contrast, the IOC has managed to uphold the spirit of the reforms they were compelled to introduce after a number of its members sold their votes to Salt Lake City’s candidacy to host the Winter Olympic Games. The IOC cannot be accused of harbouring warm feelings for Andrew Jennings, who in the 1990s revealed the late IOC President Samaranch’s past in the Spanish extreme right-wing Falangist movement and uncovered countless cases of corruption and cheating in Olympic sport. To call Jennings “hated” among international sports federations in sport’s stronghold Lausanne is a mild understatement. The IOC still chose to react when Jennings publicised in a BBC program in November 2010 three names of IOC members with their fingers in the ISL pie (in addition to the two mentioned was the President of the International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF) Senegalese Lamine Diack). One can rightly argue that the IOC should have punished all three more severely. Imagine if Havelange had accepted his punishment and had then returned to invite the whole of the IOC to his 100th birthday at the Olympic Games in Rio in 2016, as he promised when Rio won the hosting rights in Copenhagen in 2009. It would be a PR disaster: The king of football corruption and a new IOC President cut the cake together with 100 Olympic torches... In Jacques Rogge’s time as IOC President the line has been clear. It is no longer possible to be overtly corrupt as an IOC member. Despite the collegial respect that lies behind the relatively mild decisions, Rogge has certainly made himself unpopular in the powerful federations FIFA and IAAF with his latest decisions. Ineffectual recommendations against match-fixing
While the IOC deserves credit for following the ISL case through to completion, things look different when it comes to the fight against today’s sports enemy number one: Match-fixing and illegal betting. Last week the IOC unveiled the preliminary results of a project a group of handpicked experts and representatives from politics and sport have been working on for almost a year. The recommendations for curbing an illegal betting market worth hundreds of billions of dollars can be summarised as follows:

Sports organisations should educate their athletes, coaches, officials, etc
National and international authorities should communicate as broadly to the public as possible
The Council of Europe, IOC, UN and their peers should establish a network of national betting authorities so they can exchange more information
The working group will continue to discuss how to create a common monitoring and information system between betting operators, and how to share information between sports organisations, governments, betting operators and intergovernmental institutions such as Interpol, among others, during major competitions and disciplinary procedures
Nations that do not already have effective legislation against illegal betting will be encouraged to implement one
Sports organisations should tighten their own rules against cheating and collusion
There is a need to investigate how international conventions can be used in the fight against match-fixing and illegal betting

There is nothing wrong with these recommendations in themselves. But one could ask how 50-odd sharp minds have been able to spend 11 months on agreeing on proposals that anyone with a small amount of insight into the field could have written down in half an afternoon before the ambitious working group had even made a start. The result of the IOC’s high profile work is frighteningly ineffective – and it will probably not scare the international crime syndicates who, with their advanced technology and unscrupulous middlemen, are persuading athletes, referees, coaches, organisation leaders and other key figures to fix sporting events. It looks like sport has in particular aimed for a minimal solution under the premise: Nothing new must happen. It must not cost money. And nothing must ever come out of it. But it should spawn some wonderful political speeches. This recipe has been tried before during the many decades in which sport turned its back to the doping problem. It was not, as it turned out, a very sustainable strategy. The mafia grows while sport holds back
The IOC seems to be fixated on the idea that the debate on match-fixing should not lead to the formation of an international agency against corruption in sport as a parallel to WADA in the anti-doping field. This proposal, which Play the Game made in 2006, has since been put forward by a range of experts and sports organisations. WADA itself has suggested that the experience gained in the fight against doping in the fields of education, investigation and information sharing should be built upon also with regard to match fixing. Over the past year WADA’s Director General, David Howman, has given strong warnings about the organised crime that is increasingly infiltrating into and earning money on sport. It is possible that other models for effectively countering international organised crime can be found. It is also possible that we can build greatly on existing supranational institutions, as the IOC recommendations suggest. But it is almost impossible to imagine that the IOC can create the broad, global political determination and decision-making through such a tightly controlled process, where only a handful of governments and selected international agencies have been allowed to get involved, where Europeans dominate the picture although the problems are deeply rooted in Asia, and where a number of important issues seem to be taboo, including the key question: How can sports organisations be trustworthy and effective partners in a fight against match-fixing when they do not have the courage to tackle corruption in their own ranks, at neither an international nor a national level? Let me give you a gentle reminder that Play the Game 2011 at the German Sports University in Cologne ended with the “Cologne Consensus” – a statement from the approximately 300 participants calling on the IOC to take the lead in convening a global conference on good governance in sport. This invitation was neither answered with a yes nor a no, but with a reference to all of the good work the IOC has already set forth. There is still a glimmer of hope that the IOC will invite a wider range of countries, organisations and stakeholders to an open debate on how we can solve the most serious threat to sport to date. But for every day sport hesitates, the mafia forces strengthen their grip on sport. When we told you a year ago about the IOC’s new project on match-fixing, we were also able to cite a previously unheard confession from an honorary member of the IOC, Hungarian Tamás Aján, who is also the President of the International Weightlifting Federation. Corruption has spread throughout sports federations, said Aján, and there is more to come. At the EU’s yearly Sport Forum he practically begged the EU Commission to intervene. At the end of the 1990s it was the EU, the USA and a number of Commonwealth countries that came to the fore when it was revealed that sport neither could, nor wanted to engage more effectively in the fight against doping. The treaty at the time did not allow the EU to lead sports politics. The Lisbon treaty does today, and this has already been reflected in the fact that a number of organisations – including Play the Game –have recently received project funding to develop a better culture of governance in sport. Furthermore, the EU’s sports minister has set up an expert group that will come up with some recommendations in this area at the end of 2012. Play the Game is also represented here. The EU’s interest is one of many signs that the governments’ patience with major sports federations has its limits. There is a risk that the governments will take over the conductor’s baton if the Olympic world continues to turn a deaf ear to the music.

Jens Sejer Andersen is International Director of Play the Game ]]> Transparency and good governance Football Governance News article Thu, 16 Feb 2012 17:08:00 +0100 FIFPro publishes Black Book on Eastern Europe http://www.playthegame.org/news/detailed/fifpro-publishes-black-book-on-eastern-europe-5337.html The World Players Union (FIFPro) has published a new report on the working conditions for Eastern... Footballers are often seen as wealthy and having a lifestyle few could aspire to. A new report from FIFPro, the international representative organisation for football players, paints a picture of working conditions for Eastern European players which are neither glamorous nor enviable. For the new report ‘Black Book Eastern Europe’, FIFPro has questioned 3357 professional football players from 14 Eastern European countries, and the results show lack of respect for contracts, non-payment of salaries, violence, bullying and racism as part of everyday life. According to the report, 41,4 percent of players state that their clubs do not pay salaries on time and around 5 percent have waited for their salaries for more than six months. According to FIFPro, the players who do not receive their salaries are more likely to consider participating in match-fixing, and according to the report 11,9 percent of players state that they have been approached to consider fixing the result of a match, while 23,6 percent are aware of match-fixing taking place in their league. Moreover, the report shows that one in ten has experienced different kinds of abuse, such as racism, violence or bullying. ‘It has been a very important day for FIFPro’, said Theo van Seggelen, secretary general of FIFPro. ‘Up until now, everybody just thought that the players in Eastern Europe were treated badly, now we have proof that they are treated badly. We now know the facts.’ The conclusions of the report present a lot of areas that need improvement in order to rectify the situation. For one, players need a contract which clearly indicates salary and bonuses and the clubs need a better licensing system for their economies to become transparent. FIFPro therefore appeals to the international community for help. ‘I hope that the other stakeholders in football, and also the national governments and the European Commission understand that the time to take action is now’ said van Seggelen. Download the report ‘FIFPro Black Book Eastern Europe’ here Read FIFPro’s comments to the report]]> News article Mon, 13 Feb 2012 10:45:00 +0100 Police raid football body: World Cup players seize assets http://www.playthegame.org/news/detailed/police-raid-football-body-world-cup-players-seize-assets-5336.html The Trinidad and Tobago Football Federation (TTFF) was subjected to a new low Wednesday morning... The early morning raid was a result of the TTFF's failure to honour a High Court order to pay 13 of its former 2006 World Cup players a second interim award of US$724,000. The figure was due on 18 October 2011 but the TTFF did not pay and failed to satisfy the players that compensation was imminent when legal representatives for either party met before Justice Devindra Rampersad in the Port of Spain High Court on 12 January 2012. The players responded with a court-appointed marshal. Brent Sancho, Cyd Gray, David Atiba Charles and Anthony Wolfe accompanied the marshal and policemen to Dundonald Street. Acting TTFF President Lennox Watson asked the players for one hour to come up with the money at around 10.15 am. However, he failed to meet the final deadline. "The TTFF had hoped that 2006 World Cup Local Organizing Committee (LOC) accounts of which (Ex-FIFA Vice President Jack) Warner was the sole arbiter," stated a subsequent TTFF release, "would have been reconciled and payments would have been made to the players. This unfortunately has not occurred”. "The TTFF on its own does not have the resources to fulfil this request for such payment." The players were told that the TTFF was tipped off about the impending raid by a member of the media and took pre-emptive steps to secure documents and valuables. However this report remains unconfirmed. There was still plenty for the marshal to take, though. It took two trucks to remove computers, desks, refrigerators, microwaves, uniforms, paperwork, beer crates and other sundry items from the TTFF's base. The items are expected to be auctioned off.

Players left with no other option
Sancho, who is the CEO of a local Pro League team DirecTV North East Stars, called yesterday morning's episode an "extremely sad day for football and Trinidad and Tobago sport" but insisted the players were left with no option. "Just a couple of years ago, we were in the World Cup and today we are here doing this," said Sancho, "but we feel we had no other choice. They had every opportunity to pay this money." Sancho claimed that over US$15.6 million in taxpayers' money was missing and repeated a call for government intervention. He warned that the players were not done yet, either. "The next step is the liquidation of the Federation and after that we are going after (former TTFF President Oliver) Camps," said Sancho. "We would still like to join (Works Minister and former TTFF Special Advisor) Jack Warner to the case. But we leave that in the hands of the judge." Thus far, the TTFF has insisted that it would "continue to function as the elected governing body for football" based on financial assurances from Sport Minister Anil Roberts. "The TTFF will continue its operations with focus of the National Under-23 Men's team and U-17 Women's team which goes into World Cup qualification in May," stated the TTFF. "Funds for these two teams have been guaranteed by the Ministry of Sport and therefore their programs will be continued.” “The TTFF will also continue its FA Trophy competition and will host the Draw for the Round of 8 tomorrow." The TTFF will hold an emergency meeting of its executive committee before addressing the media from 4.30 pm tomorrow at the Harvard Sports Club, Port of Spain.

Took TTFF to court
In June 2006, Works Minister and ex-FIFA Vice President Jack Warner promised the World Cup players half of all revenue related to the showpiece tournament in his capacity as special advisor to the TTFF. But the "Soca Warriors" were offered just US$882 each and felt dissatisfied with the accounting statement presented. Thirteen players eventually took the body to court. The aggrieved Warriors are Kenwyne Jones, Shaka Hislop, Stern John, Kelvin Jack, Avery John, Cornell Glen, Collin Samuel, Aurtis Whitley, Evans Wise, Gray, Charles, Wolfe and Sancho. Only Jones (Stoke City, England), Samuel (Arbroath, Scotland), Wolfe (North East Stars, Trinidad) and the Vietnam-based Glen are still active players. Almost six years since Trinidad and Tobago's historic World Cup appearance, the High Court is still unable to determine what money was banked by the TTFF. Former TTFF President Oliver Camps filed an affidavit on 24 August 2011, which stated that: "I have no information or records for (LOC Germany) as this was (...) under the control of special advisor, Mr Jack Warner. The executive and I have made repeated requests for Mr Warner to provide accounts..." Warner was subsequently issued an order to provide written accounts of "all income, donations, gifts, grants or benefits whatsoever and all expenditure" arising from the Germany 2006 World Cup. His deadline to submit these accounts to the court is on Friday while the players and the TTFF return to High Court on 14 February 2012—next week Tuesday. So far, the players received one interim award of US$1.1 million from the TTFF, which was ordered by Justice Rampersad on 25 February 2011 and subsequently paid. Their second interim award is yet to be honoured. Warner and Camps resigned their posts at FIFA and the TTFF respectively last year while being investigated for their involvement in a bribery scandal which led to a life ban for ex-Asian Football Confederation President Mohamed Bin Hammam.

Lasana Liburd is the publisher of the Trinidad-Tobago online paper www.wired868.com ]]> News article Fri, 10 Feb 2012 09:32:00 +0100 New report calls for governance reforms in cricket http://www.playthegame.org/news/detailed/new-report-calls-for-governance-reforms-in-cricket-5332.html FIFA is not alone in having its governance practices scrutinised. The International Cricket Council... As an English invented sport, cricket has developed from being played mainly in a few countries once belonging to the former British Empire to a sport practised worldwide and with rising commercial value and income. But neither the sport’s international governance principles nor its democratic structure matches the development, concludes a new independent review of the International Cricket Council, ICC. “Cricket is a great game. It deserves to have governance, including management and ethics, worthy of the sport. This is not the position at the present time,” as Lord Woolf of Barnes and PricewaterhouseCoopers sharply writes in their report named ‘An independent governance review of the International Cricket Council’. After consultations among the sport’s many stakeholders, the report calls for fundamental reforms in the ICC which has a peculiar political structure where only 10 countries – England plus nine former colonies, now independent nations – are granted full membership rights as ‘test match-playing’ cricket nations. The remaining 95 countries are placed in two secondary categories with limited or very few rights. This has to be changed, the report concludes. “Currently the ICC reacts as though it is primarily a Members club; its interest in enhancing the global development of the game is secondary. In today’s environment this is not an acceptable situation. Cricket is a global game and there is a need for global governance.” 65 recommendations
The final report from Lord Woolf of Barnes and PricewaterhouseCoopers goes on to present 65 recommendations, including a wide range of changes to the structure of the board, the administration and structure of cricket, the ethical issues of governing and the funding schemes. Without giving up the category of full membership, the full membership status should be available for more countries than today on transparent and objective criteria, and the remaining countries should be secured more influence at the very top of the ICC. Today the 10 full members all have a permanent seat on the ICC board leaving only three seats for the second highest member class, the associate member nations. The so-called affiliated nations are not represented at all. The report also suggests changes in the funding of ICC and a more equal distribution of the increasing revenues from TV rights and sponsorships with focus on the global development of the sport. Today 75 percent of the ICC’s income is earmarked to the 10 full member nations. Also, the report calls for more transparency and clearer governance principles when it comes to the decision making processes, the daily administration of cricket and the financial matters in the ICC as well as its national member federations. As the report warns: “The ICC needs to ensure that an effective ethical code, covering both on and off-field activities is developed, embedded, policed and consistently enforced; with all Members being expected and required to adopt similar standards within their own Member bodies.” The risk of corruption
Transparency International welcomed the launch of ICC’s Governance Review before Christmas, and stated that it was a “timely opportunity to review the corruption risks facing the game of cricket, and strengthen the game’s institutional response”. Transparency International submitted 20 recommendations to Lord Woolf, one of the key points being that while the players are the ones who face greatest public scrutiny, it is the administrators, both at the international and national level, who set the infrastructure and environment in which players and match officials operate. And this must be transparent and accountable. The final report acknowledges the risk of corruption and misbehaviour ‘off-the-field’ and points out political ‘side deals’, unclear voting patterns and different forms of ‘institutional conflict of interest’ as challenges to be addressed. The report suggests a number of initiatives from strengthening the good governance policies and rules to the introduction of a new ‘speak-up hotline’ for whistle-blowers and others with ethical concerns. On top of the 65 formal recommendations, the report also mentions a number of suggestions from the external submissions received during the review like a more substantive dialogue with the fans, for example though the establishment of a new Supporters Committee. A sign that the weather is changing?
The ICC Board, Members and other stakeholders are expected to study the report in detail until the next ICC Board meeting in April 2012, where the report and its recommendations will be addressed. Sceptics warn that the report will meet strong resistance among the privileged ‘full member’ cricket nations who are likely to be reluctant giving up their political and economical privileges. Nevertheless, the ICC independent governance review, which lately has been complimented by an independent review on the ICC arrangements against on-field corruption like match-fixing, is one in a line of recent initiatives undertaken by big international sports organisations to weed out corruption and introduce better governing routines – or attempt to do so. As Professor Roger Pielke Jr. argues on his blog on sports politics: The pressures on the ICC, FIFA and others suggest that while we may not yet be experiencing a ‘Sporting Spring', there are sure signs that the weather is changing.
See the ICC's statement regarding the report on the ICC website Read the full report ]]> News article Transparency and good governance Tue, 07 Feb 2012 09:30:00 +0100 Resignations deepen rift among Turkish Islamists and country’s soccer crisis http://www.playthegame.org/news/detailed/resignations-deepen-rift-among-turkish-islamists-and-countrys-soccer-crisis-5328.html The Turkish Football Federation’s (TFF) three top managers have resigned in a move that appears to... TFF chairman Mehmet Ali Ayindar and his vice chairmen Goksel Gumusdag and Lutfi Arıbogan gave no reason for their resignation days after the federation’s general assembly defeated a proposed rule change that would have prevented soccer teams found guilty of match-fixing from being relegated. Mr. Gumusdag, an in-law of Mr. Erdogan and head of a club with two players implicated in the scandal, was among scores of soccer officials detained last year in the match-fixing scandal, but he was released after several hours of questioning. The rejection of the rule change constituted a defeat for Mr. Erdogan, who last month drove against President Abdullah Gul’s will a controversial bill through parliament that reduced penalties for match-fixing from a maximum 12 to three years and prepared the ground for the rejected TFF rule change. Mr. Gul is believed to be close to Fethullah Gulen, a self-exiled, Pennsylvania-based cleric, whose movement, Turkey’s foremost Islamic alliance, operates schools, businesses, media, including major Turkish media, and NGOs across the globe, and is widely seen as having significant sway over Turkey’s police force. The Gulen movement has been instrumental in the rise of Turkey’s appeal across the Middle East, North Africa and in sub-Saharan Africa with its network often paving the way for Turkish diplomacy and business. Mr. Erdogan increasingly, however, has come to see Mr. Gulen not only as an asset but also a liability. The cleric’s inroads into the judiciary and the police has meant that critics of his movement have more often than not found themselves behind bars on charges of involvement in the murky and controversial Ergenekon affair, involving Turkey’s Kemalist, ultra-nationalist deep state. The affair has led to massive military arrests and made Turkey one of the world’s foremost jailers of journalists. The arrests have sparked international criticism and portrayed Mr. Erdogan as increasingly arrogant and authoritarian. Mr. Gulen left Turkey in 1998 ostensibly for health reasons but more likely to avoid standing trial for a recording in which he allegedly advocated an Islamic regime. “Our friends who have positions in legislative and administrative bodies should learn its details and be vigilant all the time so that they can transform it and be more fruitful on behalf of Islam ... However, they should wait until the conditions become more favourable ... they should not come out too early,” Mr. Gulen was reported to have said. Mr. Gulen asserts that the quote was taken out of context. He was acquitted in 2006 after having been tried in absentia on charges of trying to overthrow the secular state. Mr. Gulen has opted to remain in rural Pennsylvania although he is free to return to Turkey. Mr. Gul and his supporters view the investigation of the match-fixing scandal as part of a greater clean-up in Turkey. They argue that the match-fixing scandal involves huge sums of money and is closely linked to organized crime. A majority of TFF members rejected the proposed rule change that would have replaced relegation with a minimum penalty of a 12-point deduction on the grounds that such a move could only be made once legal proceedings in Turkey’s worst match-fixing scandal had been completed. Jailed Fenerbahce president Aziz Yildirim and his storied club, who have been targeted by Gulen media, were among those opposed to the rule change despite the fact that the club is threatened with relegation under the current TFF rules. “Fenerbahçe voted against this for reasons of pride. The club thinks it's innocent and that it will prevail in the court case…. It has no problem being demoted a division and said so from the day that (European soccer body) UEFA announced they won't be in the Champions League. ‘You've already found us guilty with this decision, then why are you waiting to demote us?’ they said,” according to an email from Turkish blogger TurkeyEmergency, a Turkish journalist who wishes to remain anonymous because of the arrest of journalists critical of Mr. Gulen. Messrs Erdogan and Gulen’s soccer proxy battle erupted as Mr. Yildirim and 92 other soccer club officials, coaches and players are scheduled to go on trial on February 14 on match-fixing related charges that involve eight teams, including Europa League members Besiktas and Trabzonspor. The scandal is believed to have affected 19 matches, including last season’s Fenerbahce 4-3 victory over Sivasspor which saw the club clinch the league championship on the final day. The Champions League has since barred Fenerbahce from participating in its competition because of the match-fixing scandal. The TFF said that executive board member Hüsnü Güreli would be acting chairman until the federation elects a new head on February 27. Mr. Aydinlar said in a statement that he had resigned because he could not “stand the atmosphere where there is no trust, where many people and institutions act without ethics. The point we are at is in deep contrast with my views in life and ethics, so I’ve decided to leave in order to raise attention to the situation.” TurkeyEmergency quoted Mr. Yildirim as saying in a letter that he had no issue with Mr. Erdogan and that “no one can get in between Erdogan and myself,” an apparent reference to Mr. Gulen. Turkey’s Fanatik quoted Mr. Yildirim on Wednesday as saying in an interview three times that “Fenerbahçe is Atatürk's team and it will stay that way.” Mr. Yildirim was seemingly accusing Mr. Gulen, widely seen as an opponent of Mustafa Kemal Ataturk, the visionary who carved modern Turkey out of the ruins of the Ottoman empire, of wanting to remove him to gain control of Fenerbahce. The soccer battle between Messrs Erdogan and Gulen is the latest of a string of incidents souring the once close relationship between the two men. Mr. Gulen has taken Mr. Erdogan to task for his tough stance towards Israel in the wake of the 2010 Mavi Maramara affair. Mr. Erdogan effectively froze relations with Israel after Israeli forces stormed the Mavi Marmara, a Turkish aid ship that was attempting to run the Israeli blockade of the Gaza Strip, killing nine Turkish nationals. The cleric has also criticized the prime minister for being too soft on Turkey’s staunchly secular armed forces despite the fact that Mr. Erdogan succeeded in bringing the military under civilian control and that hundreds of officers, including scores of serving generals, have on his watch been jailed for alleged coup-plotting. Mr. Gulen is believed to want Mr. Gul to succeed Mr. Erdogan in 2015 when Mr. Erdogan’s term as prime minister is up and he is expected to seek the presidency.

This article was first published on James M. Dorsey's blog The Turbulent World of Middle East Soccer on 2 February 2012, and is republished on Play the Game's website with kind permission from the author. James M. Dorsey is a senior fellow at the S. Rajaratnam School of International Studies at Nanyang Technological University in Singapore and the author of the blog, The Turbulent World of Middle East Soccer. ]]> News article Middle East Theme Thu, 02 Feb 2012 12:23:00 +0100 Call for Abstracts EASM 2012 http://www.playthegame.org/news/detailed/call-for-abstracts-easm-2012-5327.html EASM cordially invites you and your colleagues/peers to submit a scientific or practical... EASM cordially invites you and your colleagues/peers to submit a scientific or practical abstract/paper or poster to be considered for presentation at the EASM 2012 conference in Aalborg, Denmark. Young researchers are invited to submit a scientific paper for the New Researchers Award (NRA). The conference web site www.easm2012.com has opened for online abstract submissions. Submission deadline will be 26 March 2012. Both completed research and research in progress is welcomed. Please read the full Call for Abstracts/Papers here Go to the abstract submission page to submit your abstract Topical sessions
In the topical sessions, topics of interest for abstract submission include, but are not limited to, the following: 1. Opportunities, challenges and trends in sport management.
2. Leadership issues in sport organisations.
3. Tourism and leisure sport management.
4. Global sporting events.
5. Critical sport management issues.
6. Sport fans.
7. Sport for good.
8. Marketing in and through sport.
9. Sport policy.
10. Governance in sport.
11. Volunteering in sport.
12. Participation in sport. Strategies and challenges.
13. Operation and management of sports and leisure facilities.
14. Sport media and journalism.
15. Other sport management related issues. Workshops
Abstracts/papers are invited for the following workshops: A. The contribution of science to practice in football. [read more]
B. Elite sport organisation and management for world class. [read more]
C. Sport policy: the significance of government. [read more]
D. Sport policy and ‘hard’ times. [read more]
E. London 2012: success and failure of national elite sport policies. [read more]
F. University teaching sport management. [read more]
G. Governance in international sports organisations. [read more]
H. Volunteering in sport. [read more]
I. ESMQ Special Issue: value co-creation in sport management. [read more] The following workshops are open to participation but do not in all cases require abstracts/papers: J. ESMQ Editors’ workshop. [read more]
K. Play the Game symposium. [read more] ]]> News article Tue, 31 Jan 2012 14:32:00 +0100 Play the Game will be partner in EASM 2012 http://www.playthegame.org/news/detailed/play-the-game-will-be-partner-in-easm-2012-5326.html University College of Northern Denmark will host the annual conference of the European Association... 'Sport between business and civil society' is the overall theme of the 20th EASM Conference in Aalborg, Denmark, on 18-21 September 2012. It is the first time ever that the European Association for Sport Management (EASM) is holding its annual conference in Denmark, where the rapidly growing sport management environment is looking forward to sharing inspiration, knowledge and research with delegates from all over Europe and beyond. Almost 500 academics, professionals and sports leaders will meet in one of Denmark’s most attractive and lively cities to share the best and latest in the field of sport management. The conference is divided into a professional programme and a master student seminar. Extra Play the Game symposium
In addition to the scientific programme, Play the Game will run a symposium during the conference with invited speakers in order to give the delegates a chance to debate some of the most urgent challenges in international sport. “Hosting the 20th EASM Conference is a proud milestone for University College of Northern Denmark, which was the first educational institution in Denmark to offer a sport management programme that combines business with sports,” says the head of UCN Sport Management programme and chair of local organising committee, Per Justesen. The conference venue of the 20th EASM Conference will be UCN Mylius Erichens Vej in the Eastern part of Aalborg. The UCN Campus is a modern educational centre with all the facilities necessary to host a successful and inspiring international conference. Dynamic sector
The overall theme of the 20th EASM Conference 'Sport between business and civil society' reflects the dynamics and the rivalry between the traditional sports sector based on volunteering and non-profit values, and sport as a profit making tool affected by the growing commercialisation and professionalisation of elite sports and professional sports. Commercialisation is increasingly seen also in grassroots sports and in sport for all, for example in the fitness sector, in mass participation events, and in other areas of the sports sector. Many countries and local authorities face increasing challenges in operating and financing public sports facilities in times of economic crisis, in encouraging volunteering and promoting sports participation to improve public health, and in keeping pace with rapidly changing participation patterns of the population in local and national sports strategies and policies. At the same time professional sport suffers increasingly from financial problems and poor governance, and on the international level a veritable arms race is taking place in the battle to win international trophies and attract large international sports events. In this dynamic and complex environment, sport management plays an increasingly important role. Educational institutions, teachers, researchers and practitioners are challenged every day on their knowledge, skills and capacities. In this respect the 20th EASM Conference in Aalborg, Denmark, provides the perfect platform to share new research and experiences, exchange knowledge and to discuss contemporary challenges in sport management. Please find practical information and the Call for Abstracts/Papers on the official conference website www.easm2012.com.  ]]> News article Tue, 31 Jan 2012 14:31:00 +0100 Another year of violence in Argentinean football http://www.playthegame.org/news/detailed/another-year-of-violence-in-argentinean-football-5322.html Despite a slight decrease in the number of fatalities, 2011 became a new statement of the violence... 2011 could be seen as a quieter year in Argetinian Football – if you only judge by the annual statistics on casualties. The final list includes ‘only’ four deaths: Diego Malcovick (29 years old), Ramón Aramayo (40 years old), Marcelo Melgar (42 years old) and Sebastián Tejada (27 years old) were the victims who added to the list of 258 dead football supporters since 1924. Even though the names might be scarce and the number of casualties has gone down compared to earlier years, a different feeling crops up every day: In its varied forms, violence is likely to take place whenever you enter a football stadium in Argentina. Victims of 2011
Diego Malcovick, a Newell’s Old Boys supporter, was shot in the head during a fight between Newell’s supporters and supporters from Rosario Central on a weekday at a bar in the city of Rosario. He died only hours later and became the fourth casualty of Newell`s supporters in less than a year. The supporters from this football team recorded another violent episode in June 2011, when a group of people attacked another group with firearms just before the beginning of the match. Miraculously, no one died although the encounter between Newell’s and San Lorenzo, which should have been played a few hours afterwards, was cancelled.   Ramón Aramayo, a San Lorenzo supporter, died in March after being hit by six police officers before entering Vélez Stadium to watch his team play. Eventually, the match was cancelled amid the events. Marcelo Melgar, a follower of Sarmiento of Gualeguaychú, died after a clash on June 12. A group of fans of the team Unión del Suburbio, playing in the regional league, attacked him after identifying him as supporter of the rival team. He died a few hours later.   Sebastián Tejada, a member of Banfield’s fans, was shot in the head in November after the match between his team and Estudiantes de la Plata. Tejada and another man were on a motorcycle when they were startled by two young men who – after exchanging a few words – shot Tejada in the head and killed him. The match had had to be cancelled because of riots caused by Estudiantes’ supporters, unsatisfied with Estudiantes’ leaders’ decision of no longer giving free tickets to hooligans.    The same old story of Argentinean violence
This violence is not news for the football world of locals. The ‘barras bravas’ term used to refer to groups of Argentinean hooligans started in the 1950s and they have consolidated their hold in the following years. The phenomenon took place the same time as the movement of the notorious English hooligans was taking its first steps.   However, the degree of development that the Argentinean ‘barras bravas’ acquired has gone above that of Great Britain’s.  It was probably not until the 1980s that the Argentinean organised supporters consolidated as mafia groups, with their own practices and own organisations and multiple businesses, spread around the football show, always through violent means. At the beginning of the 1980s the number of victims of violence in the stadiums soared staggeringly, reaching the current figure. An average of five supporters a year has died since the year 2000. Yet, the figure of four deaths in 2011 is noticeably lower than those of previous years. In 2008 six people died, in 2009 eight and in 2010 the number got to 11 casualties.   The daily violence
Nevertheless, the list of deaths in 2011 is not a reflection of the presence of violence in its different forms in Argentinean football. Contrary to what is frequently the case, in the last months, the notorious Argentinean ‘barras bravas’ have been exposed publicly as mafia groups, wrapped-up in their own internal and external hassles. Many of the registered acts of violence in the stadiums are taking place between supporters of the same football team, who fight against the police or among themselves to win over the supporters and strengthen their business. Last June 26, River’s ‘barra brava’ fulfilled the unfortunate predictions that serious events would take place if the team was relegated. After a match which sealed the path of the team from first to second league, differences were exposed: The well-organised groups of supporters destroyed the facilities of the club and clashed with the police while the rest of the supporters just left sadly due to their team’s bad luck. In Independiente, another of the most important Argentinean football teams, a group of fans was beaten by barra bravas for protesting against the club management. Some days earlier, the same group of hoolingans had assaulted Antonio Mohamed, coach of the team. During the following match, supporters chanted against the barra bravas: “There they are, there they are… those who hit the true supporters”. By the end of the year, two opposing groups of Boca’s supporters clashed publicly during a football match. Located in two different stands, they threatened each other with chants to see who would remain holding the power of supporters. Both were in the hunt of dark businesses such as re-selling of tickets, visits of tourists, and the multiple privileges awarded to the official and true managers of supporters.   Never ending violence
Malcovick, Aramayo, Megar and Tejada are only some of the casualties of the different acts of violence present in Argentinean football. Many of the daily incidents are not mentioned in this report. And the smaller number of causalities is not a sign of more effective governmental control or initiatives. The ‘barras bravas’ are consolidating their organisations becoming recognised by Argentinean football, which to a large extent fosters them, tolerates them and many times puts up with them. But violence is always lurking. So it was in 2011, and so it will be in 2012.   --- Editorial post script: The prediction of more violence in 2012 soon became a reality when 27 year old football supporter Agustín Rodríguez was killed last Wednesday in a fight between two gangs of football supporters.

Javier Szlifman is an Argentinean freelance journalist who is writing for the Argentinean blog Pelota Afuera. ]]> News article Societal and personal development Tue, 24 Jan 2012 10:58:00 +0100