Pieth, Pound, Pielke and other prominent experts to present at Play the Game 2013

FIFA reform advisor Mark Pieth and former WADA President Richard W. Pound (IOC) have confirmed their Play the Game 2013 participation this week.

They will be accompanied by plenty of other outstanding experts who vouch for high professional quality and political edge in the debates on the challenges to sport.

One of the most intriguing dramas in international sport will be represented by some of its protagonists when Play the Game 2013 later this year stages debates about the current reforms of FIFA.

The key external adviser to FIFA with regard to better governance, the Swiss professor Mark Pieth, has just confirmed his participation, showing once again his readiness to enter into a sometimes difficult debate. 

Are the reforms mainly facts or fiction?
Other presenters at Play the Game will vote for the latter, such as investigative journalists Andrew Jennings and Jens Weinreich as well as the American scholar and governance expert Roger Pielke from the University of Boulder.

“Since also FIFA has for the first time shown interest in having its voice officially heard at a Play the Game conference, and we just wait to have a FIFA name confirmed, we look forward to a landmark debate on football’s future,” says Play the Game’s international director Jens Sejer Andersen who is in charge of the programme.

Another topical issue is the challenges to the fight against doping. Some of the sharpest critics come from a surprising side: a report on the lack of effectiveness of the doping testing programme was recently authored by the very founding president of the World Anti-Doping Agency (1999-2007), the Canadian IOC member Richard W. Pound. 

At the Blackstone Chambers' Sports Law Conference 2013 in May, Pound stated that "If you are generous with the percentages, the testing system misses four out of five athletes who dope".

Richard W. Pound will explain his criticism during Play the Game 2013, and also WADA has expressed a wish to send a top official.

Play the Game 2013 takes place just a few weeks before the new, revised World Anti-Doping Code will be presented at the World Conference on Doping in Sport in Johannesburg in November. 

Pound also has a strong involvement in other key themes at Play the Game 2013, such as match-fixing and corruption in sport, where he will be joined by a long line of interesting keynote speakers such as

• Drago Kos, experienced anti-corruption expert, appointed head of OECD Working Group on Bribery from 2014
• Chris Eaton, Director for sport integrity, International Center for Sports Security (ICSS), Australia/Qatar 
• Richard H. McLaren, Lawyer and arbitrator at CAS, Canada  
• Declan Hill, Match-fixing expert, investigative reporter and author, Canada

But Play the Game 2013 does not only focus on negative challenges to sport. Also the opportunities for developing sports architecture and grass-root sport are in the spotlight, as well as the struggle to get social benefits out of mega-events. 

At www.playthegame.org/2013 you can find a line up of main themes and confirmed speakers. If you want to contribute yourself, there is still a chance to submit abstracts/storylines, but do not hesitate too long if you want to secure a time slot in the programme.

A preliminary programme for Play the Game with more specific information will be ready by mid-August. Sign up for Play the Game 2013 before 15 August to get the early-bird discount. Register here.