Introduction

A retrospective on Efus’ work: why we created MATCH-SPORT

The MATCH-SPORT project: local authorities working with local actors

How to address the issue of violence, racism, discrimination and intolerance in sport and, more specifically, in amateur sport? Through the MATCH-SPORT project, local authorities and sport organisations have been working together on reducing violence, discrimination, racism and intolerance in amateur sport through the exchange of expertise and practices.

Acknowledging there is an issue of discrimination and racism

It is common knowledge that sport can play an important role in educating youngsters in civic values, such as respect for others, team spirit and the benefits of personal effort, to name a few. Indeed, numerous studies have been conducted over the years in different countries on the societal benefits of sport. In Europe, the European Commission “believes that sport plays a vital role not only in individual health and fitness, but also in shaping our wider European society”. Furthermore, it states that sport should “foster a sense of social inclusion and integration, particularly for marginalised groups” and contribute to “eliminating racism and xenophobia and creating gender equality”.1 In the “Pierre de Coubertin Action Plan” published by the European Observatory of Sport and Employment in 2007, the EU said that the “prevention of and fight against racism and violence in sport [should be] top priorities”, which can be delivered “by promoting dialogue and best

1-European Commission, “About Sport Policy”, https://ec.europa.eu/sport/policy/society_en

practice exchanges in the existing cooperation framework and strengthening cooperation among law enforcement services, sport organisations and other stakeholders”. More recently, the EU 2017–2020 Plan for Sport sets the objective of promoting a “cooperative and concerted approach among institutions from different member states and where appropriate with the sport movement and other relevant stakeholders to deliver added value in the field of sport at EU level”. Many campaigns have been and are being conducted at the national and international levels to prevent discrimination and racism in professional sport, notably in football, by far the most popular sport in Europe. However, racism in amateur sport rarely makes headlines, even though it does exist, mirroring societal trends. Similarly, there are few studies on this issue.

In France, the National Observatory on Crime and Criminal Justice Responses (Observatoire national de la délinquance et des réponses pénales, ONDRP) published a report in 2017 that examined discriminatory violence in amateur sport, including among young players. The French National Council of Sport and Physical Activities (Conseil national des activités physiques et sportives) conducted a study in 2007 involving various stakeholders, including local authorities. The report notably highlighted the role of parents, as they are sometimes part of the problem. The study also revealed that the pressure on youngsters to obtain good results, including from coaches, volunteers and parents, can fuel violence.

In 2009, the European Forum for Migration Studies, based in Germany, published a country report on racism, xenophobia and structural discrimination in sports (encompassing amateur practices) in Germany. It observed that there is a “broad consensus that migrants are under-represented in sport clubs” not only as members but also as part of the staff. The gap is even more significant when approached from a gender perspective: if in a few particular sports male migrants have a high participation rate, “migrant girls and women, in particular Muslim girls, are largely under-represented in organised sport”.

Concerning gender discrimination and the related gender-based violence, a 2016 report by the European Commission confirmed the analysis of the above-mentioned German report. It is to be noted that, at the EU level, 65% of member states' male citizens practice sport, but only 56% of female citizens do so, which reflects underlying cultural and social prejudices against girls playing sport, but also the fact that there are generally fewer offers of amateur sports for girls. In light of this situation, and building on its experience of conducting projects to tackle violence in sport and promote tolerance, Efus designed the MATCH-SPORT project to look at how to locally counter and prevent discriminatory violence in amateur sport, in particular among the young.

MATCH-SPORT in the context of Efus’ work to prevent discriminatory violence

Efus has long-standing experience in supporting violence prevention through sport. Its collaboration with the Council of Europe on this issue dates back over 20 years, and it has more recently been working with the European Commission. Efus has been working on crime prevention and safety at major sports events since the “Euro 2000 Cities Against Racism” project, which already recognised the power of sport to bring communities closer. Furthermore, it explored the indirect consequences of discriminatory or violent incidents in professional sport (even more so in worldwide renowned competitions, such as the football World Cup, the Super Bowl or the Olympics) on shaping the behaviours we see in amateur sport at grassroots level. Other EU projects have since furthered Efus’ expertise on the subject: the GOAL project (2009–2012) supported cities in developing an integrated preventive approach when hosting large sports events, and the “Sport+ European Award for Social Inclusion through Sport” (2015–2016) showcased proven or promising initiatives for the prevention of racism or discrimination through sport (mainly amateur), which could inspire other authorities or NGOs at the local, regional, national or European level.

Acting locally against discriminatory violence in amateur sport

The MATCH-SPORT project’s main objective was to analyse the phenomenon of violence, particularly discriminatory violence in amateur sport, and to offer training and support to local authorities and local sport clubs to act against it, with a special focus on volunteer parents and with gender-based discrimination and violence as a crosscutting theme.

An important aspect of the project is that it considers discriminatory violence as a violent incident that the victim, a witness or any other person perceives as being motivated by prejudice, intolerance, bias or hate, and which may or may not constitute a criminal offence under the relevant criminal code. This definition allows for a broad array of incidents to be included, when more often than not they are ignored by law enforcement agencies or other authorities even though they can seriously dent social cohesion at the local level: from “minor” issues to the more diluted but extremely damaging structural discriminatory violence. Hence MATCH-SPORT’s objectives were to: Develop or strengthen programmes to counter and prevent discriminatory violence in amateur sport, in particular clubs or activities involving volunteer parents. The idea is to train parents so they do not condone any type of discrimination and on the contrary educate their children in behaving in a tolerant manner. Enable local authorities to build or strengthen local partnerships with local sports stakeholders (clubs and federations), and raise awareness of discrimination and racism.

Empower local partners by providing them with suitable and adequate response tools, as they are often well aware of existing problems but ill-equipped to address them. Specifically address the gender issue by examining the extent to which violent incidents in amateur sport are motivated by gender discrimination. In particular, the project created links with other European projects on sport that focus on the prevention of, and fight against, gender discrimination.

Sharing the project’s learnings with other European cities

This brochure has been written with the objective of transferring the project’s key results to other European local and regional authorities, and providing them with tools that can be easily applied to their specific context in order to improve discrimination prevention in amateur sport. The majority of the outputs presented here can be found in full in the MATCH-SPORT section of Efus’ website (www.efus.eu) or on the Erasmus+ Project Results Platform. The brochure is structured as follows:

Part 1: State-of-the-art of discriminatory violence in amateur sport in seven European countries

This part provides an overview of the desk research conducted in the project’s six partner countries plus the United Kingdom with the objective of assessing the awareness on violence and discrimination in amateur sport on the one hand, and the actions undertaken to address it on the other. Though the scope of the study is mainly from the perspective of local authorities, we decided that in order to understand the phenomenon in its entirety, it was necessary to have a look at the national and European levels. The research has allowed the partners to identify priority areas and thus build the basis for the project’s actions.

Part 2: From research to concrete actions – the local pilot projects and the training sessions

This section summarises the concrete actions taken by the project’s partner cities with the support of the project’s experts in response to the issues previously identified. Associating local sport clubs and associations, each pilot action addressed an issue deemed a priority by the city, such as the involvement of parents in clubs’ activities, the prevention of violence between players and spectators, or the fight against sexual harassment and discrimination. In the same way, the cities chose different ways to implement these actions, whether as training sessions, festivals or meetings.

Part 3: #weplayfair, an online awareness-raising campaign

This part presents the online awareness campaign created by the project and launched for the European Week of Sport in September 2020. We explain why it is important to use appropriate tools to reach the appropriate target audience. We also present a co-production methodology to create an online awareness campaign that takes into account the needs and priorities of both the promoters (i.e. in this case the cities) and the target audiences. Finally, we share the campaign kit itself, which is designed as a modular and adaptable how-to tool for local authorities wishing to raise awareness of the subject matter.

Part 4: MATCH-SPORT’s local policy recommendations

Part 4 includes policy recommendations elaborated by the project partners for local and regional authorities. These recommendations are the result of the many exchanges, both physically and online, conducted during the project. They reflect the core principles of the MATCH-SPORT consortium, which inspired and guided all the project’s decisions and actions.

Part 5: Selected resources and further information

Concluding the brochure, part 5 lists a series of documents for further information and understanding of Efus’ stance on the issue of discriminatory violence on the one hand, and on sport as a means to strengthen social cohesion on the other.