Making democratic noise: Play the Game 2013 opens

With these words, Jens Sejer Andersen, founder and international director of Play the Game opened this year’s conference taking place from 28-31 October in Aarhus, Denmark.

Play the Game 2013 is the eighth conference on sport and society and by far the biggest and most ambitious Play the Game conference to date.

This year, while the storm was raging outside the conference venue, Play the Game opened its doors to a record 348 participants who over the next four days will experience thrilling debates on the most pressing issues in world sport.

Words of welcome
The first words of welcome were made by Chairman of the Board of Play the Game and the Danish Institute for Sports Studies Johs Poulsen.

He compared the raging storm outside the Helnan Marselis Hotel in Aarhus to the storm that has often visited the offices of Play the Game.

“It is not easy to step up for democracy in sport,” he continued, but if we want to protect and improve the values in sport, sport needs to be subjected to the same democratic debate on and off field as does the rest of society in general.

As Alderman for the Department of Culture and Citizens' Services in Aarhus, Marc Perera Christensen welcomed the Play the Game 2013 participants to Aarhus, stating that the city is glad to host a conference which, like the slogan of Rethink 2017 – Aarhus as European Capital of Culture, places immense value on rethinking important practices and facing challenges.

Christensen ended by wishing for a storm to rise in the forthcoming debates on sport over a very windy next four days.

Morten Løkkegaard, member of the European Parliament's Committee on Culture and Education, stated in the opening session that in his view, sport is one of the greatest political challenges.

For the first time, sport has been added in an article in the Lisbon Treaty, but even though there is a desire to face the issues in sport, the system where all member countries have to agree on an action makes it difficult.

What is needed, Løkkegaard said, is persistent support from people like Play the Game 2013’s participants filling in the gaps and telling politicians how important these issues are. 

Finally, at the end of the opening session, Play the Game 2013 participants were invited to a first-hand look into match-fixing when former Croatian football player, Mario Čižmek, gave his personal account of why he ended up becoming a match-fixer admitting that his club’s irregular salary payments had led him and seven other team mates, after months of pressure, to accept the money from a local match-fixer.

A truly international conference
Play the Game 2013 truly is an international conference. This year, participants are coming to Aarhus from 38 different countries spanning six continents across the globe.

The highest numbers of participants are joining the conference from Denmark and its neighboring countries Norway, Germany, UK and the Netherlands but guests are coming from as far away as Australia, South Korea, Nigeria, Saint Lucia and Argentina.

Play the Game is therefore proud to present its most diverse programme ever, allowing for different national contexts and varying perspectives in the discussions on sports greatest challenges. 

And continuing debate is very important, argues Andersen, because even though much has changed since the first Play the Game conference “it is also a risky situation where good governance can end up as a buzzword that will make politicians, sports leaders and conference organisers feel good – without any consequence in reality”.

“To ensure that ideas are put into practice and our experiences used for developing sport, Play the Game has to redefine its role. We must still serve as a platform for exposure of sport’s darkest sides, but we must also engage more with those forces who wish to shape a better sports community,” Andersen argued.

In 35 different sessions and workshops, more than 150 expert speakers from around the globe will add to the discussions and bring new perspectives to the international sports debate.

The key themes to be debated at the conference include match-fixing, sports governance and reform, mega-events, anti-doping, journalism, sports participation and facilities.

See the full list of conference themes here.

Several key speakers have chosen to participate in Play the Game this year. For the first time, FIFA will be represented at the conference when their Director of Communications Walter De Gregorio joins the debate on FIFA reform alongside the chairman of FIFA’s independent governance Committee Mark Pieth, who recently announced that he was resigning his post by the end of this year.

They will be joined by American professor Roger Pielke Jr. who is a sharp critic of the FIFA reform process so far, and Nigerian journalist Osasu Obayiuwana, who is an expert on African football governance. 

From Brazil, Play the Game is pleased to welcome the deputy sports minister Luis Fernandes in the session on the 2014 World Cup in Brazil and 2016 Rio Olympics. He is joined by Saint-Clair Milesi, communications director of the FIFA 2014 world cup organising committee.

Drive the silence out of sport
Play the Game aims to be the home for the homeless questions in sport, and this year, more people than ever have gathered to help shine a light on essential issues in sport and participate in open and honest debates.

Influencing the agenda in sport and creating a change therefore rests on the speakers and conference participants, Andersen concluded.

“The success of this conference does not rely on a programme on paper, because paper is after all – silent. It is your turn to drive the funeral silence out of sport.”

“Let’s make a bit of democratic noise. Let’s Play the Game.”

You can find the full speech by Jens Sejer Andersen here