Diverse and rich, day 4 of #SIW2021 grabbed the audience attention from the first to the last minute. The day started with a Portuguese spoken panel promoted by SIGA’s member Ponta Delgada Regional Football Association, regarding the specific impact Covid-19 pandemic had on the so-called Macaronesia – four volcanic archipelagos in the North Atlantic. Representatives from Azores, Cape Verde and Madeira shared the problems they faced, yet with optimism, as football is getting back to normal in the region. This panel was held in Portuguese
Promoting Decent Jobs for Youth Through Sports was next on the alignment. Co-held by the International Labour Organization (ILO), the webinar showcased the best practices in an Open Forum, in which the audience was able to ask their own questions.
Laura Maria Tiilda, Project Manager, International Sport and Culture Association:
“I wholeheartedly agree that sport and physical activity can have a positive impact on a person mental, social and physical wellbeing. Most of us have a sense of how negative the lockdown was, the lack of fresh air and movement. Besides that, sport can act as medium to prepare youth for employment, both improving the soft and the core skills.
JOURNALISM AS THE GATEKEEPER FOR INTEGRITY
If unemployment increased during the covid-19 pandemic, journalism also suffered the consequences. Five specialists gathered for an interesting chat about the “new normal”, how media organisations were affected, and how it could influence Sport Integrity – as many main newspapers advertisers are betting companies nowadays. Surprisingly or not, all the panellists come to a happy conclusion: investigative Sport Journalism is not dead and is ready to take its part on promoting clean Sport.
David Conn, journalist, The Guardian:
“Investigative journalism does sell papers. Those are the stories that make impact and when the papers look at the year they had, the bid stories are very often investigative ones. I have a positive view that although there is financial pressure, very hurtful to small newspapers, the national newspapers in the UK are still investing in investigative journalism”.
“Leadership and Lasting Legacies” was the title for the second panel, where moderator Pedro Pinto had the chance to listen to the insights of Slaven Maric, Advisor to the Organizing Committee, Youth Sports Games; Ashley Brown, Head of Governance, Crisis ClubSupport & Club Liaison, Football Supporters Association; and Jackie Davidson, Assistant Director – Golf Development, The R&A
GLOBAL BUSINESS PRESSING FOR INTEGRITY
Third panel of the day, “Global Business: Pressing for Integrity” was the most participated, and the one who gathered more attention from the media, with newspapers like As, O Jogo, and A BOLA covering it. (check here, here and here)
Michael Robichaud, SVP, Global Sponsorships, Mastercard; and Justin Toman, Head of Sports Marketing, PepsiCo agreed that major brands need to ensure the sports franchises they sponsor comply with Integrity standards. Kate Beavan, Former F1, explained with numbers the impact of the lack of Integrity for the Industry, and Guy-Laurent Epstein, Marketing Director, UEFA, stood with her, making public that the European football governing body is ready to take SIGA Independent Rating and Verification System (SIRVS).
“100 per cent, I think we should take SIRVS and we are already doing this. We have to anticipate as much as we can these difficulties. We have to take it. We have two companies like Mastercard and PepsiCo, with whom we opened a significant dialogue on how to build that together. We want to collectively make thinks relevant to people. It is our duty to work as an example and make sure we can deliver those values going forward”.
Day 4 of Sport Integrity Week 2021 wouldn’t come to an end without the 4th webinar: Technology & Innovation: at the Service of Sport Integrity. Pedro Duarte, Director, Corporate External & Legal Affairs, Microsoft, highlighted the importance of data-driven analysis on athletes’ performances.
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ABOUT SIGA
SIGA is the world´s largest coalition in the field of sport´s governance and integrity. Supported by more than 100 international multi-industry supporters, SIGA is an independent and neutral organisation whose mission is to bring about meaningful reforms and enhance the integrity of all sports through a set of universal standards operated by an independent and neutral body. SIGA is the only organisation to bring together sport, governments, academia, international organisations, sponsors, business, rights holders, NGOs and professional services companies, from every region in the world, around a common cause of fostering greater integrity throughout sport.
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