Take part in global sports debates on 'Play the Game take part'

With Play the Game take part (link disabled) we wish to introduce another tool to make the debate about all sports more democratic and accessible.

In addition to the existing Knowledge Bank, theme pages and news service we now offer you the opportunity to comment directly on news stories, discuss with invited authors or start your own debates. We hope this will increase the value of www.playthegame.org which already attracts close to 4,000 visitors every week.

“The information presented at our conferences and on our website on issues like ticket scandals in FIFA, mismanagement in international volleyball and illegal doping trade has already made a real impact on international sports leaders. But we need the assistance of the public to keep up the pressure and to further qualify the debate with new pieces of information, new thoughts and constructive ideas about how to solve the problems of modern sport,” says Jens Sejer Andersen, director of Play the Game.

Play the Game take part will also set the agenda with fresh contributions on current issues from journalists, authors and academics in our global network.

We launch with

• an opinion from the Australian father of the EPO test Robin Parisotto on the rights of clean athletes
  
  
• a reprimand to journalists about the way they cover doping cases by Danish doping-researcher Ask Vest Christiansen
  
  
• and an argument that female athletes should be paid just as much as male athletes from Donna Lopiano of the Women’s Sports Foundation

A voice to the voiceless
Play the Game take part is welcomed warmly by Laura Robinson, a Canadian freelance journalist who won the Play the Game Award in 2002 for her exposure of a culture of violence in Canadian hockey.

“The traditional world of sport journalism is dominated by cronyism between powerful people in sport and the journalists who are supposed to be investigating them. Sport seems to be so untouchable as if there is an unspoken rule that a “Do Not Disturb” sign is hung outside of locker rooms and board rooms. ” she says and continues:

“This online forum, despite the geographical distance between contributors, helps a journalist such as myself feel that I am not out in the wilderness. How wonderful to have a place such as this to electronically send our ideas and stories, and to read of others who have ventured into the unending landscape of sport investigation".

Yomi Kuku, Executive Director of Search and Groom, Youth for Development Centre in Nigeria, welcomes Play the Game take part as an entry point to international debate:

“Play the Game’s open space for dialogue is a big advantage for me as it gives a voice to the voiceless and more importantly a reason for us all to believe that the world is united after all.”

Go to Play the Game take part (link disabled)