As much as 85 per cent of Danish and Dutch public investments in sport go into sports facilities like football fields, sports halls and aquatics stadiums. But simply building facilities does not make more people active and knowledge on how to make the most of the investments is sorely needed.

Has football’s world governing body implemented any meaningful reforms since the much-criticised bidding process for the 2018 and 2022 FIFA World Cups? A top FIFA official and some of the organisation’s most prominent critics shared a platform at the Play the Game conference to address this question.

The approach to illegal betting at the London 2012 Olympics including embracing reports from the media should be an exemplar for future Olympiads, argued British sports lawyer Kevin Carpenter at Play the Game 2013 today.

Parental fanaticism and focus on performance and competition cause massive drop-outs among young people in sports clubs. But talent production and mass participation are not mutually exclusive, said former assistant coach for the Danish national football team Keld Bordinggaard in his presentation at the Play the Game conference.

Australia’s bid for the 2018 and 2022 FIFA World Cups did not fail due to a lack of suitability or a lack of infrastructure, the former head of Corporate and Strategic Affairs at the Australian Football Association (FFA) Bonita Mersiades told delegates at Play the Game 2013.

In Portugal, the local municipality of Leiria is paying 5,000 Euro per day in maintenance costs for a stadium that is now closed. And a further eight percent of the annual local municipality budget is spent repaying the mortgage of the stadium that was built for the European championships in football in 2004.

Certain phrases in the English language mean the exact opposite of their dictionary definition, Canadian match-fixing exposer Declan Hill told the Play the Game Conference on October 29.

Conference photos and presentations from the first days at Play the Game 2013 are now available for download on Play the Game's conference website and on Flickr.