If anyone could bear to sit through Piers Morgan’s World Cup South Africa programme last night with its African chanting in the background and Piers Morgan fighting back the tears as he listened to clips of Nelson Mandela’s famous inaugural speech from 1994, then you are perhaps a more tolerant person than I am. However, Piers Morgan firmly aside, the programme was actually delivering a really important message about the role of sport within South African communities. Sport, and particularly football, is so much more than a game – it improves the physical and mental wellbeing of the population, it brings people together, it provides a platform for the delivery of vital public health message, it teaches tolerance, fair play, discipline and valuable leadership and teamwork skills and for many it is what keeps them going from one day to the next. Today, many agree that sport could be a very effective means of achieving the Millennium Development Goals that Kiri mentioned in her last post.
Sport as a tool for social change is not a new concept - organisations such as the Laureus Sport for Good Foundation have been funding projects worldwide that are delivering and promoting sport for development for many years. However, although there has been a lot of talk, there are still very few governments, donors, NGOs and businesses that are actually taking action to recognise, invest in and advance sport for development. Will the World Cup in South Africa change this? There have been lots of discussions about the social legacy of the tournament and the responsibility of different stakeholders to ensure that the benefits don’t end when the final match whistle blows, but is it enough? It would be nice to think that Piers and even Glee’s Sue Sylvester talking about the benefits of sport is a sign that times are changing but I am understandably sceptical. The World Cup is a rare opportunity to influence attitudes and opinions, a chance to put sport firmly on the agenda – let’s not leave it up to Piers to make this happen.
Sport as a tool for social change is not a new concept - organisations such as the Laureus Sport for Good Foundation have been funding projects worldwide that are delivering and promoting sport for development for many years. However, although there has been a lot of talk, there are still very few governments, donors, NGOs and businesses that are actually taking action to recognise, invest in and advance sport for development. Will the World Cup in South Africa change this? There have been lots of discussions about the social legacy of the tournament and the responsibility of different stakeholders to ensure that the benefits don’t end when the final match whistle blows, but is it enough? It would be nice to think that Piers and even Glee’s Sue Sylvester talking about the benefits of sport is a sign that times are changing but I am understandably sceptical. The World Cup is a rare opportunity to influence attitudes and opinions, a chance to put sport firmly on the agenda – let’s not leave it up to Piers to make this happen.
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