The Council of Europe gets involved in the Play the Game 2015 Conference

Having assumed a leadership role in the global fight against match-fixing, the Council of Europe now continues to raise its efforts in other areas of international sports politics. Therefore the sports political arm of the Council – the Enlarged Partial Agreement on Sport (EPAS) - and Play the Game have agreed to strengthen the public debate on a variety of themes at the upcoming Play the Game 2015 conference, which will take place in Aarhus, Denmark from 25-29 October.

In full respect of Play the Game’s independent programme planning, the agreement will help Play the Game 2015 put an increased focus on especially four topics in sport:

- the need for better governance

- the continued fight against match-fixing

- prevention of corruption in major sports events

- how to ensure social sustainability in the planning and execution of major sports events

As part of the agreement, the Council of Europe will support the participation of government representatives from the 36 EPAS member states and help raise awareness about the conference to an even wider group of governments and organisations.

At the XIIIth Council of Europe Conference of Ministers Responsible for Sport in Magglingen last year, the ministers agreed to put more focus on risks of corruption in sport and on the sustainability of sports events.

As one of the members of the EPAS Consultative Committee, which gather 28 Sports Organisations and Sports-related NGOs, Play the Game contributed with feed for thoughts on intergovernmental meetings about good governance issues.

“The Play the Game 2015 conference will provide officials from the EPAS intergovernmental network with an outstanding opportunity to meet experts as well representatives from the international sports movement and NGOs, so as to work on the implementation of the political goals set by the Ministers in Magglingen,” said Stanislas Frossard, the Executive Secretary of EPAS.

EPAS has made itself known in international sport politics over the past years as the driving force behind the new “Convention on the Manipulation of Sport Competitions”. One of the issues to be discussed at Play the Game 2015 is how countries outside of Europe can be encouraged to sign the convention, and how it can be enforced in the countries who have already signed up.

The co-operation will be centered around the dates 26 and 27 October, but Play the Game hopes to attract the EPAS participants to extend their stay. Play the Game’s international director Jens Sejer Andersen is grateful for the opportunities created by the agreement with EPAS:

“This partnership enables us to reach out to sports ministries and other public bodies across Europe and in return we will do our best to provide them with inspiration, knowledge and tools that can help them in their daily policy making.”