PDF - ICSS Journal

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PDF - ICSS Journal

ICSS
I N T E R N AT I O N A L C E N T R E
FOR SPORT SECURIT Y
December 2014 | January 2015 Vol 2 | No 4
Tackling child
exploitation
in sport
Securing sport
Foreword
Get the latest edition of ICSS Journal on your iPad and online,
fusing perceptive and timely insights with sport-security issues that
are affecting the sporting generations of today, and of the future
Mohammed Hanzab
President, ICSS
Dear Reader,
M
atch-fixing. Doping. Fan violence. Racism. Corruption.
With new cases of such threats emerging on a monthly
basis, it is clear that sport is at a crossroads and that
organisations and governments must come together
to ensure that urgent action is taken to confront these problems.
As part of our commitment to sport integrity, the ICSS hosted
Securing Sport 2014 in October, bringing together 150 of the world’s
top international experts, including Lord Sebastian Coe, David Howman,
Umberto Gandini and Michael Hershman, to try to find real answers
on how to protect sport, and identify new ways to confront the very
real and present threats to its safety, security and integrity.
Securing Sport 2014 also marked an important landmark for
the ICSS, and a particularly proud moment for myself, as our flagship
event was hosted in London for the first time. This signalled our
commitment to extend our sphere of activities to key cities around
the globe as part of the ICSS’s strategic direction – helping to
shape and guide international efforts and policymaking in order
to safeguard and protect sport in a constructive manner.
The full report of the conference proceedings is available
for download from our website (www.theicss.org), and contains
Securing Sport 2014 marked an important landmark for the
ICSS, as our flagship event was hosted in London
ICSS
FOR SPORT SECURIT Y
For more information visit www.icss-journal.newsdeskmedia.com
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detailed commentary on a range of issues including transparency
and accountability in sport, major event safety and security, the
governance and autonomy of sport, and protecting children and
young athletes around major sporting events.
During December, in conjunction with Université Paris 1
Panthéon-Sorbonne, we published the full research report Fighting
Against the Manipulation of Sports Competitions. This report is the
result of more than two years of work by specialists around the world
in the field of sport integrity, and gives a solid evidence base upon
which to build effective prevention policies.
ICSS Journal – Vol 2 | No 4
3
Foreword
ICSS Sport Integrity Model ICSS
TM
FOR SPORT SECURIT Y
Advancing the integrity of sport to safeguard the future
PROTECT
The Sorbonne-ICSS Guiding Principles, which we released in May,
have been recognised by the Commonwealth Sport Ministers, endorsed
by the Community of Portuguese Language Countries (CPLP) and
also contributed to the Council of Europe’s (CoE) Convention on the
Manipulation of Sports Competitions.
The protection of sport is a team activity, and strong collaboration
between all actors within sport is necessary to win this battle.
Continuing our work on sport integrity, the ICSS and UNESCO will
host a special technical meeting between around 100 of the world’s top
government officials, technical experts and leaders in sport. The meeting,
which will be hosted in Doha in the first half of 2015, will be a significant
step forward for sport, and will be the first time international experts
meet to implement the detailed recommendations outlined within the
Declaration of Berlin on the manipulation of sport competitions.
The ICSS has also formed a special partnership with the Spanish
Footballers’ Association (AFE) and the Portuguese Union of Professional
Football Players (SJPF) to protect and enhance the integrity of Portuguese
and Spanish football. As part of our burgeoning relationship with these
The influence of organised criminals in sport is now
undeniable, and the action required of governments is urgent
two countries, the ICSS will work closely with the AFE and SJPF to enhance
the education, training and protection of young players. We will also
create special working groups that seek to introduce new frameworks on
the financial integrity of football throughout Portugal and Spain.
Signing with two of the world’s top players’ unions laid down a strong
marker about the ICSS’s intent in the area of education and prevention,
and will present an important stepping stone to ensuring a more
sustainable and viable future for football and sport as a whole.
Looking forward, while what was discussed at Securing Sport
positioned the issue of safety, security and integrity in sport firmly in
the public consciousness, what was made clear is that sport needs help
in confronting these issues. The influence of organised criminals in sport
is now undeniable, and the action required of governments is urgent.
Ultimately, sport cannot face these challenges alone and the
response must be global, united and powerful. Governments must
acknowledge the economic and social impact that criminal organisations
are exerting on sport.
PREVENT
• Strong statutes operating
in all sport bodies
• Transparent integrity and
due-diligence for all sport bodies
• Independent anonymous
reporting mechanisms
• Global integrity information
sharing across sports
• Harmonised government
legislation and sport statutes
• Integrated police and
sport investigations
• Independent and
integrity-driven referees
• Protect sport’s image as a model
for the best in human behaviour
ICSS
Sport
Integrity
Model
TM
DELIVER
CONSEQUENCES
• Harmonised disciplinary and
integrity systems across all sports
• Internationally standardised
consequence delivery to corrupted
persons in sport
• International database of persons
complicit in sport corruption
INVESTIGATE
• Preventative investigation
resources for sport bodies
• An independent global
intelligence collection and
sharing body for sport bodies
and police
• The support of government
regulators and the betting industry
to provide investigative indicators
and administrative evidence
MONITOR
• Promote for a single agency monitoring
international gambling to detect betting
fraud for all sports
• Sport specialists monitoring play to identity
suspicious matches
• A procedure to advise and guiding sport
bodies on global corruption threat
• In-play corruption-prevention
procedures for urgent
match-corruption alerts
Yours in secure sport,
Mohammed Hanzab
For further information about our Sport Integrity Services,
contact us at development@theicss.org
4
www.theicss.org
Contents
Contents
30
Securing Sport 2014: winning the game
Chris Aaron provides an overview of the Securing Sport 2014 conference, where issues of sports governance and integrity dominated discussions
36
Infectious disease and sporting events
Keith Gilbert and James L Skinner examine the implications for international
sport of the threat of infectious diseases, including avian flu and Ebola
42
Multiple battles are being fought on Turkey’s football pitches
James M Dorsey explores the tensions that are developing among Turkish
football supporters, focusing on a controversial new e-ticketing system
Integrity
50
Information-sharing in sport: legislative issues
Laurent Vidal considers the requirements of a legal framework for information exchange between states and sports bodies
An education in integrity
Murad Sezer/Reuters
56
Integrity education is vital at all levels of the sport ecosystem, but its
implementation has been inconsistent. Jake Marsh highlights the benefits
58
Ethics from the top
An extract from Lord Sebastian Coe’s talk at the Securing Sport 2014 conference
62
Match-fixing: framing the fight-back
A landmark legal convention has recently been created by the Council of Europe
to combat the manipulation of sports. Kevin Carpenter explains its likely impact
70
Contents
Vol 2 | No 4
December 2014 |
January 2015
iStock Images, Alamy
A review of events and developments
Technology
76
Who will take responsibility?
82
Simon Chadwick examines the role of governing bodies, sponsors and
spectators in realising a change of culture in the wake of corruption allegations
16
Elite sport heading for the precipice
18
Ending violence against athletes
90
6
Beacon technology: a solution for micro-localisation in stadia
Tracey Caldwell assesses the different in-stadia uses of beacons, a relatively low-cost location and communication tool based on Bluetooth technology
Legacy
96
The welfare of athletes can sometimes be overlooked, but there is increasing
recognition of different types of abuse. Celia Brackenridge discusses the
formation of Safe Sport International, a group aiming to protect all athletes
24
Monitoring the crowd:
privacy, data protection and best practice
Laura Scaife explores the value of different crowd-monitoring technologies, and their legal implications in terms of data protection and privacy
The corruption currently infiltrating elite sport could ultimately lead to its
demise. Chris Eaton looks at the measures that need to be taken
Security and safety
Crowd simulation: for the trained eye
Keith Still discusses the appropriate uses of crowd simulation technology for risk assessment and crowd management for major sporting events
Covering Agenda 2020; gambling among sporting professionals; New Zealand’s
measures against match-fixing; and rising costs for the Pan American Games
14
The ICSS
FIFA’s new agent regulations are due to come into effect in April. Andy Brown
considers what clarity they will bring, and assesses the reaction from agents
News and opinion
08
Intermediary regulations: clarifying a murky area
How will sport ride the new technology wave?
Technology is continuing to transform society, and sport is unlikely to remain
untouched. Dr Shaun McCarthy discusses how it can be used as a positive force
The Safeguards: putting child protection at the heart of sport
Last word
The protection of children in sport has been left largely unaddressed for too
long. The recently launched International Safeguards for Children in Sport are a step in the right direction, says Ann Rogers
101
Protecting children in sport
Dr Susan Bissell, Chief of Child Protection at UNICEF, talks about the challenges
of protecting children in sport internationally and changing attitudes
7
News digest
News digest
New Zealand Police share information with International Cricket Council
The International Olympic Committee
(IOC) voted in December to adopt
the 40 recommendations of Olympic
Agenda 2020. The recommendations
can be broadly grouped into
measures to reduce the cost of
bidding for and holding an Olympic
event; making Olympic events more
‘community friendly’ by insisting
on sustainable development and
operations; and paying attention to
economic and social legacies. They
also include engaging more with
local communities; paying more
attention to the welfare and rights
of athletes through greater support,
particularly with regard to gender
equality and sexual orientation; and
boosting the IOC’s good-governance
procedures through greater
compliance, transparency and so on.
A further category could be broadly
New Zealand Police Commissioner
Mike Bush and Ronnie Flanagan, the
head of the ICC Anti-Corruption and
Security Unit, signed a Memorandum
of Understanding (MoU) covering
information sharing to help combat
match-fixing ahead of the ICC Cricket
World Cup, which is being held in
New Zealand and Australia in 2015.
“We have identified match-fixing
as a potential risk to the integrity
IOC President Thomas Bach at the public launch of the Agenda 2020 recommendations
termed as ‘outreach’, which includes
various measures such as creating
a TV channel in order to deepen the
Olympic Movement’s engagement
with society as a whole.
of the tournament and have
been working hard to mitigate
this risk,” Bush said.
The MoU was signed a week
after New Zealand’s Parliament
passed the Crimes (Match-fixing)
Amendment Bill. “The ICC AntiCorruption and Security Unit and
INTERPOL have both described the
Crimes (Match-fixing) Amendment
Bill as world-leading legislation, and
believe it will give police a crucial tool
to protect the integrity of New Zealand
sport,” said Superintendent Sandra
Manderson, New Zealand Police’s
National Operational Commander
for the ICC Cricket World Cup 2015
and the FIFA U20 World Cup 2015.
“Police will now have greater powers
to investigate corruption in sport in
the same way that we investigate other
criminal activity,” she continued.
SAJJAD HUSSAIN/AFP/Getty Images
Xinhua/Landov/PA Images
International Olympic Committee adopts Agenda 2020
As each of the measures are
developed, the transparency measure
will hopefully be attained through
the regular publication of metrics
on each of the recommendations.
Ontario’s Auditor General, Bonnie
Lysyk, criticised security planning
for the 2015 Pan American Games
(TO2015) in a report published in
November. It cites underestimates
in security budgets and missed
opportunities to save money by
better planning security needs,
according to the Toronto Star.
The current CAN$247.4 million
($214.3 million) security budget for
the games is now more than double
the original estimate. In the budget,
CAN$57 million ($49 million) is
allocated to the Ontario Provincial
Police (OPP) and CAN$101 million
($86 million) to municipal police
services, with the bulk of the
remainder going to private security.
The Ministry of Community
Safety and Correctional Services and
its Integrated Security Unit headed
by the OPP budgeted CAN$39 million
($33 million) in 2013 for private
security, but eventually awarded
a CAN$81 million ($69 million)
contract to a US company.
“The budget for security
procurement was understated
8
Andrew Francis Wallace/Toronto Star via Getty Images
Pan American Games see rise in security costs
The ICC World Cup trophy on display in Delhi. New Zealand Police and the ICC
have taken preventative measures against match-fixing ahead of the tournament
Problem gambling rate higher among professional sportsmen
Ontario Auditor General Bonnie Lysyk: the security procurement budget for TO2015 was “understated”
and should have been more
accurate,” Lysyk said. “And we are
concerned that TO2015’s security
procurements are behind schedule.”
Both the OPP and the Ontario
government stated that the security
budget could rise further if the
security threat to the Games became
severe. The shooting of a reservist
soldier on ceremonial duties in
Ottawa in October has increased
concerns over terrorist attacks in
Canada in recent months.
The Toronto edition of the Pan
American Games will cost around
CAN$2.5 billion ($2.1 billion), but
this total does not include security,
according to the Toronto Star report.
Research into gambling amongst
professional sportsmen in the UK
shows that the problem gambling
rate for professional footballers
and cricketers is three times higher
than for young males in general.
The research found that
6.1 per cent of sportsmen would
be classified as problem gamblers
compared with 1.9 per cent of young
males in the general population, and
that problem gambling is highest
for players on lower incomes.
Brendon Batson MBE, Chairman
of the Professional Players Federation,
said: “There is an urgent need to
break down the stigma attached
to problem gambling in sport.
Sportsmen are a clear ‘at risk’ group
and the whole of professional sport
has a duty of care to these young
men. We all need to work together
to expand and improve the good
practice that exists on education and
treatment for problem gambling.”
The research also found that
25 per cent of sportsmen had received
responsible gambling education, and
89 per cent of those found it helpful.
The independently conducted
research was based on questionnaires
from 170 professional footballers and
176 professional cricketers.
9
News digest
News digest
IAAF and FIFA face governance challenges
Gonzalo Arroyo Moreno/Getty Images
Riot police on horseback guard the Vicente
Calderón Stadium as fans arrive on 14 December
for the first match to be held at the facility since
clashes between ultras led to the death of a fan
Two of the highest profile sports
federations – the International
Association of Athletics Federations
(IAAF) and FIFA – were having to
manage challenging governance and
integrity issues at the end of 2014.
The process surrounding the
investigation and report into bidding
for FIFA World Cups in 2018 and
2022 hit turbulence in November
and December. The Chairman of
the Investigatory Chamber, Michael
Garcia, appealed the findings of the
Adjudicatory Chamber, which was
represented in a 42-page summary
published by its Chairman, HansJoachim Eckert. When the appeal
was denied, Garcia resigned his
role on the FIFA Ethics Committee.
Then, on 19 December, FIFA’s
Executive Committee voted to publish
a “legally appropriate” version of the
full Garcia report, once the current
investigations into five individuals
have been completed.
Whatever the eventual outcome,
the disagreement between the two
Fan’s death prompts new security measures in Spain
10
closure of specific sections
of football stadiums that
are the location for acts of
violence, racism, xenophobia
or intolerance.
■■ Penalties for verbal abuse with
evidence being gathered by
official reporters who will attend
matches to monitor abuse.
■■ Development of punitive
legislation in response to any
collaboration, permissiveness or
support by clubs with potentially
violent groups or fans (such as
ultras groups), with sanctions
including possible removal of
points and relegation for clubs.
■■ Regulation of ticket sales and
supporter travel, with a list of
violent groups to be compiled.
■■
Javier Tebas from the LFP
said that four new legal roles
would be created to support the
new measures. These include the
appointment of a LFP Director of
Security from the State Security
Forces, with material powers to
manage and coordinate the Directors
of Security of LFP clubs; the creation
of an Intelligence Unit in the LFP,
which will collaborate actively with
the State Security Forces to fulfill
the requirements of Law 19/2007
against violence, racism, xenophobia
and intolerance in sport; the creation
of the role of LFP Match Director,
who will be responsible for verifying
and documenting the existence of
conduct that promotes or incites
violence, racism, xenophobia and
intolerance in football stadiums;
and the formation of a Control and
Monitoring Committee between club
Security Directors, supporters’ clubs
federations, the State Security Forces
and the LFP Director of Security.
Tebas also announced a series of
technological improvements in
stadiums such as the installation
of entry turnstiles with fingerprint
and facial recognition in sections
where there are risk factors, and
the renewal of the existing CCTV
cameras in the stadiums.
As discussed in ICSS Journal
1.4, security within Spanish stadia
has improved considerably in recent
years, but the situation outside, in the
hours before and after matches, has
been of longstanding concern and
this latest event points to the need
for football and police authorities to
take greater joint responsibility for
security in stadia environs, and for
better intelligence sharing.
clean athletes, and we look forward
to working with WADA to this end.”
Regarding the allegations made
against Papa Massata Diack, the IAAF
stated that its ethics commission,
which is independent from the
IAAF, would ensure that all matters
of concern are thoroughly and
rigorously examined.
Papa Massata Diack, an IAAF
Marketing Consultant, and Valentin
Balakhnichev, President of the
Russian athletics federation and the
IAAF’s Treasurer, have both stepped
down from their IAAF roles while
investigations are proceeding.
An IAAF spokesperson told
UK newspaper the Guardian that
Papa Massata Diack has denied
the payment allegations.
The investigations into these
separate allegations, as well as the
publication of the findings, will be
watched with interest, especially
as the election for the new IAAF
President will take place in August
2015 at the IAAF Congress in Beijing.
Michael Garcia, former Chairman of the Investigatory
Chamber of FIFA’s Ethics Committee, resigned his post
in protest at the handling of the summary report into
bidding for the 2018 and 2022 World Cups
Stuart Franklin - FIFA/Getty Images
The death of a Spanish football fan
during a fight between two ultras
groups has spurred new sporting
legislation in Spain.
Javier Romero Taboada, a
member of the Riazor Blues group
of Deportivo La Coruna supporters,
died on 30 November during a fight
between members of Riazor Blues
and member of Frente Atletico, an
ultra group linked to Atletico Madrid.
Newspaper reports suggest
that the fight had been organised
beforehand, and this seems likely
based on the known modus operandi
of ultra groups in Spain. However,
this has yet to be confirmed by
police investigations.
In the wake of the death, the
President of Spain’s High Council
for Sport, Miguel Cardenal, met
with officials from the Liga de
Fútbol Profesional (LFP) and the
Real Federación Española de Fútbol
(RFEF) to agree new measures to
eradicate violence from football.
“The aim is that in May, when
the season ends, the outlook is
unrecognisable from what it is
today,” said Cardenal, promising
that major measures would come
into force from 15 December 2014.
The measures include:
Chairs of FIFA’s bicameral Ethics
Committee, as well as the change
with regard to publishing the full
report, have done nothing to bolster
confidence in FIFA’s procedures.
The IAAF was hit in December
by allegations of systematic doping
among some Russian athletes, and
allegations of irregular payment
requests by Papa Massata Diack, the
son of IAAF’s President. The doping
allegations were aired in a series of
German television documentaries.
In response to the doping allegations,
the World Anti-Doping Agency
(WADA) announced a three-person
independent commission headed
by a former WADA chairman to
investigate the allegations, a move
that has been welcomed by the IAAF.
“The IAAF takes this opportunity
to reiterate its full support of the
WADA investigation,” said IAAF
President Lamine Diack. “Our
primary concern must always be to
protect the integrity of competition
in support of the vast majority of
11
News digest
News digest
Sport security incidents, October to December 2014
Sport
Weapon
Category
Location
Victims
Killed
Injured
22 December 2014
American football
Players fighting
Player violence
Miami,
United States
Players
0
21 December 2014
Chairs and other
objects thrown
onto pitch
Fan violence
Ankara, Turkey
Fans
0
1 police
officer
Fans of the Turkish football team Yeni Malatyaspor stopped a match in the 77th minute as they disagreed with the referee’s
decisions. After chairs and other objects were thrown onto the pitch, riot police arrived and used tear gas in order to control
the fans. Yeni Malatyaspor lost the match 2-1 and riots continued outside the stadium. Five fans were arrested and one police
officer was reported as injured.
21 December 2014
Basketball
Players punching
and kicking. Fans
throwing bottles
Player and fan
violence
China
Players and
fans
0
1
14 December 2014
Players fighting
Football
Player violence
Sichuan province,
China
Players
0
Multiple
players
Twenty three female basketball players in China women’s basketball league were suspended after the home team, Sichuan
Whales, reacted angrily to a foul against one of their players by a visitor from the Zheijhang Bull team. This sparked a mass
fight that resulted in the game being cancelled.
Firecrackers, chairs
and sticks
Fan/ultras
violence
Madrid, Spain
Fans and
police
1
11
Over 200 people were involved in violent clashes between rival fans from Atlético Madrid and Deportivo La Coruña ahead
of a Primera Division match.
A 43-year-old fan died from cardiac arrest after being pulled out of the freezing Manzanares River with hypothermia and
head injuries. Eleven other people were treated for minor injuries, including a police officer with a fractured hand. A total of
100 troublemakers were identified by the police.
29 November 2014
Football
Stones,
pummelling
Fan violence
Argentina
Player
1
0
A defender for the club Tiro Federal was beaten and bashed with rocks and died four days later. He was attacked by three
assailants in front of his wife and child as he was getting into a car after the match. The game was called off by the referee
– who had already sent eight players off the field – when fighting broke out in the field with 15 minutes remaining. This was
the 15th football-related death for the year in Argentina.
12
Location
Victims
Rival fans
River Plate
Monumental
Stadium,
Argentina
Fans
Killed
Injured
Sticks and knives
0
3
23 November 2014
Volleyball
Explosive vest
Suicide bomber
Yahya Kheyl
district,
Afghanistan
Young
spectators
and police
50
63
A suicide bomber detonated his explosive vest in a crowd of spectators at a volleyball match. The match was part of a youth
tournament and as a result most of the casualties were young people. Several policemen were also among the dead.
12 November 2014
Fireworks
Crowd disorder
Croatia, Zagreb
Scottish
fans
0
0
Celtic club fans set off fireworks in the stands and clashed with riot police during a match against Dinamo Zagreb in Croatia.
UEFA has opened a disciplinary case against Celtic after apparent crowd disorder at their Europa League match. This is the
fifth time in three years that Celtic have been charged by UEFA over supporter behaviour.
10 November 2014
Rugby
Punching
Player violence
Manchester,
United Kingdom
Player
0
1
Wigan rugby player Ben Flower faces a lengthy ban and further investigation after knocking out an opponent and then
punching him again as he lay unconscious on the ground. The opponent suffered a broken nose. TV replays suggest that
the incident, which subsequently ignited a scuffle between players from both teams, could have been prompted by Hohaia’s
earlier forearm smash on Flower.
14 October 2014
30 November 2014
Football
Category
Approximately 100 hooligans armed with knives and sticks charged into the coffee bar at the Monumental Stadium in a
premeditated attack on members of a rival gang, wounding three men. Argentinian sports newspaper Olé reported that the
attack was about the sale of match tickets.
Football
A fight occurred during a match between the Sichuan and Tianjin teams in the CBA league, which broke out with 4:20
minutes left in the final quarter. Sichuan’s Daniel Orton was kicked by Tianjin player Liu Wei after they fell on the floor. Orton
then punched Liu’s left leg, which started the brawl. Orton scuffled with Tianjin’s Shang Pin from the floor to the stands at the
same time one of the audience was trying to hit Shang with the bottle.
Basketball
Weapon
Unknown
At the end of a BYU Cougars v Memphis match, fights broke out in the middle of the field between the linemen, which then
turned into scuffles, with punches being thrown and players trying to stomp on each other. Later, dozens of people from both
sidelines spilled towards the middle of the field, many punching and grabbing. One player had blood streaming from his
face and then proceeded to punch another in the head.
Football
Sport
26 November 2014
Football
Quadcopter drone,
plastic stool, missiles,
flares and fighting
Remotecontrolled
Partizan Stadium,
quadcopter
Belgrade, Serbia
drone invasion
and fan violence
Players,
fans and
staff
0
Numerous
The Euro 2016 qualifier between Serbia and Albania was abandoned in the first half after a drone carrying a flag with the
insignia of ‘Greater Albania’ descended on to the pitch, sparking ethnic tensions that resulted in a mass brawl involving both
sets of players, stewards and fans.
After the flag dropped on the pitch, a player carrying it away was hit with a plastic chair by one of the numerous
supporters who invaded the pitch, while flares and various missiles were thrown from the stands.
12 October 2014
Football
Knife
Fan violence
Barcelona, Spain
French fans
0
2
Two Paris Saint-Germain fans were stabbed in separate incidents near Barcelona’s Camp Nou stadium after a Champions
League match. In the first attack, a French football fan who had just left the stadium was approached by two men wearing
dark clothing and ski-masks who wounded him with a knife. Shortly afterwards, three French youths who were attacked
nearby by several individuals, with one of the French fans injured by a knife.
13
Opinion
Opinion
Who will take
responsibility?
Professor Simon Chadwick discusses the
commercial and social implications of match-fixing,
corruption and doping in the light of recent allegations
I
n 2007, Adidas ended its
sponsorship deal with Germany’s
T-Mobile professional cycling
team after the sportswear
company grew weary of the constant
exposure to doping scandals it had
faced. In 2013, a rival sportswear
brand – Puma – withdrew from its
relationship with the South African
Football Association (SAFA) after
it was alleged that the country’s
national team had been engaged in
match-fixing activity. In November
2014, Emirates Airlines announced
that it would not be renewing its
sponsorship deal with FIFA, which
some linked to the problems facing
the governing body, although FIFA
said it had known of Emirates’s
decision since 2012. In the recent
past, Visa, Coca-Cola, Adidas, Sony,
and Hyundai/Kia have expressed
concerns regarding the allegations.
its affairs, many commentators and
the public in general have called for
sponsors to take affirmative action
in an attempt to force the governing
body into a process of change. The
logic being that, if FIFA is unable
to instigate reform from within,
then external pressure should be
exerted not just by sponsors but
by its other commercial partners
(such as broadcasters), too.
Promoting integrity in sport
There are clear reasons why the
likes of sponsors should withdraw
from relationships with sometimes
problematic organisations such
as FIFA. Sponsorship programmes
deliver a range of outcomes including
brand recall, brand association and
image transfer. As such, by being
associated with FIFA, sponsors are
exposing themselves to an ongoing
The public in general have called for
sponsors to take affirmative action
Following the publication of
Hans-Joachim Eckert’s summary
of Michael Garcia’s FIFA investigation
into alleged corruption in the bidding
process for the 2018 and 2022 World
Cups, the role of sponsors has once
more been put in the spotlight. As
critics have continued to question
the way in which FIFA conducts
14
torrent of negative associations
and adverse recall in the minds of
consumers, and are being tarnished
with the same image as FIFA. This
is serious, and a major threat to
the multimillion-dollar investments
often made by sponsors. Clearly,
corporations can ill afford for
their bottom lines to be adversely
Nasser Younes/Getty Images
affected by a sports governing body’s
inability to conduct its affairs in an
appropriate and professional manner.
But it is precisely the level of
investment made by sponsoring
corporations that is a major obstacle
to them taking significant action.
FIFA sponsorships do not come
cheap, and to withdraw from one
‘mid term’ would seriously undermine
the return on investment a sponsor
makes in acquiring and activating a
sponsorship. Furthermore, to simply
withdraw from a deal potentially
cedes power to a close rival. Not long
after Puma withdrew from its deal
with SAFA, Nike quickly and neatly
moved in to take over sponsorship
of the national team. The decision to
withdraw is therefore a big strategic
call for sponsors and commercial
partners, and one which most of
them are unlikely to take lightly.
As a first course of action,
sponsors and other partners often
prefer to strategically manage
communications around such deals
in order to mitigate any damage
inflicted by allegations of corruption
or other socially unacceptable forms
of activity. If this continues to be the
case, then one has to question
the extent to which they could
exert more pressure behind the
scenes on the likes of FIFA.
Sponsorship is unique in the
way that it brings the corporate
world close to decision-makers and
influencers in sport, often in stadium
corporate hospitality lounges across
the world. In such scenarios, there
seems to be a role for corporations
to not just wine and dine their key
customers, but also to fulfil a more
socially responsible role in pressing
a change agenda.
There is an element of social
responsibility that could motivate
such a course of action, especially
in a corporation demonstrating its
regard for fans of football or other
sports. The compression clothing
FIFA President Sepp Blatter and Sheikh
Ahmed bin Saeed Al Maktoum, Chairman
and Chief Executive of Emirates Airlines, after
signing a sponsorship agreement in 2006
brand Skins has taken this a step
further by seeking to use morality
as a strategic positioning statement.
Indeed, through its Change Cycling
Now initiative, Skins emphasises
its commitment to clean sport.
While some cynics might disagree,
this shows that there is a business
case for behaving in a moral way.
Perhaps it is simply the case that
FIFA sponsors have not thought
carefully enough about how they
can position themselves to assert
their ethical and moral credentials
while stressing their dissatisfaction
with bodies such as FIFA.
Complicit in corruption
Among all the rhetoric now heard
in the world of sport, football fans
most obviously stand and point,
blaming everyone from Sepp Blatter
to the chief executive officers of
big-name sponsors for the malaise
in morality that they seem to
perceive. However, whether the
fans themselves realise it or not,
they are complicit in perpetuating
the current situation. Many buy
television subscriptions to watch
FIFA events, and large numbers
travel to tournaments and buy
tickets. Though there is often disquiet
among fans, there has not to date
been any coordinated or concerted
direct action taken by large numbers
of them. In other situations, for
example during food scares, we
have witnessed consumer boycotts
or petitioning and lobbying. Not
in football, though; perhaps, for
many fans, football is not quite as
important as is so often claimed?
The same suspicions hold for
broadcasters and the media as
well, which both have a duplicitous
relationship with FIFA: on the one
hand, fuelling an anti-FIFA fervour
that rightly puts the organisation’s
ethics and governance in the
spotlight, while at the same time
promoting and covering the very
events that many in these sectors
have so roundly derided. Television
corporations and newspaper
reporters could easily assert
that they are only doing their jobs,
but then sponsors could surely
say the same thing in order to
address the accusations that are
currently levelled against them?
Hence, when we consider how
external pressure can bring about
change at FIFA or any other sports
organisation suffering its current
travails, we would seem to live in
a paradoxical age: united in our
condemnation of FIFA, in complete
disagreement about who or what
should drive the changes, and
somehow innocent in a situation
that we have been complicit in
creating. As such, while many of
us might look to sponsors to lead
in pressing change within FIFA, one
suspects that, until a consensus is
reached among stakeholders about
what we want, how to achieve it or
what role we want to play in forcing
the change, FIFA will simply continue
with business as usual.
Simon Chadwick is Director of the
Centre for the International Business
of Sport, Coventry University
15
Opinion
Opinion
Elite sport
heading for
the precipice
Blighted by endemic corruption, the world of elite sport
faces an existential crisis, says Chris Eaton, and
drastic measures must be taken before it’s too late
I
n 2007 Nassim Taleb wrote The
Black Swan, a book theorising
that rare and unpredicted events
can have enormous social
impact, even to the extent that the
evolution of mankind actually pivots
through them. In his view there are
negative and positive Black Swan
events: negative ones, such as the
stock market crash of 1987, but also
positive events, such as the internet.
In my opinion, nobody holding
truly serious authority in either
government or sport really believes
that the deep waves of corruption
currently permeating administration
and competition in international
sport will destroy sport as we know
it. They are merely waiting for the
endemic, almost casual, fixing of
football matches worldwide today
fails to shock any more, and actually
seems to have reached a low point in
terms of angry rejection. The sport
of football is the worst example of
this, but not by any means the only
one. All sports, including cricket,
tennis, baseball, basketball, handball,
volleyball, rugby and even so-called
eSports, are globally gambled and
locally corrupted, without any real
response of outrage.
A bleak prospect
Given the apparent resignation of
fans, a media fatigued by the lack
of consequences, and governments
mired in economics, it seems to me
I believe that elite competitive sport is
facing extinction within a generation
current storm to abate. Yes, they
mouth concern, but they continue
to act exactly as they always have,
no differently. Honestly, no differently!
In this case, given the gravity of the
situation, their talk really is cheap.
I believe that elite competitive
sport, as we know it, is facing
extinction within a generation. The
16
inevitable that the business of sport
will keep on its present track to the
precipice, being driven ever onward
by the same greed that drives the
sport betting sector.
If all sport goes the theatrical
way of ‘professional’ wrestling, or
becomes merely the database for
digitised ‘virtual sports’, the truly
All forms of competitive sports, from football
and cricket to baseball and rugby, are, to some
extent, afflicted by corruption and match-fixing
inspirational physicality of contest,
the beauty of selfless teaming, of
leadership, the agony of defeat and
the thrill of victory on a human scale,
will all be replaced by something
inherently less human as we know
it. This would be a truly negative
Black Swan event.
Am I being a Chicken Little here?
I hope so! I want to be wrong. I will
certainly be in my grave within the
time frame I suggest. And be assured
that I will desperately turn in that
grave if ultimately I am right.
Sporting bodies have done
a lot on integrity lately, right?
Governments are passing legislation,
investing in prevention, right? Police,
gambling regulators and sport betting
organisations are trying to stop fraud,
aren’t they? Well, yes, to an extent,
but as always in global environments
these actions are fragmented and
are leaving voids in any meaningful
response to the challenge now
sweeping sport. So the answers
are partly yes, but mostly no.
What will sport do after all the
soft options have been optioned?
Leo Mason/Alamy
Soft options, such as preventative
training, combative rhetoric, bans
and sanctions, betting monitoring,
conferences, memorandums of
understanding, always deal with
the symptoms, never the causes.
Athletes fall, and the footsoldiers
of criminal gangs are paraded so
that the media can mount them on
figurative spikes, and then all looks
good to every casual observer until
you take a closer look under the dirty
rug of corruption.
Possible solutions
So how can physical, real sport
avoid their sky falling in? What are
the really hard questions that sport
and governments are avoiding right
now? The solutions are deeply
seated, complex and difficult reforms.
There are no soft options, no silver
bullets, when your sky is falling. The
necessarily tough solutions need real
champions in both government and
in sport – champions prepared to
take on vested interests and demand
real action. For now there is a distinct
lack of such champions.
Here is how I believe the real
philosophy of sport can be protected
and enhanced in the current integrity
crisis. Effectively implemented, we
might be able to pull up before we hit
the precipice:
1. The modern culture of sport
is bounded by elitism and
greed, which is itself driven
by a recently embraced but
now all pervasive international
‘business’ model. This culture of
sport must change. Organised,
association sport is a crucial
social contributor, and the
culture of sport should reflect
this historical and philosophical
role. Only true leaders in sport
can reignite this magnanimous
and socially enriching culture.
2. An apparently simple but
actually difficult measure
is to make refereeing
and umpiring completely
independent and neutral from
the business of sport, sufficiently
for them to become the true
fanatics of sport integrity in
the field of play.
3. Governments worldwide,
who are by a long way the
biggest financial contributors
to sport, should require social
responsibility and equity in
spending from sport, sport
sponsors and sport betting,
and then routinely test their
compliance to it.
4. Governments are the first
responders, mostly through
police, to organised crime.
However, when conducted
transnationally, organised
crime is inherently protected
through a lack of global
mechanisms designed to
join-up information and
actions to prevent crime.
The international focus is
almost always retrospective.
Governments must change
this and enhance the way
international crime is
investigated, with a vigorous
focus on preventative
investigation to stop crimes,
such as match-fixing and
betting fraud, before
they happen.
5. Global business has a natural
interest in a stable world and
in stable markets. Too many
government actors, especially
the police, eschew the private
sector. Governments must
change and strengthen publicprivate partnership at a global
level in response to destabilising
trends, such as international
match-fixing in sports and
international betting fraud
on sport.
6. Prohibiting popular human
behaviour does not work.
A combination of free
choice, education, regulation,
supervision and protection
of the vulnerable, does work.
Governments worldwide should
legalise all forms of betting on
sport, while strongly regulating
and supervising it in a joined-up
global manner.
Physical, real sport can survive.
But it needs risk-taking champions,
not pure politicians to do so. Where
are they?
17
Security and safety
Security and safety
Ending violence
against athletes
D
uring the Securing Sport 2014 conference,
held by the International Centre for Sport
Security (ICSS) in London in October, there
was intense discussion of betting fraud,
match-fixing, money laundering, security threats to
events and other major concerns.
It seemed to this author that the dominant
discourse at the conference was about securing sport
organisations. However, there is also evidence of a
moral gap at the core of modern sport – the welfare
of the athlete. Measures to secure sport organisations
are rather meaningless if athletes themselves are not
protected against all forms of harm and abuse.
Deliberate violence to, and abuses of, athletes
represent the ‘enemy within’ sport, and merit at least
as much attention as other global problems facing
sport today. Safe Sport International (SSI) is intended
to help sport recognise and respond to such emotional,
18
physical and sexual abuses against athletes of all ages.
The Olympic Charter (2013) makes express mention
of the International Olympic Committee’s (IOC) role
in encouraging measures to support the health of the
athlete, act against any forms of discrimination and
promote sustainable development.
The Olympic Movement Medical Code (2009)
states that the IOC “should take care that sport is
practised without danger to the health of the athletes
and with respect for fair play and sports ethics…
[and should take] measures necessary to protect
the health of participants and to minimise the risks
of physical injury and psychological harm.”
In recent years, there has been a rapid growth
in awareness among sport federations, scientists
and athlete advocates of the damaging personal and
organisational impacts of non-accidental violence
and abuse against athletes. There is increasing
Charlie Nucci/Corbis
Celia Brackenridge OBE is a driving force behind Safe Sport International,
which aims to mitigate threats to athletes’ welfare. Here, on behalf of the
Safe Sport International founding group, Professor Brackenridge sets out
the organisation’s rationale, origins and plans for development
19
Security and safety
Different types of abuse
Calling non-accidental abuse to athletes ‘violence’ is
contentious because, as defined in the study Spoilsports:
Understanding and Preventing Sexual Exploitation in
Sport, “it challenges conventional wisdom by which
violence is defined as sudden, physically injurious
behaviour”. SSI has chosen to adopt the term ‘violence’
as its focus because it is a strong and unequivocal label
that is used by both children’s charity UNICEF and the
World Health Organization. It is also adopted as the most
comprehensive term, encompassing physical, sexual
and psychological/mental forms of maltreatment,
including abuse and assault. Harms and rights violations
widely reported in the media, first drew the attention of
the sport community to the need for safe sport. Article 19
of the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child asserts
that all children have the right to be protected from
violence, calling on State Parties to take all appropriate
measures for the protection of children, including while
in the care of others. However, in comparison with other
social institutions, sport has been relatively slow to adopt
child protective measures.
Sport is frequently used as a mechanism for
repairing broken communities after human conflicts
or natural disasters. However, sport itself is by no
means secure when it comes to the safety and welfare
of the child. In 2007, UNICEF recognised a gap in its
provisions in this regard, and subsequently developed
a strategy for enhancing child protective measures
in sport. These measures include strengthening child
protection systems around and within sport organisations;
increasing awareness and strengthening the protective
role of parents, teachers, coaches and others caregivers
as well as the media; developing and implementing
standards for the protection and well-being of child
athletes; implementing sport for development and other
international programmes and
initiatives; and improving data
collection and research to develop
an evidence base. Most recently,
building on the experience of the
Child Protection in Sport Unit of the
charity NSPCC in the UK, a set of
‘International Safeguards for Children
in Sport’ have been developed with over 50 organisations
around the world at local, national and international levels.
Safe Sport International aims to extend the
principles that underlie the International Safeguards
for Children in Sport to apply to athletes of all ages
Hero Images/Corbis
recognition that such violence threatens not only the
ethical and social basis of sport, but also the physical,
emotional and mental health of the athlete, regardless
of their age or status.
The prevention and treatment of accidental sport
injuries is largely dealt with by the existing sports
medicine infrastructure. However, attention must also
be given to non-accidental violence that is perpetrated
against athletes knowingly, deliberately or negligently.
Security and safety
Violence threatens the physical,
emotional and mental health of athletes
of concern include sexual, physical and emotional abuse,
sexual harassment, bullying, hazing and many others
that are in direct contravention of the UN Convention on
the Rights of the Child and the UN Declaration of Human
Rights. Unlike the well-entrenched systemic response
to doping in sport, there is no similar level of response,
and no globally established agency focused solely on
the prevention of abuse in sport.
Research evidence about the types, prevalence
and incidence of violence and abuse in sport has grown
considerably over the past 20 years. A preliminary review
of 466 relevant items in sport literature, conducted for
SSI, gives an indication of the scientific priorities in
this field. These include: sexual harassment and abuse
(undifferentiated) (n=132, 28 per cent), homophobia (n=86,
18 per cent), sexual harassment (n=58, 12 per cent), sexual
abuse (n=49, 11 per cent), bullying (n=39, eight per cent),
and hazing (n=39, eight per cent). While the founders
of SSI acknowledge that much more data are needed,
especially in relation to global cross-cultural comparisons,
we argue that there is now a sufficient evidence base
to underpin the need for a new concerted effort that
will require a dedicated body to raise awareness, gather
empirical evidence and drive cross-sports-industry efforts
to protect athletes from abuse.
Safeguarding child athletes is the bedrock of athlete
welfare. There is no doubt that recognition of child abuse
in sport, especially some high-profile sexual abuse cases
20
Safe sport policy responses
Along with growing scientific knowledge, there is increasing
demand for policies and procedures to secure sport as a
place of safety for all. These demands come from parents,
athletes, law-makers, policymakers and a range of sport
organisations, from local to international levels, provoked
by widespread media coverage of sexual and other violent
and abusive behaviours in sport. In recognition of this, a
number of agencies, from both human rights and sport,
have already developed harm prevention strategies and
programmes in sport. Such initiatives include practical
measures – such as education and training, codes
of practice and support for whistleblowers – and are
based on a strong platform of values and principles. In
recognition that athletes of all ages deserve safe sport,
a number of agencies have developed harm-prevention
strategies and programmes in sport to extend their work
to those over 18 years of age. Examples include:
■■ the IOC Sexual Harassment and Abuse in Sport
educational online training programmes;
■■ the IOC adopting the Consensus Statement on
‘Sexual Harassment and Abuse in Sport’;
■■ the 2010 UNICEF Protecting Children From Violence
in Sport review and subsequent initiatives to rid sport
of violence and abuse; and
■■
the introduction of various respect-based and other
safe sport programmes addressing both adult and
child athlete safety in many countries, such as
Canada’s Respect in Sport.
With similar initiatives arising almost every month,
the time is right to bring together all those active and
interested in preventing and managing violence against
athletes in order to develop a coordinated international
plan on safe sport. To date, with the notable exception
of the child safeguards mentioned above, there is no
internationally agreed standard for safe sport for all
athletes, and there are significant gaps between and
among countries in terms of policy provision and practice.
Initiatives are under way to address this challenge.
An ad hoc international group of experts on athlete
welfare and protection have been meeting regularly to
develop ideas for a global safe sport agency, a concept
that was first discussed in expert panel meetings for the
IOC in 2006 and UNICEF in 2007. Those participating
represented entities of the UN agencies and children’s
NGOs (UNICEF, UNICEF UK, the NSPCC’s Child Protection
in Sport Unit), high-performance sport (the US Olympic
Committee, the Hong Kong Sports Institute), development
stakeholders (sport for development consultant for the
Norwegian Olympic Committee), sport security (the
ICSS), the charitable sector (Oak Foundation), advocacy
organisations (Safe4Athletes), researcher-advocates in
institutes of higher learning (Brunel University London,
Winnipeg University, the Norwegian School of Sport
Sciences), and sports medicine. Key outcomes of these
meetings included agreement on the need to create
an organisation dedicated to working with others to
raise awareness and develop collaborative responses to
prevent athlete abuse and to help protect athletes and,
in particular, children in sport. SSI, the new organisation,
has developed a Strategic Plan and the ‘Safe Sport
International Declaration and Principles’ (see box on page
20), which are being translated into several languages,
while endorsements are being gathered from international
sport bodies and athletes. Early adopters include the ICSS
and the International Paralympic Committee.
SSI seeks an end to violence and abuse against
athletes. The founders agree that the sports movement
should set up a mechanism that will ultimately monitor
and quality assure compliance by all National Olympic
Committees and international federations with the Safe
Sport International Principles. In the longer term, we seek
to embed these principles – and the actions they imply –
in all sport organisations as a prerequisite for bidding to
host major sport events. However, for such initiatives
to be successful, the support of all stakeholders in sport
will be required, with safe sport policies and practices
linked to good governance.
This is clearly an ambitious project but one whose
time has come. It will be vital to grow the organisation
in a way, and at a pace, that the community of sport
will accept. For this reason, the founders plan to begin
with a permissive approach and move to a prescriptive
one some years on. The permissive approach will be
21
Security and safety
The Safe Sport International principles were agreed at a
meeting of the founding group members in July 2014. They
are being translated into several other languages, while
endorsements are being gathered from international sport
bodies and athletes. Early adopters include the ICSS and
the International Paralympic Committee. The principles are:
1. That the welfare, safety and rights of all athletes is
the central consideration in the administration and
delivery of sport.
2. That all sport organisations work together with
appropriate partners to prevent and respond to
violence against athletes.
3. That sport organisations establish and disseminate
relevant codes of ethics and conduct that will help
prevent breaches of safe sport.
4. That all members of the athlete’s entourage including
officials, support staff and sports coaches, leaders
and instructors undergo appropriate education and
training about safe practices as a condition of their
qualification to operate, including the adoption of
empowerment-based coaching styles.
5. That all members of the athlete’s entourage including
officials, support staff and sports coaches, leaders
and instructors undergo appropriate background
or criminal record checks and provide evidence of
these to those responsible for hiring or recruitment.
6. That athletes be educated and informed about
their rights to be safeguarded and how to report
any concerns they may have about their own or
others’ safety.
7. That reports of violence, and/or other actions or
practices by anyone in sport that compromise the
safety of the athlete, be treated respectfully and
investigated and acted upon in a timely manner
by appropriate authorities.
8. That individuals subject to complaints or allegations
be offered due process with fair and transparent
grievance and disciplinary systems, and with clear
suspension, sanctions and reinstatement procedures.
9. That appropriate multi-mode technology and
communications media be used to supplement support
for athletes or anyone else wishing to make and pursue
a referral about a suspected breach of safe sport.
10. That all breaches of safe sport are recorded and
managed systematically and the data used to
research, evaluate and enhance safe practice.
22
supportive, aspirational and educational, offering advice,
information and examples of good practice to those
whose sport organisations may be new to the ideas
embodied in safe sport. Over time, the expectation is
that the major international sport agencies will sign up
to the code for prescriptive safe sport regulations and
monitoring, just as happens with doping control now.
However, this approach to quality assurance at the global
level will only succeed if it builds on local action. Towards
that objective, establishing a network of agencies and
programmes for safe sport that can be used as mentors
and good practice guides at the local level should be a
key component of a strategy to combat athlete abuse.
International Olympic Committee President Thomas Bach speaks during an
event in Lausanne, Switzerland, November 2014. The IOC’s harm-prevention
strategies and programmes have informed the development of SSI
What difference will this initiative make?
For sport organisations and athletes, this initiative will
offer: clear guidelines on what is and is not permissible
in regard to athlete welfare, inter-relationships, coaching
practices and so on; and education and training to
increase knowledge and spread good practice. Eventually,
it will also offer: somewhere outside one’s own sport
to refer issues and concerns; somewhere to adjudicate
disputes about sanctions; and support systems for both
victims of violence and those accused of perpetrating it.
In 10-15 years’ time, we could anticipate the following
success measures:
1. SSI is identified as the go-to expert body for
consulting on and developing safe sport practices.
2. Standardised parameters and standards for athlete
welfare practices are in place, with meanings shared
throughout the major global sport and human
rights networks.
3. Parameters and standards for athlete welfare
practices are implemented by IOC/National Olympics
Committees/international federations.
4. The IOC mandates safe sport parameters and
standards as criteria for hosting events.
5. SSI functions effectively with diverse representation
from all regions and interests.
6. Advice, education and support is available via
customised tools and programmes for sport
organisations on how to develop effective safe sport
and harm-prevention measures.
7. Robust auditing and feedback mechanisms are
established and regularly updated.
8. Systems for measuring compliance with welfare
standards are designed, refined and implemented.
9. A technology infrastructure is established and
regularly updated, including a global database
for information-sharing.
10.Sustainable funding for SSI is achieved.
A number of related developments are relevant to
the formation of SSI. These include:
■■ a recently formed IOC Working Group addressing
harassment and abuse prevention and reporting
to IOC President Thomas Bach;
■■ comprehensive updating of the IOC Consensus
Statement on Sexual Harassment and Abuse
Jean-Christophe Bott/Pool/Reuters
Safe Sport International: principles
Security and safety
There is increasing demand for policies
and procedures to secure sport as a
place of safety for all
planned for late 2015 and its
extension to include other
forms of abuse to athletes;
■■ the development of the IOC 2020
Vision, part of which we hope will
address athlete welfare through
safe sport;
■■ the emerging IOC Youth Strategy
in which child protection and safeguards
should be a major plank; and
■■ the completion in 2015 of the two-year trial of
International Safeguards for Children in Sport,
being coordinated via UNICEF UK and UK Sport,
which could well become the de facto child
protection component of SSI’s work.
The next phase of development is to establish
an organisational structure, to set up a web-based
community of interest and to seek funding to move
the initiative towards a formal launch during 2015.
Empirical research and scientific studies are essential
to underpin these efforts and to ensure that initiatives
are always evidence based. SSI and the ICSS are in
consultation about a research programme that will
deliver a sound evidence-based approach towards
a deeper understanding of the issues and challenges
that sport faces to ensure the prevention of athlete
abuse so that sport can live up to its ethos of fair
and free competition.
Shaun McCarthy, Executive Director of the ICSS
Enterprise, the ICSS research and development entity,
says that the challenges faced by all stakeholders with
a passion to safeguard sport are growing, as our world
becomes increasingly complex. “This task is greater than
any one organisation, and we recognise that a growing
coalition of like-minded organisations will be needed
to secure sport,” he says. “As such, we are proud to be
associated with the efforts and initiative to launch SSI.”
Professor Emerita Celia Brackenridge OBE is founding
member of Safe Sport International. For further
information, please email: info@safesportintl.org.uk
23
Security and safety
Security and safety
The Safeguards:
putting child protection at the heart of sport
F
or children everywhere, sport and play bring
countless benefits, but worldwide the complex
relationship between children and sport is also
fraught with risk. Too often, sport has failed
to adequately protect children from non-accidental
harm and abuse. For decades, this area of policy has
been largely unaddressed. Definitive proof of a need
to protect children in sport has been lacking, and
opinions have been divided on how to tackle the
complex issues involved.
An international initiative aimed at addressing this
gap is now bearing fruit. The International Safeguards
for Children in Sport were launched at the Beyond Sport
conference in Johannesburg South Africa in October
2014. The Safeguards are both a tangible culmination
of serious work to address the issue, and the beginning
of a long road to ensure children in sport are kept safe.
As stated in the International Safeguards for
Children in Sport report, the aims are as ambitious as
they are necessary: to provide safeguards that constitute
“a holistic approach to ensuring children’s safety and
protection in all sports contexts internationally”. They
have been designed for use by any organisation that
provides sports activities to children and youth, and
will evolve as more research and experience feed back
into what is collective good practice.
Global economic inequality is visited hardest on
its most vulnerable members, an imbalance that is
24
clearly manifest in sport. In West Africa, boys are
trafficked to play football. Indeed, speaking after a
meeting of global police, church and government
officials in December, the Archbishop of Westminster,
Cardinal Vincent Nichols, drew attention to children
who are enticed to the UK with the promise of a career
in the Premier League, but then trafficked into slavery.
In Thailand, brain damage found in young Muay
kickboxers is similar to the damage caused by car
accidents. In many countries, cultural values and
economic necessity have hampered efforts to protect
children from the risks that inhere in sporting activities.
The former communist states in Eastern Europe
pose another diverse set of challenges. The collapse
of state-supported systems for training young elite
athletes left a vacuum, along with a legacy of overtraining and doping children in order to maximise
performance. When the Berlin Wall fell in 1989, many
coaches and trainers were recruited and became
active internationally, proliferating some questionable
methods to enhance athlete performance.
Even in states where child protection is taken
seriously and capacity is strong, sport often gets a
free pass. In Canada, influential hockey commentator
Don Cherry frequently defends violence on the ice:
“Here’s the name of the game: you fight, you get hurt,”
he remarked during match analysis on CBC’s Hockey
Night in Canada after a player left on a stretcher in a
iStock and Alamy Images
Dr Ann Rogers discusses the International Safeguards for Children in Sport –
the beginning of a long road towards making sport and play safe for children
25
Security and safety
Security and safety
Winter Olympics in Vancouver as ‘worrisome’, given the
sole focus on performance improvement rather than
overall athlete welfare.
International sporting bodies such as the International
Olympic Committee (IOC) have been slow to take up the
cause of safeguarding children. The IOC initially limited
its concerns to the over-training of young elite athletes
and sexual abuse and harassment. It is now beginning to
expand its concerns to more general problems. League
sports, notes Tiivas, have also been reluctant to engage.
The pressure to sacrifice children’s safety and
well-being on the altar of sport climbs into even more
complex territory when money becomes a factor. What
looks to some like the commodification of young athletes
looks to others like a potential escape from poverty for
children with few other options. In his investigation into
Muay Thai boxers, ESPN reporter Steve Marantz found
that the prize purses some child fighters bring home are
often vital sources of income. For too many children and
their families, the violation of rights, the undermining
Leo Correa/PA Images
People stand together to spell out the message ‘Red card to child labour’ in
Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, June 2014. The event was part of a campaign by the
International Labour Organisation against the practice of child labour
Changing the game
The UK experience provided a template for action. A
series of high-profile child abuse scandals, accompanied
by public backlash and loss of sponsorship, forced the
British sporting community out of its complacence. For
example, in 1995 a 17-year jail sentence was handed down
to former UK Olympic swim coach Paul Hickson, who
was convicted on multiple counts of raping and abusing
teenaged members of his swim teams over a 15-year
period. The Amateur Swimming Association attempted
to treat the incident as a ‘one-off’, but ultimately lost
£1 million in sponsorship money and faced demands that
sport become more accountable, says Tiivas. “In the UK
in the 1990s, swimming, football, and
yachting came to the NSPCC only
when they had had really bad things
happen… and they wanted to know
what to do to make things better,”
Tiivas told the ICSS conference.
While the initial impetus for
change was motivated by a need
to manage risks and rebuild reputations, the benefits of
replacing the hidebound traditions of ‘old-school’ sports
with a modern, more child-centred model soon became
apparent. The English sporting community quickly
embraced change. According to Tiivas, action and uptake
was fast: “We were able to cover a lot of ground very
quickly. It shows what sports can do – these people are
action-oriented, and know how to get things done.”
For a very long time, sport and its
norms sat outside the rest of society
2013 incident. Concerns about injury – concussion is a
major problem in junior hockey – vie with entrenched
attitudes that young players need to learn the aggressive
and intimidating tactics that are an accepted part of the
professional game in which they aspire to play.
Calls for the rights of children to be heard, for them
to have agency over their lives, their well-being and their
bodies, and to play a role in decisions that affect them,
have become increasingly difficult for sport to ignore. It is
not only their athletic performance or potential that need
to be considered. “Children themselves are at the centre of
what they should be doing,” says Anne Tiivas, head of the
Child Protection in Sport Unit of the National Society for
the Prevention of Cruelty to Children (NSPCC), the UK’s
leading charity dealing with child abuse. The International
Safeguards, which are based on successful UK standards,
are designed to put children first.
A long history of risk
On paper, children should be safe. In general, child
protection has improved vastly since the Second World
War, and both internationally and nationally, they have
significant protections and rights. According to Article 19
of the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child, children
have the right to be protected from “all forms of physical
or mental violence, injury and abuse, neglect or negligent
treatment, maltreatment or exploitation, including sexual
abuse”. Children are also covered under the UN Universal
Declaration of Human Rights, while international law
prohibits trafficking, sexual exploitation and child labour.
States themselves are responsible for creating the
legal structure and social policies for protecting children,
26
have agency to protect themselves and their interests.
The challenge is to raise awareness and change a global
sporting culture that is not only reluctant to confront
these problems, but is made up of societies with very
different ethical and cultural ideas about what constitutes
unacceptable behaviour or inadequate care of children.
and while many already have effective regimes, others
lack the capacity or political will to follow suit. But until
recently, children in sports have been overlooked virtually
everywhere, although their relations with adults leave
them vulnerable to exploitation and abuse. Tiivas told
participants at the International Centere for Sport Security
(ICSS) ‘Securing Sport’ conference in London in 2014:
“For a very long time, sport and its norms sat outside the
rest of society.” She said that even when problems were
identified, “sport itself lacked the capacity to respond”.
The ‘no pain, no gain’ mantra is central to a sporting
culture that is performance- rather than people-oriented,
and the line between what is needed to help children
enjoy sport and excel at it is highly subjective and often
very socially specific. When does constructive criticism
become verbal abuse? When does an extra lap around
the track become over-training? Views and experiences
vary widely, between parents, coaches, organisations
and among children themselves.
Sport has been reluctant to broach the issue. England
is now considered to be a world leader in this field, but
as recently as 2002, Brunel University professor Celia
Brackenridge summed up the attitudes she found during
her research by calling an article she wrote on the subject,
‘“...so what?” Attitudes of the voluntary sector towards
child protection in sports clubs.’
In a 2008 report titled Child Protection in Sport:
Implications of an Athlete-Centered Philosophy, Canadian
researchers Gretchen Kerr and Ashley Stirling described
high-profile national initiatives such as the Canadian
Olympic Committee’s ‘Own the Podium’ programme
that was set up in order to prepare athletes for the 2010
of education, and the risk to physical and mental wellbeing is balanced against the glittering prize that sporting
success can bring in terms of wealth and prestige.
Amid such widespread problems, neither existing
laws nor good intentions are enough to keep children
safe. Sport itself needs to recognise that everywhere
sports happen, there are risks; that those involved have
a duty of care to children; and children themselves must
The International Safeguards for Children in Sport
The safeguards are a set of guidelines designed to help everyone that is involved in sport to keep children safe. The full report
and detailed safeguards can be downloaded from the NSPCC Child Protection in Sports Unit’s resource library. In brief, the
eight safeguards are:
1. Develop a clear policy that places children’s rights and protection at its centre and that provides a framework for
developing processes to achieve this.
2. Develop and implement credible organisational procedures that provide step-by-step guidance on how to protect
children in various circumstances. Ensure that children and parents, as well as staff, are aware of them.
3. Provide advice and support for people – whether staff or volunteers – who are responsible for safeguarding children.
4. Minimise risks to children, including undertaking risk assessments for activities, transport, and accommodation, as well
as recognising some children face additional risks due to race, gender, disability, and so on.
5. Provide guidelines on behaviour, including expectations of the children and those taking care of them (for example,
host families). Provide guidance on working with children with disabilities, and codes of conduct around information
technology so that children’s sport is carried out in a safe, positive and encouraging atmosphere.
6. Recruit, train and communicate in ways that create opportunities to develop and enhance safeguarding by recognising
that everyone in contact with children has a role to play in their protection.
7. Partner with other organisations to share and develop mutual understanding of expectations around safeguarding.
8. Monitor and evaluate compliance and effectiveness to identify where improvements and adaptations may be needed,
or to recognise patterns of risk.
27
Security and safety
28
UN Secretary-General’s World Report on Violence
against Children mentions sport only once
eyond Sport, a group that brings corporate
B
funding and support together with sporting causes
that promote social goods globally, achieves a
high profile when Tony Blair becomes chair of its
Ambassadors programme
NICEF report identifies gaps in UN research and
U
shows need to better protect children in sport
NICEF initiates discussion with over 30 leaders
U
and thinkers on the topic of child safeguarding;
a set of international standards for safeguarding
children in sport were introduced and a working
group formed. Beyond Sport et al launch pilot
project on developing safeguarding standards for
children in sport
International Safeguards for Children
in Sport launched at Beyond Sport
Summit in Johannesburg, South Africa
d hoc group of experts formalises to become
A
Safe Sport International, a new international
organisation dedicated to ending violence and
abuse of athletes. Plans include establishing an
organisational structure and a new website
The Standards for Safeguarding and Protecting
Children in Sport, launched in England in 2002, became
central to the new emphasis on child safety, and soon
became mandatory for all funded sports and sports
partnerships. Sports England got firmly behind the
Standards, and a decade on they have largely been met.
The positive impact of the Standards on children’s
safety occurs on a huge scale. Tiivas notes that every
week in England some 1.9 million volunteers participate
in children’s sporting activities. Thanks to improved
training and awareness, children are better protected and
the overall experience for all has been improved. Much
still remains to be done in terms of continuing research
and finding better ways to gather data and evaluate
effectiveness, particularly at the grassroots level, says
Tiivas, but it seems that a sea-change is occurring.
A Muay Thai boxer, aged nine, receives a massage before a fight. In Thailand,
children as young as seven take part in the sport, often for financial reasons
Going global
UNICEF had long promoted children’s sports as an
effective development strategy. In refugee camps and
in post-conflict situations, sport has been seen as an
effective way to re-introduce some normalcy and fun into
children’s lives. The idea that sport and play are inherently
good for children is so strongly ingrained that the 2006
UN Secretary-General’s World Report on Violence Against
Children mentioned sport only once, in passing.
However, the issue was already on people’s radar.
Susan Bissell, now UNICEF’s Head of Child Protection,
began to worry that UNICEF had not adequately
questioned the safety issues around children in sport.
In 2007, UNICEF began to take formal steps to address
this gap, forging relationships with researchers, sporting
organisations, governments and international nongovernmental organisations. An international ad hoc
working group – which would eventually become Safe
Sport International – was convened to bring the issues
of children’s rights and children in sport together to
see what could be done.
The plan for action began to crystallise around
creating a set of safeguards for children that were both
development- and sports-specific. Increasing awareness
of children’s vulnerability to abuse and exploitation when
engaged in sport helped move the agenda forward.
Bodies such as Beyond Sport, which seeks to link
corporate funding power to spending on social goods,
along with academic research that helped to expose
and clarify structural problems in sporting culture that
lead to harm, and changing attitudes within the sporting
community made it possible to begin to scale up
protections for children on a global scale.
Money was found for furthering the cutting-edge
research being undertaken at Brunel University’s Centre
for Youth Sport and Athlete Welfare, and groups such
as the UK UNICEF, The Right to Play, the NSPCC and
Comic Relief came on board. The London Olympics gave
the movement increased momentum, and a group of
organisations partnered at the Beyond Sport summit in
London in 2012. Soon, a pilot programme for trialling
standards that would be universally applicable was
Taylor Weidman/PA Images
1989
2006
1995
2005
IOC Medical Code mandates need to protect
health and well-being of athletes
2009
1990s
2002
K Standards for Safeguarding and Protecting
U
Children in Sports launched
2010
In the UK, only one in 10 sports bodies complete
police criminal record checks on paid coaches
and staff members dealing with children, and
almost half have no reporting system in place for
handling abuse allegations
2012
In wake of a series of scandals, UK sports groups
approach the NSPCC for guidance on how to
better protect children
2014
K swimming coach Paul Hickson convicted on
U
multiple counts of sexual abuse of young swimmers
2015
UN Convention on Rights of the Child
2000
Timeline
Security and safety
underway. The pilot involved 50 sporting organisations
trialling the UK Standards internationally. From Laos
to Brazil, the global response to the standards was
both positive and surprisingly consistent across the
diverse organisations piloting them. With some tweaks,
the standards were renamed Safeguards and formally
launched in October 2014.
Tiivas noted that the two-year pilot scheme has
been revealing. It has proven much easier to put things
in place at the grassroots level. Progress has been slower
when top-down approaches have been tried, for example
working with national governing bodies.
Problems and prospects
Depending on location, the challenges, culture and
capacity to implement change vary greatly. There are
deep cultural sensitivities around both sport and children;
many places still do not have any form of child protection
legislation, or if it is present, it is not being implemented.
Whatever the diverse circumstances they are employed
in, the International Safeguards are already proving to be
an accessible and usable tool. Tiivas said that Trinidad
and Tobago, which is only just getting its first children’s
protective services, is incorporating sports safeguards into
its mandate right from the start, thanks to this initiative.
The International Safeguards, like the UK Standards,
will go a long way to ensuring that children around the
world are consulted and protected, but there is a lot of
work ahead. Safe Sport International, which will become
fully functional in 2015, is the “natural home for continuing
organised work on safeguards, but the challenge is funding
it”, says Tiivas. “Corporate [funders] are still wary, given
the subject matter.” Some money for work in Europe is
coming from the EU and the Council of Europe, but to
shift global attitudes, much more is needed. “Even
translating the Safeguards into local languages is a
cost barrier that we have to overcome,” Tiivas said.
She noted that there has been a lot of resistance to
change, but interest is growing as sport recognises firstly
that the issue is not going away and secondly that there
are clear benefits to adopting a safeguarding approach.
Ongoing research demonstrates an incontrovertible
need for safeguards, and in a world of globalised social
media and communications, there is no longer anywhere
to hide when scandals hit. Furthermore, young athletes
themselves are becoming more empowered, demanding
that their rights and safety be protected.
Cultural, ethical and economic differences cannot
detract from the universal necessity and urgency to
protect all children, everywhere, when they participate
in sport. Endorsing the International Safeguards, ICSS
President Mohammed Hanzab said: “For many young
people around the world, sport means many different
things. For some it is purely for fun. For others, it is a
way out of poverty. Regardless of why they play, the
safety and well-being of children must be safeguarded.”
Dr Ann Rogers is a Canadian international security
professional who specialises in open-source
research and analysis
29
Security and safety
Security and safety
Securing Sport 2014:
winning the game
S
ecuring Sport 2014 was held in London on
6-7 October, marking the first time the annual
conference has been held outside Qatar.
Three major preoccupations emerged during
the two days: how sporting bodies should be governed
and regulated; how sport and athletes can be protected
from rising threats linked to organised crime; and
how sports bodies should engage with communities,
particularly youth, in order to maintain their relevance.
Opening the conference, Jonathan Edwards,
British gold medallist and world record holder in
the triple jump, noted that his world record from the
Gothenberg World Championships will celebrate its
20th anniversary in 2015, “which is something to
be very proud of, but only if the integrity of that
competition and the institutions behind it are not
brought into question... there is so much at stake:
sport for its own sake and the way it enriches so many
people’s lives; sport as an economic driver given the
30
amount of money that is involved now and the jobs it
creates; and also sport as a catalyst for social change.”
Can sporting organisations continue to self-regulate,
or must they be subject to governmental oversight or
regulation from a global, extra-judicial body? Or to put
it another way: who is going to take responsibility and
take action? This question was the focus of the meeting.
José Ramos-Horta, the Nobel Laureate and former
President of Timor L’Este, reminded the audience
that while sport alone could not bring peace and
reconciliation to post-conflict or deprived communities,
it does have an important role to play. However, it can
only perform this role if its organisations and individual
stars are held in respect and perceived as being free
from corruption and cheating.
Michael Hershman from Transparency International,
who has now joined the Advisory Board of the ICSS,
argued that sports institutions cannot be relied on to
self-regulate and introduce the reforms needed for
The ICSS
Chris Aaron reviews the discussions held at Securing Sport 2014, where
the issue of who will take responsibility for improving sports governance and
protecting sports integrity dominated debate
ICSS President Mohammed Hanzab delivers a speech at
Securing Sport 2014. The conference addressed crucial
issues that threaten sport today, including organised crime,
event safety and security, match-fixing and governance
31
Security and safety
The ICSS
Security and safety
José Ramos-Horta, former
President of Timor L’Este
good governance, but that governments must take more
responsibility, particularly where they help fund sports,
and that the corporate sector has shown how overarching
governance bodies can be established to provide oversight
and drive reforms. Barry Hearn, a long-time sports
entrepreneur, also called for greater state regulation of
the sport sector, specifically related to gambling, saying
that the threats from unregulated betting and organised
crime involvement in match-fixing, are now a threat
beyond the scope of sports bodies. He also advocated
specific government funding of sports bodies to help them
fight integrity challenges, possibly basing this funding
on a special tax on rich sports organisations, such as
the Premier League. David Howman, Director General
of the World Anti-Doping Agency
(WADA), pointed to the successes
of the organisation, suggesting
that it could be a template for a
similar global agency to address all
aspects of sports integrity, including
governance, doping, match-fixing,
and violence. Emídio Guerreiro,
Portugal’s Secretary of State for Sport, also noted that
the sports community still lacked “an entity that can help
us share and create solutions together”, that there is still
no one body bringing everything together.
However, other delegates and speakers were very
much against the idea of one over-arching body to cover
all threats to sports integrity. One delegate told the
author that a single authority was impractical given the
diverse nature of the threats, and Lord Sebastian Coe
also expressed reservations about the effectiveness of
an over-arching body, arguing that measures to improve
governance can only work if a culture of integrity is
Michael Hershman,
Transparency International
instilled in sports bodies, and that the focus should be
on internal reforms and better governance at all levels of
sports organisations, rather than implementing some kind
of top-down control. He pointed to the ongoing reform of
the International Olympic Committee (IOC) as an example
of how sports bodies can self-regulate and meet the
challenges of good governance if they have a ‘compelling
vision’ of their role in society.
Lord Coe also drew attention to the issue of
communication between bidding teams and decisionmakers as an example of where excessive regulation
could be detrimental: “There is a balance here, because
for a bid to win and gain acceptance and admiration
you need personal relationships... There is again
Up to 25 per cent of world sport
could be affected by organised crime
32
proportionality. We have to be careful you don’t take
the human dimension from all this and just do it by a
technical bid... An organising committee needs to present
itself not just as a bid committee... You need to know as
an executive committee member of a sport, that you are
comfortable that the team that is out there bidding will
also make an extremely good delivery team because,
believe me, the easy bit is bidding.”
Organised crime involvement in match-fixing and
unregulated gambling, violence against young people
in sport and trafficking of young people, cyber-threats,
and biological-agent attacks were all raised as issues
Angela Melo, Director of Youth,
Ethics and Sport, UNESCO
that, while not new, appear to be growing threats to the
safety and security of sports people and sporting events.
While match-fixing and related gambling issues have
been discussed widely, it is the increasing involvement of
transnational organised crime in both fixing and doping
that most concerned the panellists.
Howman estimated that 25 per cent of world sport
could be affected by the infiltration or control of criminal
groups, and the ramifications of the issue were attested
to by Susan Bissell, UNICEF’s Chief of Child Protection,
who pointed to the rise of the trafficking of young athletes
from Eastern Europe, Africa and South America, who are
promised amazing opportunities, but then abandoned
by criminal gangs if they are not taken up by European
sports clubs. The challenge of combating criminal groups
is one of the most important reasons for government
to take a greater role in sport governance according to
various speakers, but as some admitted, the problems
of sport are not yet a priority for many law-enforcement
and judicial authorities.
Even Angela Melo, Director of Youth, Ethics and
Sport at UNESCO, admitted that despite their importance,
some of the issues related to sport could not be a priority
for UN organisations at a time when war and disease
have to be of first concern. That said, Melo stressed the
importance of the Declaration of Berlin in providing a
framework for action against the manipulation of sports
competitions, saying that the focus of UNESCO’s work at
international and national levels would be to contribute
to the establishment of a mechanism for the sharing
of information between sports federations, the betting
industry, and the police.
Violence against young athletes participating in sport
at all levels, but particularly at elite levels, is widespread
Lord Sebastian Coe
Anne Tiivas, Director, NSPCC
Child Protection in Sport Unit
and has to be a major concern for all those involved in
sport – from parents to governments. Violence includes
all forms of abuse – from verbal to physical – and surveys
conducted by various bodies show that the lives of young
people can be harmed by sport, the very opposite of most
people’s perception and desire. Most sports organisations
lack the knowledge and resources to deal with these
issues effectively, and there needs to be greater support
for experienced child-protection bodies to work with
sporting organisations to help them build capacity and
ensure young people are protected.
Anne Tiivas, Director of the UK NSPCC Child
Protection in Sport Unit echoed some of the issues
raised in the earlier debate on governance, stressing
the importance of building capacity within sporting
organisations to tackle problems that they currently
lack expertise to address. Discussing her experience in
the UK, she noted that “one of the things we’ve learned
is that you have to change the culture of sport. You have
to make it for children, you have to listen to what children
like about it, what they want more of, but you also have
to listen to what they don’t like, what harms them, and
what they’d like to see done differently, and our job is to
capacity build to help sport to do that better.”
Cyber and biological threats were raised as security
issues that major sporting events may face more in the
future, as a result of increasing access to dangerous
capabilities. Awareness and preparedness are the only
real answer to such threats, but a difficulty remains in
getting organising committees to take such unconventional
threats as seriously as they should, partly due to a
reluctance to consider the potential fall-out from such
attacks. The importance of scenario planning and risk
assessment in considering all possibilities was highlighted.
33
Security and safety
The ICSS
Security and safety
Richard Serino, US Federal
Emergency Management Agency
Different cultural aspects of security and emergency
preparedness were also discussed, with issues including
the cultural and legal frameworks that affect the use of
the military in protecting sporting events in different
countries, the need for pre-planning and exercising
emergency response plans, the role of private security
companies in securing sporting events, and the use of
social media in managing security.
Richard Serino, from the US Federal Emergency
Management Agency, highlighted the essential importance
of training and exercising emergency responders on
a continual basis, not just so that first responders on
the ground know what actions to take automatically,
but also because exercises build relationships between
coordinators and leaders, so that they can build trust and
know how to work together in a real emergency situation.
Engaging with communities
Good governance, integrity, the uncertainty of sporting
outcomes, protecting young people and athletes from
violence, and ensuring the safety and security of sporting
events are all one side of the coin: the challenges that
sport faces. The other side of this coin is the future
of sport and society in a world where these challenges
are not confronted.
Several speakers referred to the loss of trust in many
institutions that is manifest in recent years. Lord Coe
noted “the cataclysmic collapse of trust, particularly
amongst people from the age of 30 down. Young people
sit at the moral hotspots of most of the big issues out
there, they are more demanding, they want to see more
from sport, and so connecting with young people and
reasserting the values of sport in a modern environment,
making international sport and organisations like the
34
Judge Fausto Pocar
IOC and the IAAF (International Association of Athletics
Federations) relevant in their lives is, I think, the big
challenge.” José Ramos-Horta also perceived the need
for sports to reconnect with youth, saying that “Save
the Dream, which I am very very proud to be associated
with, I believe was born precisely to address some of the
betrayed dreams of our youth.”
But sport needs to engage more with communities
generally, not just with youth. As Lord Coe pointed out,
much of the protest against sports events such as the
Sochi Winter Olympics or the FIFA World Cup can be
put down to a failure of communication and engagement
with local communities to listen to, and engage with their
concerns. As Judge Fausto Pocar observed in relation
to protecting children in sport: “At the end the problem
is a cultural one, but the issue is to ensure forms of
participation of children. That is the essential point in any
sporting event. They have to participate in some way. This
probably can be ensured only by listening to the children,
having the children being heard in some way. So one
thing is protecting children, but also having the children
participate as subjects, that’s the great challenge.”
The conference also considered some of the
measures, such as Club Licensing, Financial Fair Play,
and the Transfer Management System, that have been
taken recently to improve financial governance in football.
There was general agreement among speakers that the
situation in most of Europe had improved compared with
five years ago, but more could be done with regard to
information about player transfers, and the issue of thirdparty ownership (TPO) of players remains contentious.
Failure to pay players in some parts of Europe remains
a serious issue, potentially leaving players more vulnerable
to temptation from match-fixers.
Umberto Gandini, Vice-Chairman,
European Club Association
Bobby Barnes, European
President, FIFPro
Umberto Gandini, First Vice-Chairman of the
European Club Association pointed out that reforms over
the past five years had increased the level of knowledge
about football’s financial dealings, and that there are now
better controls. Javier Tebas, from La Liga seconded this
view, reporting that Spanish clubs had massively reduced
their general level of debt over the past three years. Both
speakers stressed the need to consider the situation of
smaller clubs and leagues, since the existence of a few
very successful leagues and clubs can distort the overall
picture of financial health across the board.
Bobby Barnes, from players’ union FIFPro drew
attention to financial problems that persist, particularly
in poorer national leagues. He noted that there are still
Javier Tebas,
President, La Liga
quite clearly that third-party ownership is a real danger
because it does create financial imbalances. How can you
possibly manage and monitor financial fair play if you
have players – assets – which stand outside the balance
sheet? We use the term financial doping. I feel that you
are creating a situation of financial dependency, where
clubs will always be dependent on a third party who, at
some stage, for whatever reason, might decide to actually
realise their asset at a different time to when the club
might wish to realise that asset.”
However, Tebas put an opposing view that third-party
ownership could work if properly regulated, and that it
was an important instrument for smaller clubs in obtaining
and retaining talent. He argued that “if TPO is banned
entirely, the players and the clubs,
especially the small and medium
clubs, and small and medium-sized
leagues, will be defenseless against
the big leagues, such as the Premier
League and the Spanish League,
because small and medium-sized
clubs won’t have the financial
capacity to get and retain talent.”
The full transcipts of all the debates, and detailed
summaries of the discussions, can be found on the ICSS’s
website – (www.theicss.org), but one quote from Lord Coe
in relation to the IOC’s Agenda 2020 may provide some
optimism about the future of sport: Coe observed that
“if sport in the 20th Century was about connecting with
the world, I think the big challenge in the 21st century is
connecting with young people: I think sport is uniquely
placed to do that.”
Sport needs to engage more with
communities, not just with youth
“something like a 1,000-plus cases sitting at the Court
of Arbitration for Sport on non-payment of salary, where
players are seeking their basic right, which is actually to
receive the salary that they work for.”
He observed that this has particular relevance to
match-fixing, as “one of the statistics that came back
from our survey, when we looked at those who had been
approached for match-fixing, 55 per cent of those players
who had been approached were players who were not
in receipt of their salaries.” The most contentious point
discussed was the prohibition on third-party ownership
of player’s economic rights. Barnes stated: “My view is
Chris Aaron is Editor of ICSS Journal
35
Security and safety
Security and safety
Infectious disease
and sporting events
T
he past decades have seen widespread
concern about the potential for the crossborder spread of health risks, particularly
infectious diseases. The increased attention
to global health within the international community
stems from two sources: higher disease prevalence,
and concern about growing national vulnerability
to health threats that originate externally. In the
discussion paper Global Health Governance: A
Conceptual Review, Richard Dodgson, Kelley Lee
and Nick Drager pointed out that: “By definition,
a global health issue is one where the actions of a
party in one part of the world can have widespread
consequences in other parts of the world.”
Although a variety of health conditions and
risks to health manifest themselves as transnational
phenomena, infectious diseases generate the most
concern. While infectious diseases are pervasive in
human society, recent history shows that their social
36
and political significance varies. The middle of the
20th century brought optimism that infectious diseases
were waning. Better vaccines, including one for yellow
fever, and decreasing incidence of typhus and relapsing
fever after the First World War signalled that infectious
diseases could be controlled. But in the past 40 years,
the progress towards disease eradication has slowed, if
not halted entirely. Denise Grady’s comment, cited in the
Dodgson et al review, typified the altered situation: “Since
the mid-1970s – a time when it was widely assumed that
most infectious diseases had been conquered or at least
controlled – a troubling array of previously unknown
diseases has emerged, including Lyme disease, AIDS,
mad cow disease, the Ebola virus, legionnaires’ disease
and a host of others. In addition, old diseases like yellow
fever, malaria and dengue fever have reappeared in their
former haunts and spread to new areas. Some microbes,
like the ones that cause tuberculosis, malaria and food
poisoning, have become dangerously drug resistant.”
Thierry Gouegnon/Reuters/Corbis
Professors James L Skinner and Keith Gilbert look at how different
types of infectious disease from HIV to SARS have affected sport, and how
virulent diseases such as Ebola present particular issues for sporting events
Football players stand near a poster outlining
Ebola symptoms in Abidjan, Ivory Coast,
September 2014. The virus has caused
widespread disruption to sports in Africa
37
Security and safety
CDC/Nahid Bhadelia, M.D./Science Photo Library
Jeff Roberson/AP/PA Images
Security and safety
Medical personnel during training for Ebola prevention.
The rapid spread of the virus in West Africa has impacted
the organisation of international sporting events
Former Olympic swimmer and gold medalist Greg
Louganis was diagnosed as HIV positive six months
before the 1988 Seoul Olympics. Louganis has
subsequently raised awareness about HIV and AIDS
One could still perhaps argue that the single most
important health impact on sports has been HIV/AIDS.
The epidemic has brought new attention to the
discrepancies in healthcare availability, and challenges
the international community to address inequalities.
The long-term economic and social costs of HIV/AIDS
have been seriously underestimated in many countries.
Projections around 10 years ago suggested that some
countries in sub-Saharan Africa would face economic
collapse unless they brought their epidemics under
control, mainly because HIV/AIDS weakens and kills
adults in their prime, depriving communities of qualified
professionals and skilled labour. The implications of this
for the ongoing development of sport within Africa would
continue to be realised at the grassroots and elite levels,
particularly as generations of young men and women
could be potentially affected by the disease.
HIV/AIDS, SARS and avian flu
The impact of HIV/AIDS on the sporting world was
initially met with a mixed reaction. HIV/AIDS in its early
beginnings was seen as a disease that was the result of
one’s sexuality – specifically homosexuality – or the result
of intravenous drug use. In many ways, the initial response
of the sporting world to the possible consequences of an
HIV/AIDS epidemic was a reflection of this homophobic
mentality and, subsequently, the sexual habits of most
athletes did not change. In their essay HIV, the Game
38
Official, and Control and Prevention from the late 1990s,
Corrie J Odom and Greg Strobel pointed out “that for
many ethical and legal reasons, mandatory HIV testing
of athletes or other game personnel does not exist
in many sports”, although the majority of governing
bodies, particularly in contact sports, have adopted
policies for handling blood.
As detailed in studies by Keith Gilbert and D L
Keyser, the personal stories of athletes such as Magic
Johnson, Greg Louganis, Arthur Ashe, Tommy Morrison
and Tom Waddell – who were all diagnosed with the
‘human immunodeficiency virus’ (HIV), which progresses
to acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS) – have
raised greater awareness of the HIV/AIDS issue within
sport. The first high-profile case was that of Arthur Ashe,
who was the first African American to win Wimbledon
in 1975. In 1983 Ashe received a blood transfusion
during a heart surgery; however, it was tainted with
HIV, unbeknown to Ashe, the hospital and the medical
team. For much of the time he had the disease, Ashe
did not formally announce his condition. In 1992 he
made a public announcement about his condition and
continued to fight the disease until his death in 1993.
In 1991, Los Angeles Lakers star Earvin ‘Magic’
Johnson publicly acknowledged that he had tested
positive for HIV. Johnson announced that he would be
immediately retiring from basketball but would take
on the role of educating young people on the need for
safe sex practices (Johnson contracted the disease
through an unprotected heterosexual encounter).
However, HIV is not the only disease that has the
potential to impact on global sport. Other diseases have
become a major concern as a result of globalisation, in
particular severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) and
avian flu. A great deal of the criticism surrounding these
diseases has centred on the possibility of governments
trying to downplay the spread and consequences of the
diseases. In 2003, the Irish Government banned athletes
from China, Hong Kong, Taiwan, Singapore and the
Philippines – areas badly affected by the SARS virus –
from attending the Special Olympics being held in Ireland.
There was a very real possibility that the SARS virus
or similar strains could have spread and evolved into a
major global health threat. SARS, thought to be caused by
a type of coronavirus, which is only a single strand of RNA
(ribonucleic acid), was of particular concern among the
medical community because its structure makes it very
easy to mutate. SARS severely taxed healthcare systems
in affected countries; neighbouring countries curtailed
flights in and out of affected locations and blocked the
transfer of SARS patients for medical care.
Avian flu, or bird flu, also emerged as another
potential global health issue. The H5N1 strain of bird
flu demonstrated its capacity to directly infect humans.
The H5N1 strain was capable of infecting a broad range
of hosts, which may help explain the media reports of
infections and deaths in mammalian and avian species
not normally considered susceptible to infection and
severe disease. Countries were urged to maintain a high
level of vigilance, and not relax their surveillance and
detection efforts. In 2004, the World Health Organization
(WHO) called on Asian nations experiencing widespread
bird flu outbreaks to remain persistent in their intensive
efforts to contain the virus.
These forms of global health crisis represented a
major threat to international sport. For example, the
timing of these outbreaks could have meant that Beijing’s
greatest threat may have been from disease and not
terrorism. The potential economic cost to Beijing of
losing the Olympic Games would have extended to
other stakeholders. For example, in Sport and Corporate
Nationalisms, Michael Silk, Trevor Slack and Fan Hong
point to global sport organisations such as Nike and IMG,
and large organisations such as News Corporation, which
had substantial investments in the sport industry and at
the time were “anxious to gain a foothold in what they see
as potentially the world’s biggest market”. Potential vested
interests of powerful organisations and groups needed to
be considered against the potential for a global health crisis
being downplayed. Indeed, the recent Ebola outbreak needs
to be considered in this context. The following section aims
to assist with a better understanding of the disease and its
management in the contexts of global sport.
The Ebola threat to global sports events
There is no doubt that the Ebola virus disease (EVD) is a
frightening and intimidating epidemic. However, it is not,
as yet, a pandemic and is still classed as a large epidemic.
It is transmitted in the human population through contact
with sweat, blood, bodily secretions, infected organs or
other bodily fluids. It can also be transmitted through
sexual activity. Ebola has been quite well chronicled and
was identified and named after the Ebola river in the
Democratic Republic of Congo in Africa, where the virus
39
Security and safety
Guinea
Security and safety
Case
definition
Cumulative Cases in
cases
past 21
days
Cumulative
deaths
Confirmed
2,127
249
1,262
Probable
263
*
263
Suspected
26
*
0
Total
2,416
249
1,525
Sierra Leone Case
definition
Cumulative Cases in
cases
past 21
days
Cumulative
deaths
Confirmed
6,702
1,261
1,876
Probable
79
*
174
Suspected
1,575
*
35
Total
8,356
1,261
2,085
took its first fatalities in 1976. According to the WHO and
numerous newspaper sources, Ebola can have a mortality
rate as high as a 90 per cent, and the current rates of
mortality are upwards of 70 per cent. To date, there have
been 18,603 reported cases of Ebola virus, with 6,915
reported deaths (WHO statistics, 17 December 2014).
Although the current outbreak of the disease has been
mostly confined to West Africa, there have been sizeable
periodic occurrences of Ebola in the past in other parts
of Africa, for example in Uganda, Democratic Republic of
Congo and Sudan. The previous worst outbreak was in
2000 in Uganda, which saw 425 people infected with
over half dying. Currently there is no identifiable cure
although there are efforts being made to find a vaccine
by global pharmaceutical companies.
Sport managers know little of the Ebola threat and
the consequences that might force them to abandon
or delay sporting events that have a global context.
In actuality, the precipitous materialisation and rapid
spread of the Ebola virus throughout West Africa has
already caused some confusion between differing states
and international sports organisations.
The Ebola threat has already had an impact on
sport events and athletes competing. Athletes from
some of the African countries affected by Ebola were
banned from competing in the
Nanjing Youth Olympic Games in
China, causing the International
Olympic Committee to issue a
statement in August 2014 saying:
“We have been reassured by health
authorities that there have been no
suspected cases and that the risk of
infection is extremely unlikely.”
However, the risk was deemed large enough to request
that the Sierra Leone Olympic Committee did not send
athletes to the Youth Olympics. Athletes from Nigeria were
also banned from the Youth Olympics, but not before they
had already been fully integrated into the Olympic village.
Combat sports and swimming were the most affected by
the ban, suggesting potential implications for the holding
of future World Championships or similar events.
Ebola also led to major consequences for football, in
particular the African Cup of Nations, which was originally
scheduled to take place in early 2015 in Morocco. After
receiving advice from the WHO, Morocco asked the African
Football Association (CAF) to postpone the event for six
months for fear of supporters carrying the Ebola disease
across borders. This postponement would have had a
major impact on the income generated from broadcast
and sponsorship revenues; as a result, the CAF decided
to transfer the competition to Equatorial Guinea. Once the
competition was transferred, Equatorial Guinea secured
50 doctors from Cuba and put in place ambulances and
thermographic cameras to screen fans.
Europe’s top clubs are still uneasy about sending
their players to the competition. The German Bundesliga
has voiced its concerns. It has supported clubs such as
Borussia Mönchengladbach and Werder Bremen in their
attempts to take precautions against Ebola by preventing
players from travelling for the African Cup of Nations.
Football has also been badly affected in Sierra Leone with
many matches being cancelled and supporters excluded
from some events. Liberia has also prohibited all football
matches for fear of spreading the disease.
Major sporting events such as the Olympic Games
generate large revenue streams; these events are planned
years in advance. However, diseases such as the Ebola
virus have the potential to threaten the staging of an
event at any time in the run-up to a Games. This creates
a tension between protecting the health and well-being
of the public and the athletes, and the loss of revenue
from the cancellation or scaling back of the event. Costs
associated with staging major sporting events may escalate
further. Security costs have continued to increase since
the first major terrorism attack at the Munich Summer
Olympic Games in 1972, with the Montreal Games setting
the trend for heightened security with $100 million spent
to protect the athletes, rising to around $1.6 billion for
London 2012. Future precautions, for example screening
for diseases such as Ebola, may need to be factored into
the cost structures in bid applications.
With the incubation period for the Ebola virus being
approximately 10 days, there is enough time for an
The Ebola threat has already had an
impact on sport events
Liberia
Case
definition
Cumulative Cases in
cases
past 21
days
Cumulative
deaths
Confirmed
2,946
185
‡
Probable
1,801
*
‡
Suspected
3,050
*
‡
Total
7,797
185
3,290
Ebola cases in Guinea,
Liberia and Sierra Leone
Data are based on official information reported by ministries of health,
through WHO country offices. These numbers are subject to change due
to ongoing reclassification, retrospective investigation and availability of
laboratory results. *Not reported due to the high proportion of probable and
suspected cases that are reclassified. ‡Data not available. Source: WHO
website http://www.who.int/csr/disease/ebola/situation-reports/en/, data
accessed on 18 December 2014
Total
40
Cumulative
cases
18,569
Cases in
past 21 days
1,695
Cumulative
deaths
6,900
infected athlete to escape detection and for a disease to
spread within the athlete’s village. Therefore, the screening
of incoming athletes and fans at airports prior to an event
may need to become mandatory. Special medical units
could be set up in the Olympic or Paralympic villages to
monitor and deal with potential outbreaks, and mobile
medical teams might be utilised in order to quickly
prevent the spread of a disease. Organising committees
would be required to have contingency plans in order to
deal with highly contagious disease outbreaks.
One of the keys to restricting the spread of disease
is education. This applies at the general level, and more
specifically in the context of sporting events. Sport
managers need to ensure that adequate education
programmes are offered and delivered to athletes and
their support staff, and that venues have risk-assessment
and response protocols in place. They should be aware
that the increased nomadic movement of professional
athletes as a consequence of globalisation requires
health education programmes to become a mandatory
component of an athlete’s induction.
Professor James L Skinner is Director of the Institute
for Sport Business, Loughborough University in London.
Professor Keith Gilbert is Director of the School of
Health, Sport and Bioscience, University of East London
41
Security and safety
Security and safety
Multiple battles
are being fought on
Turkey's football pitches
S
tadium ticketing has become the latest
flashpoint in the Turkish Government’s
efforts to control militant soccer fans that are
opposed to President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan.
The government’s attempts to identify militant fans
by introducing an e-ticketing system, which requires
supporters to submit personal data in return for a bank
card that is then used to buy tickets, have resulted in
a massive backlash, and plummeting attendance at
the country’s once-vibrant soccer stadiums.
The widespread boycott of the system coincided
with court proceedings against 35 members of Carsi –
the support group of one of Istanbul’s largest football
teams, Beşiktaş JK, and one of Turkey’s most popular
fan groups – on charges of belonging to an illegal
organisation and seeking to topple the government.
It also came as political and ideological disputes
involving Islamists versus secularists and Kurdish
nationalists spilled onto pitches in Turkey itself and
Turkish Kurdish ones abroad.
Murad Sezer/Reuters
James M Dorsey describes the tensions building up in Turkish football,
centring on the introduction of the controversial e-ticketing system, as well
as the anger over corruption, and support for Kurds in Kobani
Turkish football fans protesting in Istanbul in April
against the new e-ticketing system, which has
also resulted in dwindling stadium attendance
42
43
Security and safety
Security and safety
Turkey’s Minister of Youth and Sport Akif Çağatay Kılıç has
argued that the only people opposed to the new Passolig
system are those unable to obtain free tickets any more
Finance Minister Mehmet Şimşek defended the
e-ticket system, which applies to Turkey’s top leagues,
Super League and PTT League One, at a recent gathering
in Istanbul of the World Economic Forum. He said that
it was a means of combating illegal ticket scalping and
Turkish stadia have a long history of violence.
A third of Carsi’s founders have died a violent death.
After a Beşiktaş fan was trampled to death in 1991 by his
Galatasaray SK adversaries, a truce was arranged at a
gathering of heavily armed rival supporters that reduced,
but did not end, the violence.
Two Leeds United fans visiting
Istanbul for their team’s match
against Galatasaray were stabbed
to death in 2000 during a soccerrelated riot on Taksim Square,
while bullets fired into the air
to celebrate the Turkish team’s
victory killed a third person
and wounded four others.
Carsi members have often forced supporters of rival
teams Galatasaray and Fenerbahçe SK, who frequent
the popular downtown Istanbul destination of Beşiktaş in
their clubs’ colours, to take off their jerseys whether it is
winter or summer. Manchester United manager Sir Alex
Ferguson recalled his team’s 1993 match in Istanbul against
Galatasaray as involving “as much hostility and harassment
as I have ever known on a football expedition”. Guinness
World Records awarded the club the honour of producing the
world’s loudest crowd roar at a sport stadium 18 years later.
The violence has prompted the Turkish Football
Federation to ban away fans from attending derby matches
The high-stakes battle over e-ticketing goes
to the heart of a struggle for Turkeys’s soul
that erupted with the Gezi Park protests
increasing tax revenues, which he said were up despite the
boycott. Youth and Sport Minister Akif Çağatay Kılıç told
parliament that only those who could not get free tickets
opposed the system, which is dubbed Passolig in Turkish.
Although the government designed the system
three years ago, with legislation in parliament as part
of an effort to reduce soccer-related violence, it has
only introduced it in the past year. Implementation of
the system was initially delayed when an Ankara court
provisionally halted it, pending a decision on a complaint
by the Supporter Rights Solidarity Center (Taraf-Der).
The court ultimately ruled in favour of Passolig.
44
Umit Bektas/Reuters
Ahmet Dumanli/Anadolu Agency/Getty Images
Fans from Fenerbahçe and Galatasaray clash
with riot police after a Super League final
between the big three Istanbul teams. It has also penalised
teams for fan violence by forcing them to play to empty
stadiums or by banning men, leaving tickets for womenand children-only audiences. Some fans, despite the
boycott, empathise with the need to make stadia family
friendly, even if they suspect that is not the government’s
objective. Proponents of e-ticketing argue that the system
collects no more information than is surrendered to credit
and debit card providers.
The high-stakes battle over e-ticketing goes to the
heart of a struggle for Turkey’s soul that erupted with
the mass anti-government Gezi Park protests in Istanbul
in 2013. The protests were exacerbated by Erdoğan’s
increasingly illiberal policies that sought to impose greater
control on people’s lives, restricting personal and political
freedom, and unfettered access to information. Fans,
moreover, are irked by Erdoğan’s manipulation of
due process in what was the most serious matchfixing scandal in the history of Turkish soccer.
Further underlying the opposition to the e-ticket
system is the fact that fans – who constitute the basis
for a team’s sponsorship and advertisement revenues
– are widely viewed as a disruptive factor. Not only
are fans excluded from decision-making in clubs,
but these associations are also curtailing participation
with tough membership criteria, including high fees
and the need for a guarantor.
“The fans are always [said] to be the reason for
violence and disorder in Turkish sport, but there has
never been an attempt… to change this situation by
making contact with supporters. There has always
been a one-way approach in which more and more
45
punishments were legalised against the fans. Of course,
the more repressed the fans are by the police forces and
by the regulations, the more incidents happen,” said
Emir Guney, Director of the Sports Studies Research
Center at Istanbul’s Kadir Hass University at a conference
of Football Research in an Enlarged Europe (FREE).
“Instead of trying to sanction everybody for
the violence a few of the fans cause, there can be a
representation system for the fans to get involved more
with their club’s administrative processes... If both sides
take steps towards each other to solve the violence and
disorder problems in and around the stadiums, then the
hooligan minority would [be] exposed and diminish in
numbers along the way,” Guney added.
Ironically, supporters of Erdoğan’s ruling Justice
and Development Party (AKP) have not been averse
to the use of violence in countering the President’s
opponents on the pitch. Turkish journalist Mehmet
Baransu documented links between the AKP and 1453
Kartallari (1453 Eagles) – a rival conservative Beşiktaş
support group named in commemoration of the year
that Ottoman Sultan Fatih the Conqueror drove the
Byzantines out of Constantinople – who reportedly
invaded the pitch and attacked Carsi members earlier
this year shouting ‘God is great’.
Fans argue that the e-ticket system violates the
privacy of not only adults, but also children and tourists.
Their distrust is heightened by government efforts to
portray protest as a precursor for terrorism and a threat
to national security, and to criminalise militant soccer
groups. Turkish prosecutors have demanded that the
indicted members of Carsi, which played a key role in
the Gezi Park protests, be sentenced to life in prison.
Police responded to the protests with brutal force.
Istanbul’s terrorism and organised crime unit
prosecutor Adem Meral based his charges on tapped
discussions on 16 June 2013 among the members about
their motives and intentions in joining the protests,
which were prompted by environmental concerns and
opposition to plans to replace Gezi Park, on Istanbul’s
iconic Taksim Square, with an Ottoman-style shopping
mall. Meral charged that the initially peaceful protests
only turned violent once Carsi and other fan groups
joined the demonstrations.
The prosecutor’s assertions contradict an assessment
by Amnesty International, which said that the brutal
suppression of the protests by police and the subsequent
campaign against fans “involved a string of human rights
violations on a huge scale. They include the wholesale
denial of the right to peaceful assembly and violations
of the rights to life, liberty and the freedom from torture
and ill-treatment... The vast majority of police abuses
already look likely to go unpunished, while many of
those who organised and participated in the protests
have been vilified, abused – and now face prosecution
on unfair or inflated charges.”
In his 38-page indictment, to which the author was
granted access, Meral asserted that “it is understood that
they were trying to overthrow the democratically elected
46
Security and safety
Ozan Kose/AFP/Getty Images
Security and safety
Besiktas fans hold a protest in December 2014 against the trial of 35
members of fan group Carsi who took part in the 2013 Gezi Park protests.
The supporters have been accused of plotting to topple the government
Turkish Government and to facilitate this objective, they
were attempting to capture the prime ministry offices in
Ankara and Istanbul”. He quoted one of the defendants as
saying he was “not interested in the construction of the
mall or the demolition of trees”, but wanted to “topple the
government”. Another allegedly suggested that the protests
could lead to civil war, adding that “we will today occupy
the prime ministry’s residence”. Yet others were said to
have advocated attacking the police to fuel public anger.
To many fans, the crackdown on Carsi is no longer a
Beşiktaş problem. To them, it is an issue for fans at large
and part of a government effort to rein in civil society.
“Carsi is standing up for everybody’s rights, not just theirs.
They have a record of supporting good causes, including
animal rights and opposition to nuclear power. They also
reject commercialisation. Turkey needs independent
minds like that,” said a supporter of a Beşiktaş rival.
The fan boycott of the e-ticketing system was initially
boosted by the refusal of various clubs to implement it.
However, executives at Fenerbahçe SK, Turkey’s foremost
club, agreed to implement the system recently after having
first said they would roll out their own e-ticket system,
which would have legally freed them from the obligation
to provide the government with fans’ personal data.
Plummeting stadium attendance has nonetheless
severely affected ticket sales. A match in October in
Istanbul’s 82,000-seat Atatürk Olympic Stadium between
Beşiktaş and Eskişehirspor Kulübü that would normally
have been attended by some 20,000 spectators drew
only 3,000 fans. Ticket sales for one of Galatasaray’s
matches was down by two-thirds compared with the
previous home game, with fans gathering in cafés
and homes to watch matches they would have attended
in the past. The boycott prompted the government to
suspend the e-ticketing system for a friendly in November
between Turkey and Brazil. As a result, sales spiked, with
more than 40,000 tickets sold for the match shortly
after the suspension.
The indictment, citing Turkish anti-terrorism laws,
portrayed Carsi as a group that traces its roots to the
far left and positions itself as anarchist, as evidenced
in its motto, ‘Carsi, her şeye karşı!’ (Carsi is against
everything!). Charging that Carsi was an armed group,
the indictment accused Erol Ozdil, described as one of the
group’s leaders, with distributing torches and explosives
to his colleagues. It said that police had found smoke
grenades and gas masks in Ozdil’s house.
The Istanbul Bar Association denounced the charges
as belonging to the fantasy world of prosecutors in a
statement. “What they are trying to do here is to dilute
[sic] the concept of a coup in order to spark fear in people,
47
Security and safety
Security and safety
justify police violence that may occur in the future, and
intimidate a nation. The law cannot be manipulated for
such purposes. Prosecutors’ right to open a case must be
restricted by logic and rules of law,” the statement said.
The charging of the fans comes during several
ongoing court proceedings against other protesters in
which prosecutors are also seeking harsh sentences. The
cases are being prosecuted by a judiciary that, like the
police force in the past year, has reportedly been cleansed
of alleged supporters of Fethullah Gülen, a self-exiled
73-year old preacher, the head of a large Islamist
movement and one-time Erdoğan ally, whom the President
accuses of seeking to create a “parallel state” in Turkey.
Differences between Islamists and secularists are
never far from the pitch. İlhan Cavcav, the moustachioed
Chairman of Ankara’s Gençlerbirliği SK, said that he would
fine players 25,000 Turkish lira ($9,000) for sporting
beards that made the team look like a madrasah. “I’m 80
and I shave every day. Is this an imam school? You are a
sportsman. You should be a model for the youth,” Cavcav
told the Dogan news agency. Cavcav not only singled out
his own players, but also accused Beşiktaş coach Slaven
Bilic, the club’s midfielder Olcay Şahan, Galatasaray
midfielder Selçuk İnan, and Fenerbahçe and national team
goalkeeper Volkan Demirel of being bad influences.
assembly’s planning and budget commission not to
get involved in the debate about beards.
Perhaps more threatening than Erdoğan’s efforts to
micromanage the lives of Turks is the fact that domestic
tensions sparked by brutal war in neighbouring Syria have
also spilt onto the football pitch. Turhan Özyazanlar, the
coach of Istanbul’s third-division Sarıyer team, was beaten
by fans after a Turkish Kurdish member of his team, Erdal
Elgörmüş, protested on social media about the siege of
the Syrian border town of Kobani by fighters of Islamic
State – the jihadist group that controls a swath of Syria
and Iraq. Deniz Naki, a Kurd with dual German-Turkish
nationality, left his club Gençlerbirliği, and Turkey after
he was attacked physically and online for his support
of Kurdish fighters in Kobani.
Tensions over Kobani reverberated on Turkish pitches
as they did on Turkish-Kurdish ones elsewhere. Ramazan
Kızıl, Head of Dalkurd FF, one of Sweden and Europe’s
most successful immigrant soccer teams, provoked
anger among nationalist Turks and the Swedish Football
Federation (SFF) by raising €3,000 during a match for
Kobani. Kızıl described the support for Kobani as “human
solidarity” in an interview with Rudaw, a Kurdish media
network. In response to SFF’s assertion that their support
was “political”, Kızıl stated: “We do not care about their
warnings or any eventual penalties.”
Adil Kızıl, Kızıl’s son and Dalkurd’s
sports manager, added: “We can’t
just sit and watch while Kobani gets
massacred. We must do something.”
The siege has pitted Turkish
nationalists against Kurdish and
pro-Kurdish groups, resulting in
widespread protests in Turkey in which 37 people have
died and hundreds have been wounded. Turkey has been
reluctant to throw its weight behind the anti-jihadist
Kurdish fighters, fearing both the rise of a second Kurdish
entity alongside northern Iraq on its borders and an
increased nationalist sentiment among its own Kurds,
who account for an estimated 20 per cent of the
population. Some 200,000 people have fled Kobani
to Turkey in recent months.
Opponents of the e-ticket system have wind in
their sails with Kobani fuelling emotions; government
efforts to control the pitch escalating with the politically
loaded charges against Carsi; growing discontent among
fans, who feel increasingly disenfranchised and convinced
that Turkish football suffers from mismanagement and
political manipulation; and the pitch re-emerging as a
battlefield between Islamists and secularists. “Passolig
represents the sum total of Turkish football’s problems,”
said a leader of a Turkish fan group. “That is where we
can make our stand.”
Fenerbahçe goalkeeper Volkan Demirel (left) leaves
the pitch after being abused by Galatasaray fans
at their home ground, the Turk Telekom Arena
48
Berk Ozkan/Anadolu Agency/Getty Images
Differences between Islamists and
secularists are never far from the pitch
Demirel walked off the pitch in November during a
warm-up for a Euro 2016 qualifier against Kazakhstan
after being showered with abuse by fans. The match was
being played in the Turk Telekom Arena, the stadium of
Galatasary, whose supporters particularly dislike Demirel.
“Neither my wife nor my children, my family can escape
these curses and insults. I’m not in the mood to play
in front of those who swear at me so badly. I’d do more
harm than good,” Turkish media quoted Demirel as telling
national team coach Fatih Terim.
Earlier, Galatasary player Berk Yıldız rejected a
demand by Erdoğan during a visit to the national team
that he remove his tattoos. “What are these tattoos?
Why do you harm your body like that? Don’t be fooled by
foreigners. God forbid, it could even give you skin cancer
in the future,” Erdoğan admonished the player, according
to witnesses. On Twitter, Yıldız denied press reports that
he had acquiesced to Erdoğan’s request. Saying that his
tattoos represented his family, Yıldız tweeted: “Please
don’t take every article in the media seriously. I neither
considered nor told that I would remove my tattoos.
Each of them has a special meaning to me.”
Drawing an implicit distinction between tattoos
and beards, Youth and Sports Minister Kılıç denounced
Cavcav’s penalties, insisting in parliament that a player’s
appearance was an individual choice. He cautioned the
James M Dorsey is a Senior Fellow at the S Rajaratnam
School of International Studies, Co-Director of the
University of Wuerzburg’s Institute for Fan Culture, and
the author of The Turbulent World of Middle East Soccer
blog and a forthcoming book with the same title
49
Integrity
Integrity
Information-sharing in
sport: legislative issues
As part of its report on combating match-fixing in sport, the Sorbonne-ICSS
Research Programme on Ethics and Sports Integrity examined the issues around
transnational information-sharing. Laurent Vidal discusses the key principles
to be considered in creating an international legal framework
C
ooperation between states and international
sports organisations, particularly in the form
of exchange of information, is one of the
defining vectors underlying the international
instruments relating to combating the manipulation
of sports competitions.
It is therefore necessary to examine the forms that
the exchange of information can take and the guarantees
necessary to reduce the risk of inefficiency on one
side or the other due to deviations, false cooperative
strategies, or strong legal resistance. This examination
can be conducted from two perspectives. First, by
considering sports institutions as repressive authorities;
second, depending on their social purpose, the overall
organisation of the practice of a sports discipline.
Exchange of information between
repressive authorities
The exchange of information can first be seen as involving
two repressive powers of different kinds: a national
power of criminal repression (such as a national police
force) and a transnational disciplinary repressive power
of sports institutions (such as the ethics committee of
a sports association). In this approach, the autonomy
claimed by sports institutions is accepted, but it does
not imply the equivalence of repressive powers.
A specific legal framework that takes into account
the private origin of the sports institutions’ power of
disciplinary repression should therefore be considered.
It can be based, albeit with adaptation and undeniable
difficulties, on the mechanisms for exchange of
50
information between national public authorities.
It is also important to study the communication
of information from sports institutions to criminal
authorities, and the communication of information
from criminal authorities to sports institutions.
From sports institutions to criminal authorities
In the national legal order, sports organisations inform
the criminal authorities and provide them with all the
data in their possession that may be useful to the
criminal authorities’ investigation. This communication
should be spontaneous, and sports organisations should
not be limited to responding to specific requests that
could be addressed to them. However, it might be useful
to organise the sharing of information in this direction
and to specify the obligations of sports organisations,
given their repressive functions.
In the case of international sports institutions,
the spontaneous cooperation and the compulsory
cooperation between national judicial authorities and
sports institutions are somewhat more complicated to
establish into law than in the case of sports institutions
of the forum state. The state under whose laws these
international institutions are constituted can certainly
compel them to cooperate with its own bodies, but
these bodies may not be competent to try all persons
suspected of being involved in the manipulation of sports
competitions. The challenge is to organise the systematic
cooperation of international sports institutions with all
the national judicial authorities that may be competent
to judge the acts constituting a manipulation of sports
51
Integrity
competitions. This applies similarly to the cooperation of
national sports institutions with foreign judicial authorities.
With some exceptions, the difficulty does not actually
reside in the predispositions of international sports
institutions to cooperate. The persons targeted by
criminal investigations would clearly prefer that their
federations retain some information, such as some
personal data or bet monitoring reports. However,
protecting the interests of some members of a federation
cannot justify that the latter do not fully inform the
authorities investigating corruption. Sports federations
that adopt any other course of action are exposed to
public criticism that could be damaging. It can be
assumed that they understand this.
The difficulty lies rather in the legal possibility for
them to cooperate spontaneously or upon request with
foreign judicial authorities. The spontaneous sharing of
information, some of which is personal, may be confronted
with form requirements, fall altogether under the scope
of national law, or face a court injunction. Moreover,
foreign judicial authorities may not, in principle, without
breaching the sovereignty of the state of the seat of the
sports institution, issue them a direct requisition.
Integrity
by the law of the forum state, and the prohibition of
collecting and conveying the same information to a foreign
authority, imposed by the law of the state of establishment
(absolute prohibition or ban correlated to the inadequate
guarantees offered by the foreign judicial authority). If
a specific framework is defined, they could instead – at
least in theory – be subject to an injunction not to provide
information to foreign judicial authorities, issued by the
courts of the state under whose law they are constituted.
52
■■
■■
From criminal authorities to sports institutions
The flow of information from criminal authorities to sports
organisations obviously causes more delicate problems
that are related to the practices of transfer of information.
Sports institutions seem to be dependent on
information provided by national judicial authorities.
There are cases where disciplinary breaches are not
covered by criminal law; therefore, sports organisations
have no need, a priori, for judicial authorities, which are
not interested in these cases anyway.
In other cases, disciplinary violations may be
linked to a large-scale criminal enterprise in which the
justice system may be involved, but no link has yet been
established with certainty (this link
is still only presumed). In this case,
nothing prevents the disciplinary
authorities from acting on the basis
of the information they gathered
independently of any possible
criminal offence, since the gravity
of the offence and of the sanction
does not depend on this potential criminal context
(unless the existence of other cases of manipulation by
the same person was established during the disciplinary
investigation, which could support the thesis of a network
and also lead the sports organisation to collect evidence
that might be useful to judicial authorities). Finally, there
are cases where it is clear that an established case of
manipulation is part of a large-scale criminal enterprise
brought before the criminal justice system. In these cases,
the complementarity of the procedures and the usefulness
of the evidence collected from both sides of the judicial
and disciplinary authorities are evident.
Sports institutions depend on information
provided by national judicial authorities
The problem can therefore be stated in simple terms:
when the exchange of information between national
judicial authorities and international (or foreign) sports
institutions is transnational in nature, must it inevitably
be relayed through the mechanisms of international
mutual assistance in criminal matters, or can it be
governed by specific rules?
In the first scenario, the international sports institution
concerned could, or should, only communicate information
to the judicial authorities of the state in which it is
established, or of the state in which it organises a sports
competition and thus under the jurisdiction of which it
falls during the time of the competition. In other cases,
such information could only be provided to the authorities
of a third state by the ordinary means of international
mutual legal assistance, without infringing the sovereignty
of the state where the sports institution is established.
In the second scenario, a specific international
legal framework could be defined to provide the judicial
authorities of a state with means of coercion against
sports institutions that may be exceptionally recalcitrant,
and so that the obligation of international sports
institutions to cooperate with foreign judicial authorities
is articulated with the national legal framework under
which these institutions operate. Failing this, they may, for
example, find themselves in a conflict situation between
the obligation to collect and transmit certain information
at the request of a foreign judicial authority, imposed
■■
Formal and informal bases of communication:
risks and advantages
In principle, except for a contrary legal rule, criminal
authorities may not transfer to third parties, such
as private associations, information and documents
from criminal files. Some states have established a
legal framework that allows such transfers to sports
organisations, even though they are private entities,
and this presents certain advantages as well as risks.
The advantages can be summarised as follows:
■■ It is undoubtedly in the public interest to allow the
sanctioning of athletes, coaches, referees and corrupt
officials on the disciplinary level as well as on the
criminal level (image of sport, positive role of sport
in society, and so on).
■■
■■
In order to sanction corrupt stakeholders, sports
organisations must be able to obtain the
necessary information.
In many cases of manipulation of competitions, the
critical evidence results from criminal investigations
and is obtained by means that sports organisations
do not have (wiretapping, bank statements, data on
sports bets, and so on).
In most cases, sports organisations thus depend on
the information held by criminal authorities in order
to pursue disciplinary action against the perpetrators
of reprehensible acts.
In general, sports organisations cannot and should
not wait until the end of the criminal proceedings,
which usually take several years until a final and
enforceable judgement is issued, to punish the
perpetrators on the disciplinary level. If an
athlete or club president seriously suspected
of fraud continues to participate in
competitions or to manage his club,
this seriously harms the image
of sport, the integrity of
competitions, and an
effective prevention.
The standard of proof, different
in disciplinary proceedings
(comfortable satisfaction or
preponderance of evidence) and in
criminal proceedings (beyond reasonable
doubt) results in the fact that sports
organisations do not necessarily have to wait
until the criminal investigation is complete in
order to impose sanctions. However, a disciplinary
award based on fragile evidence poses risks to
the federation itself.
From the foregoing, it may be concluded that
sports organisations should be able to receive information
taken from criminal files before the information is
available to the general public, and thus before the
acts are mentioned in public.
However, irrespective of the legal rules, this
communication of information carries certain risks:
■■ It can jeopardise investigations, to the extent that
the sports leaders who receive this information
may be tempted to notify the individuals concerned,
who are often known to them, or may – through
ignorance or thoughtlessness – not take the necessary
measures to ensure confidentiality (risk of collusion).
■■ It may reveal to sports leaders and then to other
people in the sports world information they do not
need to know, either because such information is
private or covered by the confidentiality linked to
the persons affected by the criminal investigation
(for example, a relationship between an athlete and
the wife of a teammate, drug addiction, evening
outings during competitions, and psychiatric
problems), or because they involve people who
are not members of the relevant sports federation
(for example, criminal history of a third party
involved and other offences unrelated to
the manipulation of competitions).
■■ It may result in the premature revelation of the
information to the public domain, because of
sports leaders who are talkative, unscrupulous
or clumsy, or who wish to gain the approval of
the media and the public regarding, for example,
precautionary and provisional measures taken on
the disciplinary level. The sensitivity to maintaining
secrecy is not the same for sports leaders and
criminal authorities (although judges and police
officers often provide confidential information
to journalists, when they think it will increase
their notoriety, preserve their good relations
with the media, prevent a higher authority
from restricting the spectrum of their
investigation, and so on).
It may force sports leaders to
initiate disciplinary proceedings
that they may deem inappropriate
or unnecessary, or to rush hasty
disciplinary measures, for fear of the
reaction of the public and the sponsors
in case of inaction.
If the principle that sports organisations should
be able to receive information from criminal authorities
is established, measures must be taken before the end
of the criminal investigations to avoid, or at least mitigate,
the risks and disadvantages mentioned above.
The difficulties of exchange
National legislation can rather easily manage the
possibility that national judicial authorities provide
information to national sports institutions by reserving
the discretionary power of the former and imposing
stringent conditions on the latter. But the transmission
of information from national criminal authorities to
international or foreign national sports institutions
under the jurisdiction of a foreign state certainly
cannot be settled exclusively by law.
The law, which presents a mainly territorial
application, cannot by itself impose certain rules for
usage or confidentiality on the recipient of the information
transmitted: it could eventually allow the transmission
of information but would be unable to create effective
guarantees around this process.
In fact, although it is possible – at least in some states
– to consider cooperation between administrative police
authorities (betting regulators, for example), national
intelligence agencies, agencies for monitoring bets, sports
competition organisers, etc on the basis of an informal
multiparty agreement that the law does not necessarily
relay, and that allows the collection and immediate
sharing of information prior to any criminal proceedings, it
is hardly conceivable that the transmission of information
from national judicial authorities to international sports
institutions can take place outside any formal conventional
53
Integrity
framework while criminal proceedings are in progress.
In addition, the adoption of a law will undoubtedly
be generally regarded as essential to empower the
national judicial authority to transmit information
in its possession.
If it is accepted that national law would
not be a sufficient instrument and that the ordinary
mechanisms for international legal assistance would
not be relevant, it is appropriate to consider a formal
conventional framework, which should probably
take the form of a group of instruments,
because the following elements are required:
■■ a formal commitment taken by
international sports institutions
regarding the conditions for
use, storage, processing, and
communication of data; and
■■ an intergovernmental agreement
that guarantees these
commitments, specifies the division
of competences between states (in particular
for the repression of breaches by international
sports institutions of their commitments), details
the guarantees necessary for the transmission
of information, and consolidates the essential
safeguard clauses.
Two approaches could be taken to creating this
framework, which are outlined below.
The simultaneous adoption of two
‘international’ instruments of different types
The commitment of international or national sports
institutions could take the form of an individual or
collective promise; a joint statement; a code of conduct
they would sign; or a bilateral agreement between
themselves and each of the states concerned by this
type of cooperation. The form of the code, in the
development of which the states should be involved,
may be preferable for its systematic character and
function of harmonisation. However, it is doubtful
that one or the other of these forms would be considered
by states as offering material guarantees and the
degree of certainty sufficient to enable
the immediate transfer of information
from national judicial authorities to
international sports institutions.
Any such commitment by
international sports institutions should
therefore be complemented. This
could be achieved, first, by a bilateral
agreement between the state and
the sports institution. This solution
would bring two difficulties. First, each
international sports institution would
need to negotiate agreements with several dozen
countries. Second, these international agreements
would not be governed by the Vienna Convention on
the Law of Treaties, whereas this type of agreement
54
Integrity
is probably required in many states in order to organise
repressive cooperation (cooperation between disciplinary
and criminal authorities with the involvement of private
persons who are not all or not always regarded as
fulfilling an international public service mission in
the legal and formal sense). Alternatively, the
commitment by international sports institutions
could be complemented by the multilateral interstate
agreement mentioned above, which would only be
truly effective if it was ratified by the states
under the law of which international sports
institutions are constituted.
The two instruments mentioned above
could be ‘topped’ by a joint declaration
signed by states and international
sports institutions, expressing their
willingness to cooperate and stating
the principles that should be reflected
in the instruments that have a properly
binding legal effect.
Intergovernmental agreement
An intergovernmental agreement could also be
adopted, on the basis of which national legislations
could authorise the conclusion of bilateral agreements
on the exchange of information with one or several
international sports institutions. The advantage of
this approach is its flexibility: a state might only enter
into bilateral agreements with the institutions it deems
capable of benefiting from the transfer of information.
It could denounce an agreement with one of them
without upsetting the balance of the entire system,
or submitting such a decision to the judgment of
other state parties to the international agreement.
Some states may wish to consider that such
an approach is more advantageous in the context
of uncertainty about the applicable criteria of good
governance, and the ability of all international sports
institutions to meet them. These arrangements are
complex. It would be wise for these instruments to
be able to deal with the exchange of information
between national legal authorities and international
sports institutions in both directions. If these
arrangements were to appear too
complex to the states, they would have
to consider other options, such as:
the absence of information exchange
and the strict separation of procedures
and investigations; the development
of exchanges of information on a
possibly informal ad hoc basis; and
the use of ordinary mechanisms of
international mutual legal assistance
where possible.
The sharing of information between
criminal authorities and sports institutions, whether
domestic or international, is delicate. Many pitfalls must
be avoided, especially when the information goes from
one state jurisdiction to another:
a. The presence of safeguard clauses should not be
interpreted as removing the need to define the
information that must normally be transmitted
(‘strictly necessary information’ or ‘likely relevant
information’, for example, since criminal authorities
and international sports institutions are not
necessarily subject to the same standard).
b. The establishment of a mechanism for sharing
information between criminal authorities and
international sports institutions should not be used
to circumvent or bypass the international mechanisms
for mutual assistance in criminal matters. The rules
on the disclosure of the information, its transmission
to third parties, or its use for limited purposes should
thus be precisely defined.
c. The communication of information held by
international sports institutions to national
judicial authorities, and eventually collected by
international sports institutions at their request, is
likely to encounter difficulties: on the one hand, the
application of the rules on the collection, retention,
automated processing, disclosure, and coordination of
personal data to the state under whose
jurisdiction the international sports
institution is constituted and has its
seat; on the other hand, a conflict
between these national rules and the
rules applicable in the state whose
judicial authorities request information.
For example, the insufficiency of
the guarantees offered by that state
regarding the processing and retention
of data, due process, proportionality
of sanctions, or non-imposition of
severe or disproportionate sanctions
may prevent the transmission of data
by the international sports institution
possessing relevant information.
The assessment of the advisability of the exchange
of information between national legal authorities and
international sports institutions should be guided by
a comparative and thorough study of the conduct and
outcomes of cases of manipulation of sports competitions
or doping with and without information-sharing. The study
should be extended to include the exchange of information
between sports institutions and international organisations
(for example Europol) whose framework is likely to change.
The establishment of joint units during major
sporting events such as the Olympics is of particular
importance: it is instructive on the pitfalls and best
practices of information-sharing.
It also contributes to building trust between
national institutions and sports institutions, which
could, if necessary, facilitate the identification of
mechanisms of exchange of information between
national judicial authorities and international sports
institutions. Therefore, the Joint Assessment Unit
tested during the Olympic Games in London between
the British authorities and the International Olympic
Committee should be analysed in depth.
However, it is important to recall that some of
the problems mentioned above are solved, since the
competition and the gathering of a large part of information
take place on the territory of the state that is the origin
or the recipient thereof. The relations between that state
and the organiser of the sporting event are regulated
by national law, subject to the exceptions that may be
established pursuant to the agreements concluded for the
purpose of organising the competitions. The state thus
controls the overall legal framework for these exchanges.
The establishment of the rules necessary for the
exchange of information should be made while taking
into consideration:
■■ an inventory of rules applicable to the exchange
of information between foreign authorities in
other areas; and
■■ a rigorous identification of rules for the collection,
retention and (particularly transnational) transfer of
personal data, and all other standards of protection
of human rights that may be applied to such
operations. These standards are in evolution,
particularly in the European context.
Concluding remarks:
issues of good governance
The discussions initiated deserve to be
extended through a study or a consolidation
of the rules of good governance with
which sports institutions should comply
in order to enter into a mechanism for
the exchange of information with national
judicial authorities, and mechanisms for
the evaluation of their compliance and
of sanction of their possible breaches.
Presumably national judicial authorities
would not be willing to transfer information to
sports institutions that do not offer sufficient guarantees
in terms of governance. One solution could be to establish
a certification system for sports institutions based on
criteria of good governance.
However, this solution could face several problems:
the principles of good governance are not universally
recognised, and those that usually apply to commercial
enterprises, for example, do not necessarily apply to
sport organisations; if certification is given to a private
organisation, the latter would decide, in reality, the
relationship between the judicial authorities and a
federation, but the principle of the autonomy of the sporting
movement might seem to be opposed to entrusting it to a
public body; and the issue of cost (and its imputation) of
such certification would also inevitably arise.
Laurent Vidal is Chairman of the Sorbonne-ICSS Research
Programme on Ethics and Sports Integrity, Research
Professor at Université Paris 1 Panthéon-Sorbonne and
Co-director of the Department of Business Public Law of
the Legal Research Institute of the Sorbonne-André Tunc
55
Integrity
Integrity
An education in integrity
T
he International Centre for Sport Security
(ICSS) regularly promotes the importance of
integrity education to stakeholders in sport.
Despite a growing recognition of the need for
more integrity education across sport in general, the
level of implementation that we see across the board
varies wildly. For example, while a youth academy at a
football club may see a need for match-fixing education,
the corporate side of the business may not perceive
its value in the same way, and may even express
concern that negative connotations might arise should
the presence of match-fixing experts on a club site be
reported in the press. In fact, the commercial side of a
sports organisation should encourage proactive integrity
education as an important measure in protecting their
organisation’s image and reputation, something which is
important to their corporate partners.
Clearly, there is still a lot of work to do in changing
attitudes in this area. Integrity education should not
be conducted for the purpose of appearing credible, or
simply as a PR exercise, but should be introduced with
a view to embedding it as part of an overall strategy to
protect a sport’s basic interests, particularly the integrity
Integrity education should not be
conducted simply as a PR exercise
of competition, which will allow it to remain a sustainable
sport. The ICSS sees integrity education as a key part of
professional development, welfare and governance for all
those involved in sport – not just for athletes, but also for
staff, officials, administrators, sponsors and even parents.
Some sports, and organisations overseeing sports that
have known corruption problems, do not always properly
grasp the concept of education as a preventative tool. The
ICSS would like to see integrity education as mandatory
for all participants and connected personnel, and for it
to be used as a tool to develop, enhance, and protect
individuals at both the professional and grassroots levels.
In comparison, the financial market and other
industries, following numerous crises, anti-trust and
bribery scandals, now see anti-corruption education
56
and training, supported by legislation, as a key
component of their employees’ development. This
is not just for the welfare of the employee, but
also that of the organisation. These organisations
frequently engage external subject matter experts
to ensure education and training provided is
fully competent, and that education sessions are
provided on a periodic basis in a variety of formats.
Anti-corruption strategies in sport need to
consider the risks and threats faced by athletes, but
also the threats to the administration and business
of the sport itself, as mismanagement in these
areas can have their own impact on the integrity of
athletes. There is no use educating athletes but then
neglecting anti-corruption training of the majority
of the people they come into contact with on a daily
basis, and who oversee the operation of the sport.
A layered approach
There are no shortcuts to protecting the integrity
of sport and organisations should be wary of
strategies that deploy a silver bullet approach
by relying on one tool; for example monitoring or
reactive investigation. A layered
integrity strategy with education
and prevention as the basis provides
a stronger foundation for success.
Integrity in sport needs to
function with clear principles and
only through education and training
can individuals across all levels of
the industry understand the environment in which
they operate. Match-fixing, while now a more widely
recognised issue, still needs to be better understood
by more people working within sport. Benchmarking
integrity in the early stages of an athlete’s career
and reinforcing it later as part of professional
development can only serve to enhance the strength
of the sport ecosystem. This is a core part of the
ICSS’s overall strategy and is the reason why it
focuses so much on youth education and training
with leading football clubs, leagues and other
sports, such as World Snooker.
So what is the ICSS approach to integrity
education and training? Of course it is vital that
all relevant stakeholders are made fully aware of
iStock Images
Jake Marsh outlines the ICSS’s approach to integrity-oriented
education and training programmes for sports clubs and organisations
anti-corruption rules, including any responsibilities to
report improper approaches. However, these are probably
the most basic and straightforward elements of integrity
education. It is not just about knowing the rules, but being
aware of the tactics used by criminals or opportunists
(who are often acquaintances) that are seeking to exploit
and manipulate individuals or even entire organisations.
The ICSS takes the view that athletes are deliberately
targeted for manipulation and therefore they need to be
aware of the strategies deployed against them.
Many sports now offer e-learning integrity systems
for their players and while this is a useful tool, the ICSS
believes it cannot replace regular face-to-face interaction
with athletes which can be much more effective in
delivering key anti-corruption messages and also provides
the opportunity to develop understanding further.
Emphasis must also be placed on social education
that can supplement integrity programmes, such as social
media training, financial management, and drug and
alcohol awareness. This reinforces the strategy of a layered
approach to education, combining key issues that often
contribute to the vulnerability of an individual in relation
to them being targeted for manipulation.
Nigel Mawer, Vice Chairman of the World Professional
Billiards and Snooker Association Limited, an Integrity
Partner of the ICSS, believes that education is a critical
tool in the anti-corruption strategy of professional snooker,
but it is one element of an effective integrity programme:
“Education needs to be supplemented with complementary
integrity systems, including effective monitoring, intelligence
and investigation capabilities along with tangible law
enforcement and legislative engagement. Having said this,
education is always the starting point. If all those involved
do not understand the rules and standards they must
abide by then we have already lost.”
The ICSS strongly urges all responsible sports
organisations to implement compulsory integrity and
social education programmes for all staff, whether it is
a league, club, national or international governing body,
and not only for its athletes. This approach must be
seen as the new norm in sport and one that is backed
by governments, as well as regional state structures.
While sport is of course for enjoyment, it is also
a business and a job that must be approached in a
professional and responsible fashion. Education for
all involved can only serve to protect that enjoyment
for everyone.
Jake Marsh is the Head of Training and Youth Protection
for the International Centre for Sport Security
57
Integrity
Integrity
Ethics from the top
Lord Sebastian Coe spoke at Securing Sport 2014, addressing issues ranging
from bidding processes to community engagement. This edited extract highlights the
importance of embedding the responsibility for integrity in sports governing bodies
At the Securing Sport 2014 conference, Lord Sebastian Coe
discussed the challenges of the Olympic bidding process,
highlighting his own experiences
58
The ICSS
I
t’s only relatively recently that the world of sport has
confronted the concept that fair play is not a concept
uniquely or solely rooted in the field of play, that you
want whatever federation it is, whatever sporting
organisation, to be involved [in defending sporting
integrity]. All the corporate governance in the world
is not going to save you from excesses unless you also
have, critically, the culture of integrity and doing things
the right way from the very top of the organisation.
I remember the challenges that the International
Olympic Committee [IOC] had back in 1999-2000. I sat
on the Commission 2000 that Jacques Rogge set up
shortly after he became President of the IOC [and which]
had to look root and branch at the reform of the movement
– everything from terms of tenure, the age of retirement,
through to the way bidding cities operated [and] the
inception of an ethics committee. So, every organisation is
confronted from time to time by these challenges. I guess
it’s the way you respond to them [that counts], and I tend
to think that organisations that navigate their way through
them don’t just do it because you’ve got good, tough
corporate governance in place. You do it because there
is a vision that collectively binds everybody together. If
you’ve got a compelling vision, that’s probably your best
route map through crisis management.
When I was asked if I would chair the FIFA Ethics
Committee, it was the first time that they had had an
ethics committee. I think things were sort of audited
and monitored by outside organisations from time to
time, and there were some changes that I made straight
away. Actually, it didn’t start off as an independent
ethics committee. It didn’t have its own legal team, it
was sharing in-house resources, and we had to establish
that a sanction could not be challenged by the executive
committee, that that sanction had to stand. So there were
a number of things, but I was actually there a relatively
short time, because England then threw their hat into
the ring for the 2018 round of bids, and I clearly would
have been horribly compromised given that I was loosely
advising and supporting the England bid.
I think you should understand the history of [the FIFA
2018 bidding round]. This was the first time that cities
were given the opportunity to bid regardless of which
continent they came from. In the past, it was very simple:
if it was South America’s turn, a group would get together
and decide on Rio or Mexico, and if it was Europe, it was
Germany; so, in a way, it was a sort of simpler proposition.
I always sensed that if you wanted to open this to a beauty
contest among five or six big countries that have a thirst
for football, you would need some corporate governance in
place, and I guess if I look back at the point that I left that
role, we hadn’t had enough time to put [that] in place. I think
that possibly that is where this process slightly unravelled.
The London [Olympics] process for me was a very
good example. You know, by and large, the bids that
prevail are the bids that work harder than the next bid,
that create a more compelling narrative. When I was
asleep, 50 per cent of my team was still working. It
was Herculean, unremitting hard work, and the ability
to communicate regularly with straight messages was the
essence. You want to be able to showcase all that is good
about your country, your bid, your process. But actually
having sat on Commission 2000 and made it very, very
tough for bidding cities, I sort of accepted, through gritted
teeth, that when I was sitting on the other side of the fence
[I] realised actually how hard it was to communicate.
There is a balance here, because for a bid to win
and gain acceptance and admiration, you need personal
relationships, and suddenly it was extremely difficult in
that round to be told that you can’t just simply go and
sit down with an IOC member and explain what London’s
transportation policy was going to be, or its security policy,
so we have to be careful. There is again proportionality.
We have to be careful you don’t take the human
dimension from all this and just do it by a technical bid.
That’s all very well, but an organising committee needs
to present itself not just as a bid committee. People that
are making the judgement have got to feel comfortable
that they can work alongside an organising committee
for seven years. These relationships are going to be,
from time to time, stress-tested almost to the point of
being picked apart. You need to know, as an executive
committee member of a sport or a large body, that you
are comfortable that the team that is out there bidding
will also make an extremely good delivery team because,
believe me, the easy bit is bidding. In hindsight, the
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Russia spent $51 billion on the 2014 Winter
Olympics, which were held in Sochi. The majority of
this contributed to long-term infrastructure projects
The ICSS
Vianney Thibaut/Agence Zoom/Getty Images
of sport. There are important agencies out there, and
clearly some that are doing an extremely good job. But
it’s very easy for international federations to feel that it’s
somebody else’s concern and... farm the problem out,
and think that they’ll deal with it if we hit difficulties.
I don’t want that to ever be an inhibitor on good corporate
governance in individual sports, because that is the way
you challenge these issues; you have it from the very
highest level right the way through the organisation.
On host cities
hardest bit is the operational integration and the assembly,
in London terms, of an organising committee of eight
and a half thousand people. Then you’ve got 200,000
people more broadly through London that are supporting
in any number of ways, from emergency services through
to borough cleaning capacity – 70,000 volunteers that
we had to filter down from 350,000, [and] 100,000
contractors. So it’s a Herculean piece of HR,
and putting that team together is really important.
With a few months to go before an organisation makes
a judgement about the city that they’re going to award
an event to, whether they know it or not, that executive
committee is often looking at that group, not as a bidding
team, but thinking: can I work with these guys for seven
years? So human interaction here is really important. We
mustn’t throw that out in pursuit of making sure that all
these corporate governances are as tough as they can be.
On integrity
I don’t know whether [gambling] is the biggest threat; I
think you have to be quite careful how you triage these
60
Former BBC Sports Editor David Bond interviewing
Lord Sebastian Coe during the conference. They
spoke about issues facing sports governing bodies
things, but I think there is no doubt that there is a threat.
I think Hugh Robertson, former UK Sports Minister, sat
on the committee that Jacques set up at the IOC. Clearly,
mutating sport through illegal gambling and match-fixing
is a serious issue. It’s quite tough in a way to do that in
track and field. Individual events are very difficult to fix.
After the World Championships in Moscow in 2013,
we had a couple of days where we did something slightly
different, and we put some forums together. One of the
forums we had was on ethics, and we invited one of
the key specialists out of Switzerland on this subject.
So we’re not being complacent about it and we are not
being cavalier about it, but my instinct at the moment
is that it may be a bigger problem in some sports than
others. But I don’t think that’s something that has
permeated track and field in any way that is currently
discernible. But, again, we will need to be eternally vigilant.
I guess the IOC is probably as good a vehicle as any
for [defending sporting integrity] at the moment. I’m
always slightly nervous about overarching organisations
that take it on themselves to police collectively the world
One of the biggest challenges is the discussion around
what is a cost and what is an investment. The risk is
that everything that seems to be going on in a Games
country becomes aggregated, so every new inch of
asphalt, every upgraded hotel, all the accessibility work
done around a station for the Paralympics – all the things
that a good city should be doing anyway – are heaped
into some budget total linked to the Games, regardless
of the fact that much of that is an investment.
The Games is actually quite a good catalyst. Sochi
was, I guess, the problem for a lot of this, because the
$51 billion figure [that Russia spent on the Games] got
thrown around. Bear in mind that there was nothing in
Sochi; it was a summer resort. When the Soviet Union
broke up, Russia had very little in the way of winter
sports infrastructure – other than ice-hockey rinks and
ice-skating rinks, they had no winter facilities at all – so
this was the investment that was put into this area. Now,
whether they recoup that in legacy terms... probably is as
much dependent on whether they can get direct flights in
and out of Sochi from some of the big population centres.
But I think that caused a lot of fragility at the time,
and there is no doubt the most demanding stakeholder
you ever have are local communities, and unless you
can communicate why this is going to impact well for
them, you won’t succeed. Local communities are far
more sophisticated now. If you say to them we want
more kids playing sport off the back of an event, they will
say: “Yes, okay, we get that, but what is the infrastructure,
hard and soft, that’s going to do that? What are you going
to do in primary schools? You’re going to build an Olympic
Stadium, that’s great, but you’re putting it in a community
where, at best, unless you really make this work, local
people are only going to press their noses up against
the window, or, at worst, probably going to go on paying
for it for years in local taxation.”
So you really do have to communicate this
now more than ever, and I think the challenge for
the IOC and all sports organisations is reconnecting,
and it’s often reconnecting with local communities.
So community engagement is probably going to be
more important than it’s ever been around these events.
The challenge in trying to globalise sport is that there
are some political structures at city level and at national
level that are more scrutinising than in others. If we’d lost
the London Olympics bid, I’d have probably spent a lot of
time in front of a Select Committee explaining why I spent
£30 million on a bid that came to very little. There are
some environments where that simply is not a challenge.
I think it made ours a better bid, but it is certainly posing
a challenge for cities in liberal democracies where local
communities are just more demanding and there are
tiers of transparency that you have to go through.
We shouldn’t be a drag anchor on those cities and
communities [like Sochi and Almaty] from wanting to
I think the challenge for
the IOC and all sports
organisations is reconnecting,
often with local communities
share in sport. I spoke at a conference not long ago,
where I made the point that we’ve rather mouthed the
same old stuff about globalising sport, getting more kids
playing it, taking it to corners of the world, challenging
and extending the borders, but then when some of those
cities want to bid, we say we’re not quite sure about your
political structures, and we’re not desperately sure about
your record on human rights, and by the way, it’s quite
hot in August. Well, we’re going to have to do business
in a different way, and I think we’re going to have to
have a grown-up, global conversation – about how... to
accommodate that global capacity, if we’re serious about
it – that looks again at the sporting calendar.
Lord Sebastian Coe is a double Olympic champion.
He was Chair of London’s Organising Committee for
the 2012 Paralympics and Olympics, and is currently
Chairman of the British Olympic Association and
Vice President of the IAAF
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Match-fixing:
framing the fight-back
O
n 18 September 2014, potentially the most
significant legal instrument relating to
match-fixing worldwide was declared open
for signature at a Council of Europe (CoE)
conference for sport ministers in Macolin, Switzerland.
At the meeting, 15 states signed the Council of
Europe Convention on the Manipulation of Sports
Competitions, and it is hoped that many more will
follow. An Explanatory Report (ER) on the Convention
was adopted at the same time, which is helpful for
analysing the legal content within the Convention.
The CoE is a human rights organisation with
47 member states and is wholly separate from the
European Union – although all 28 members of
the EU are also part of the CoE. All CoE member
states are signatories to the European Convention
on Human Rights (ECHR), a treaty that was designed
to protect human rights, democracy and the rule
of law in Europe following the Second World War.
62
The European Court of Human Rights in Strasbourg,
France oversees the implementation of the ECHR
in member states. Complaints of human rights
violations can be brought to the Strasbourg Court
once all possibilities of appeal have been exhausted
in the member state concerned.
The main thrust of the CoE’s policy on sport,
most recently exercised through its Enlarged Partial
Agreement on Sport (EPAS), has been to uphold certain
principles, including the independence, autonomy and
self-regulation of sport, while at the same time seeking
to prevent certain adverse phenomena, such as doping,
spectator violence and, now, match-fixing. They strike
at the heart of key human rights in the ECHR, including:
the right to life, prohibition of forced labour, the right
to a fair trial and the right to an effective remedy.
The CoE first discussed match-fixing in 2008 at
a ministerial meeting held in Athens. The committee
then adopted Recommendation CM/Rec(2011)10 on
iStock Images
Kevin Carpenter reviews the legal provisions of the Council of Europe’s
convention against match-fixing, welcoming the creation of a framework
for transnational measures to combat the threat to sport integrity
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Fenerbahçe’s Chairman Aziz Yıldırım speaks during
a conference. Yıldırım was given a jail sentence for
alleged involvement in match-fixing in Turkey
Structure of the sports betting market, 2011
66%
Return rates
Total value of bets placed
95%
85%
€ 16.0
€275.0
billion
billion
98%*
€10.5
billion
17%
15%
billion
Illegal
market
billion
78%
34%
Market
total
Legal
market
Illegal
market
Promotion of the Integrity of Sport Against Manipulation of
Results, Notably Match-Fixing in 2011 – which formed the
framework for the beginning of the Convention in October
2012. The Convention had to go through a number of stages
of the CoE’s legislative process, which included receiving
input from a number of key stakeholders in sport, not just
the member states themselves.
The two-year drafting and negotiating process
was coordinated and led by EPAS, an organisation
providing a framework for a pan-European platform of
intergovernmental sports cooperation. They encourage
dialogue between public authorities, sports federations
and non-governmental organisations to promote sport,
as well as making it healthier, fairer and better governed.
Despite being a European-led instrument – the EU
was part of the drafting process, having been authorised
to participate by the EU Commission – the CoE are
extremely mindful of the global nature and threat from
match-fixing, and are also encouraging non-CoE member
states and non-European countries to sign up. Australia,
New Zealand, Canada, Japan, Israel and Morocco have
been consulted during the Convention’s negotiations
and are expected to sign.
Structure of the Convention
The Convention is a legally binding instrument comprising
a preamble and nine chapters made up of 41 Articles
that cover: prevention, law enforcement, international
cooperation measures and the exchange of information.
A number of important overriding principles and the
background are set out within the preamble. For instance,
the CoE attributes the significant increase in the number
of match-fixing cases worldwide, but particularly in
Europe, to two specific elements:
Legal market
Illegal market
Illegal street market
66%
€47.7
billion
Market
total
Legal
market
Illegal
market
Market
total
*If the gross gambling revenue (GGR) value for the illegal market is substituted by 96 per cent, the illegal market volume (in bets) would be €137.5 billion, and a total market of€
€185.2 billion, or a little less than half of the number provided in the table above, for a GGR difference of only two points. This shows the extreme volatility of the bets variable in
relation to GGR and the limited interest in reasoning in terms of bets.
** Obtained by calculation
64
17%
€322.7
95%
€ 5.5
Legal
market
100%**
Metin Pala/Anadolu Agency/Getty Images
Gross gambling revenue
1. the proliferation of different types of betting,
which are often difficult to monitor; and
2. the development of a large liquid illegal betting
market, which has high pay-out rates that attract
criminals with increased possibilities of laundering.
Both of these factors were covered extensively in
the ICSS-Sorbonne report Protecting the Integrity of
Sport Competition: The Last Bet for Modern Sport,
which was published in May 2014.
The preamble also acknowledges that the autonomy
of sport is only conditional, and there are certain times,
as with protecting the integrity of sport, that public
authorities must be involved. Furthermore, the threat to
the rule of law is specifically mentioned in the Explanatory
Report due to the fact that: “The manipulation of sports
competitions poses a challenge to the rule of law because
it is linked to fraud, organised crime and corruption.”
Purpose and guiding principles
It is important to set out the purpose and objectives in
full as they underpin the remaining Chapters and Articles
of the Convention. Article 1 states:
1. The purpose of this Convention is to combat the
manipulation of sports competitions in order to protect
the integrity of sport and sports ethics in accordance
with the principle of the autonomy of sport.
2. For this purpose, the main objectives of this
Convention are:
a. to prevent, detect and sanction national or
transnational manipulation of national and
international sports competitions;
b. to promote national and international cooperation
against manipulation of sports competitions
Source: Protecting the Integrity of Sport Competition, The Last Bet for Modern Sport
between the public authorities concerned, as
well as with organisations involved in sports
and in sports betting.
It is important to note that the phrase ‘manipulation
of sports competitions’ is used rather than ‘match-fixing’,
as the Convention states at the outset that it covers the
full range of offences associated with this complex area.
This leads neatly on to the definitions in Article 3,
which, having seen earlier drafts, were the subject of much
negotiation and legal amendment. The key definition is
the aforementioned ‘manipulation of sports competitions’,
which I believe strikes a good balance between being
clear and concise, and yet sufficiently wide in scope. It is
defined as: “An intentional arrangement, act or omission
aimed at an improper alteration of the result or the course
of a sports competition in order to remove all or part of
the unpredictable nature of the aforementioned sports
competition with a view to obtaining an undue advantage
for oneself or for others.” Undue advantage does not
always need to be direct financial gain and covers other
tangible or intangible advantages (para 55 ER). One
high-profile example of the latter is the match-fixing
orchestrated by Fenerbahçe in the 2010/11 Turkish Super
League, which resulted in the team finishing first and
qualifying for the UEFA Champions League – from which
they were subsequently banned for two seasons, with a
further campaign suspended within five years.
It is encouraging that not only has “sports betting”
been defined, but these activities have also been clarified:
■■ Illegal sports betting – “any sports betting activity
whose type or operator is not allowed under the
applicable law of the jurisdiction where the consumer
is located” (Article 3.5.a).
Irregular sports betting – “any sports betting activity
inconsistent with usual or anticipated patterns
of the market in question or related to betting on
a sports competition whose course has unusual
characteristics” (Article 3.5.b).
■■ Suspicious sports betting – “any sports betting activity
which, according to reliable and consistent evidence,
appears to be linked to a manipulation of the sports
competition on which it is offered” (Article 3.5.c).
■■
This is a key distinction for signatories to understand,
as when it comes to identifying and investigating potential
betting-related match-fixing, the latter two terms are often
misunderstood. Betting on a particular sports competition
can be irregular for a number of reasons, perhaps
legitimate, without being suspicious.
The purpose of the Convention
is to combat manipulation to
protect the integrity of sport
Chapter II, which covers prevention, cooperation and
other measures, places a number of obligations on
stakeholders within a particular signatory state, which
are each referred to as a Party. Article 4, on domestic
coordination, recognises that no one stakeholder within
a state, whether a sports body, law enforcement or betting
operator, can successfully work towards eradicating matchfixing without cooperating. To do so they must undertake
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Council of Europe classification of criminal offences
TOOL
AIM/INTENTION
Violence, coercion, threat
Corruption
Economic benefit
for oneself or
someone else
Glory, friendship
Free decision (for oneself)
Agreement
Provisions
on fraud
General provisions
on threat of use
or use of violence,
blackmail, extortion
General provisions
on active and
passive bribery
Through
irregular
betting
Otherwise
Disciplinary
sanctions only
This table was used during the drafting stage of the Convention, it aims to clarify what can constitute a criminal offence.
a detailed risk assessment and establish appropriate
procedures (Article 5). In addition, the education of
all stakeholders must be delivered (Article 6). However,
Parties must be careful not to place too much emphasis
on this aspect, as it must be part of a holistic approach
alongside the measures in Article 5, as well as others
in the Convention.
The inclusion of the following stipulation will have
been driven in no small part by players’ unions and
reports, such as the report by FIFPro, Don’t Fix It from
May 2014. Article 7, which is aimed at sports organisations
and competition organisers, states that: “Each Party
shall encourage sports organisations and competition
organisers to adopt and implement rules to combat the
manipulation of sports competitions as well as principles
of good governance, related, inter alia to… compliance
by sports organisations and their affiliated members with
all their contractual or other obligations.” Failure to pay
officials on time, in full, or indeed at all, is a principal
driver behind why officials in sport choose to fix.
Of particular interest, Article 7 says that: “Each Party
shall encourage its sports organisations, and through
them the international sports organisations to apply
specific, effective, proportionate and dissuasive disciplinary
sanctions and measures to infringements of their internal
rules against the manipulation of sports competitions, in
particular those referred to in paragraph 1 of this article,
as well as to ensure mutual recognition and enforcement of
sanctions imposed by other sports organisations, notably in
other countries,” (Article 7.3). There is criticism from some
quarters that lifetime bans for first-time match-fixers are
disproportionate, especially when the sanctions for doping,
another integrity offence, are considered on a case-by-
66
case basis. Recently, the Court of Arbitration for Sport in
Fenerbahçe Spor Kubülü v UEFA (CAS 2013/A/3256) looked
to the regime on doping for guidance on the proportionality
of the sanction of a two-year disqualification from the UEFA
Champions League for match-fixing.
Regulation and data protection
Article 8, on measures regarding the financing of sports
organisations, addresses the need for consideration of
how sports governing bodies will be funded in order to
combat “manipulation of sports competitions”, as this
is currently a major obstruction in the fight. Betting
operators and regulators are covered in this chapter,
alongside other important provisions regarding: the
exchange of information between key stakeholders
(Article 9.1.a), the tracing and blocking of financial
flows from sports betting (Articles 9.1.d and 11.1.b),
preventing the misuse of inside information (Article 10.1),
and exploring the most suitable means, in accordance with
the law, to combat illegal betting operators (Article 11).
Article 9, dealing with measures regarding the betting
regulatory authority or other responsible authority or
authorities; 10 on sports betting operators; and 11, covering
illegal sports betting, all address the sports betting industry.
Each Party must have a dedicated body tasked with
regulating betting in their country. Importantly, as part of
their mandate, the Convention mentions facilitating the
exchange of information between stakeholders, transparency
in financial flows and the ability to suspend markets where
there is suspected manipulation (Article 10.1). As for sports
betting operators themselves, the Convention focuses on
the need for them to avoid conflicts of interest and misuse
of inside information. Parties are given wide discretion to
combat illegal sports betting via the most suitable direct
and indirect ways (paragraph 111, ER). Practically, this has
proved challenging for many countries up to this point due
to difficulties in blocking cross-border communications.
Article 12 – covering the exchange of information
between competent public authorities, sports
organisations and sports betting operators – places
an obligation on Parties to: “Facilitate, at national and
international levels and in accordance with its domestic
law, exchanges of information between the relevant public
authorities, sports organisations, competition organisers,
sports betting operators and national platforms,” (Article
12.1). This is another significant hurdle holding back an
effective fight against match-result manipulation. For
instance, in the UK there is uncertainty about how to
apply section 35 of the Data Protection Act 1998 to cases
of match manipulation. In fact, the difficulties of data
protection are discussed further below under Article 14.
In addition to the requirement to have a national
sports betting regulator under Article 9, Article 13 requires
that each Party have a “national platform” whose primary
function is to “act as an information hub, collecting and
disseminating information” to relevant stakeholders
(Article 13.1.a and para 119 ER). This echoes the effective
role the Joint Assessment Unit played at London 2012
in dealing with the threat to the Olympic Games from
manipulation, as discussed in ICSS Volume 1 Issue 4.
Article 14 addresses the ever-growing area of data
protection, as the processing of personal data is central
to effective international cooperation in this field. The
Explanatory Report for Article 14 sets out the full range
of activities that can be engaged when instances of
match manipulation arise, which include: administrative
cooperation, consumer protection, child protection,
combating fraud and money laundering, identity theft
and other forms of cybercrime. Article 14 itself obliges
Parties to comply with the vast array of regional and
international laws on data protection when drawing up
their own measures (Article 14.1 and para 125 ER). In the
UK this is the Data Protection Act 1998, which was passed
to implement the EU Directive 95/46/EEC. In drawing up
their own measures, Parties must also consider a number
of key legal concepts in the field, including lawfulness,
adequacy, relevance, security and accuracy (Articles 14.2
and 14.3 and paras 126 and 128 ER). Many of these are
referred to as Data Protection Principles in Schedule 1
of the Data Protection Act. Article 14.3 highlights the
imperative for data not to be shared beyond the purposes
for the Convention or retained for longer than necessary.
This is particularly important in relation to match
manipulation given “that the organisation of sports
competitions and the activities of sports betting operators
generate a large volume of personal data” (para 127 ER).
What is a ‘necessary’ period of time is always fact-specific.
The harmonising of criminal laws across sovereign
states is always contentious in whatever field and so it is
of little surprise that a light-touch approach is taken in the
Convention, which states: “Each Party shall ensure that its
domestic laws enable to criminally sanction manipulation
of sports competitions when it involves either coercive,
corrupt or fraudulent practices, as defined by its domestic
law,” (Article 15). There are a number of ways in which
match manipulation is covered in national criminal laws
– including corruption, fraud, cheating at gambling and
specific sport fraud, which are outlined in KEA’s Matchfixing in Sport: A mapping of criminal law provisions in
EU 27. Therefore, “[the Convention] does not require the
establishment of a specific and uniform offence for the
manipulation of sports competitions,” (para 130 ER).
However, Chapter IV of the Convention – substantive
criminal law and cooperation with regard to enforcement –
does address some other criminal law issues in this area.
Deterring organised crime
Match manipulation, which can be linked to organised
crime, often involves some form of money laundering.
The international legal instruments mentioned in Article 16
– laundering of the proceeds of criminal offences relating
to the manipulation of sports competitions – are one tool
that can be used to quell match-fixing activity. Helpfully,
Article 16.3 offers an example of how the manipulation
of sports competitions can be woven into a Party’s
money laundering prevention framework, “by requiring
sports betting operators to apply customer due diligence,
record keeping and reporting requirements”.
One interesting provision that should in practice
act as a significant deterrent is Article 18, which covers
corporate liability. It recommends that Parties make
‘legal persons’ (for example, a football club) vicariously
liable for the offences committed in Chapter IV by any
“natural person, acting either individually or as a member
of an organ of the legal person, who has a leading position
within the legal person,” (Article 18.1). ‘Legal person’ should
cover sporting organisations in whatever legal form they
exist and operate. To have a ‘leading position’ the natural
person (for example, any club official) must have either:
a power of representation, authority to take decisions or
exercise control (para 149 ER). Article 18.2 extends this to
an act of omission in terms of a lack of supervision by a
legal person over its officials. In addition to the criminal
liability, which is the focus of Article 18, it is also made
clear that legal persons are also liable under civil and
administrative/regulatory law, the latter being what is most
commonly known as sports law (Article 18.2). Finally, for
avoiding doubt, it is stressed that any form of vicarious
liability that legal persons may be subject to is “without
prejudice to the criminal liability of the natural persons
who have committed the offence” (Article 18.4).
Many of the issues covered in Article 18 have been
considered, addressed and confirmed as good principles
in a sports law context in a series of match-fixing cases
that have gone to the Court of Arbitration for Sport:
FK Pobeda, Aleksandar Zabrcanec, Nikolce Zdraveski v
UEFA (CAS 2009/A/1920), FC Karpaty and FC Metalist v
Football Federation of Ukraine (Unreported, 2 August 2013)
Bes˛iktas˛ Jimnastik Kulübü v UEFA (CAS 2013/A/3258),
Fenerbahçe Spor Kubülü v UEFA (CAS 2013/A/3256) and
Eskis˛ehirspor Kulübü v UEFA (CAS 2014/A/3628).
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Methods of identifying and regulating risks to sport from illegal betting
Creating a
committee of experts
Members:
• Regulators
• Sporting movement
• Betting operators
Establishing a
classification of risks
Establishing a list
of authorised bets
Risky bets:
• Reasonable risks
• Risks to be examined
• Significant risks
Types of bets:
• Competitions
• Betting formulas
• Specific cases of live betting
and betting exchanges
Article 19 on jurisdiction is important, given the
transnational nature of match-fixing. Articles 19.1.a and
19.1.d are the most relevant; the former is based upon
the territoriality principle (para 154 ER) and the latter on a
combination of the nationality principle and the potential
need for Parties to investigate acts committed abroad by
an individual who resides in their country (para 156 ER).
In addition, Article 19.3 gives the ability to establish
jurisdiction to investigate where it is possible to extradite
the alleged offender. Furthermore, Article 19.4 provides
another good example of how the Convention encourages
Parties to communicate and cooperate wherever possible:
“In order to avoid duplication of procedures and otherwise
facilitate the efficiency or fairness of proceedings, the Parties
involved are required under paragraph 4 to consult in order
to determine the most appropriate jurisdiction for the
purposes of prosecution,” (para 159 ER).
Protection and sanctions
Crucially, in Chapter V, Article 21 discusses protection
measures. The Article encourages each Party to provide
“effective protection” in order to support people that
have information on match-fixing and the courage to
report it to the relevant authorities. The importance
of this cannot be underestimated, due to both the
stigma within sport against those who report misconduct
and potential criminality, as well as the threatening
presence of organised criminals. “Intimidation of
witnesses, whether direct or indirect, may take different
forms, but its purpose is nearly always to destroy and
discredit evidence against defendants so that they
have to be acquitted,” (para 186 ER). If protection
can be provided for such people, and their identity
protected throughout the sporting and/or criminal
process, then it will increase the willingness to
provide valuable information and also to testify at
a later date (para 187 ER).
Chapter VI, covering sanctions and measures,
builds upon other provisions of the Convention already
discussed. It outlines the desired punishments that
can be imposed in the non-sports law environment
on those found to have committed offences related
68
to match manipulation. A repeated theme with sanctions
for these violations – be it criminally pursuant to Article
22 (criminal sanctions against natural persons) or on
a civil basis pursuant to Article 23 (sanctions against
legal persons) – is that they must be “effective,
proportionate and dissuasive”.
Article 25 addresses the seizure (temporarily taking
control) and subsequent confiscation of assets illegally
gained through match manipulation. Having laws that
allow law enforcement and the judicial authorities to
do this may be a more effective way to fight organised
crime than the threat of prison (para 197 ER), as it cuts
off the funds that those involved in fixing need in order
to thrive. Regrettably, Article 25 does not go as far to
suggest Parties have a civil recovery mechanism. Given
that securing criminal convictions for match manipulation
on the ‘beyond reasonable doubt’ standard of proof is
notoriously difficult, civil asset recovery would allow the
profits from fixing to be recovered on the lower ‘balance
of probabilities’ standard. In the UK, this possibility can
be found in Part V of the Proceeds of Crime Act 2000.
Chapter VII, on international cooperation in judicial
and other matters, is where both Europol and INTERPOL
have a crucial role to play alongside international sports
federations. Both organisations have already undertaken a
significant amount of work in this field. Furthermore, the
“key role that… INTERPOL plays in facilitating effective
cooperation between the law-enforcement authorities in
addition to judicial cooperation” is also highlighted within
the preamble. INTERPOL’s key role in fighting match
manipulation is evident in its Operation Soga, an ongoing
tactical operation coordinated by INTERPOL to disrupt the
illegal football gambling activities of criminal organisations
in Asia. By coordinating a number of national police forces
in Asia, Operation Soga has had 2,360 successful raids
and seized more than $27 million in cash as of 2013.
Europol previously ran the Joint Investigation Team,
code-named Operation VETO, between July 2011 and
January 2013. Through this, they unearthed a total of
425 match officials, club officials, players, and serious
criminals, from more than 15 countries that were
suspected of being involved in attempts to fix more than
380 professional football matches. Recently, Europol
signed a Memorandum of Understanding with UEFA aimed
at reinforcing the fight against match-fixing in European
football. INTERPOL have their own Integrity in Sport
unit, which has a 10-year agreement to work in partnership
with FIFA to tackle the threat to football globally from
match-fixing, as well as more recent collaboration with
the world football players’ union, FIFPro. In addition, and
perhaps most importantly and encouragingly, INTERPOL
is working more closely with the IOC – the body that
has the necessary political, sporting and social clout to
impact match-fixing across global sport – having signed
a Memorandum of Understanding in January 2014.
Legal and policy issues
One issue that is a constant source of debate in the field
of match manipulation is whether or not a new form of
intellectual property right should be introduced in the
form of a betting right. This falls within Chapter II. At an
official dinner in Switzerland to mark the Convention being
opened for signature, UEFA Executive Committee Member
Michael van Praag said: “We should also recognise sports
bodies’ property rights in the context of betting. That is to
There has already been
a legal challenge to the
Convention, which was
launched by Malta
say, betting companies should pay a fee to the organiser
of sporting competitions in cases where they offer bets
on these competitions. Some nations have already
implemented good practices that we could all make use
of… Such a policy allows competition organisers and
betting operators to agree on which aspects of the game
can be the subject of betting, as well as on the monitoring
and control mechanisms that are required in this area.
It can also be a valuable funding mechanism to help
assist in the fight against match-fixing.” The countries
he mentions that have embraced the betting right to
combat match manipulation are principally France,
Australia and New Zealand.
As a lawyer, I see no legitimate reason why betting
operators should not enter into formal agreements to
pay for the opportunity to offer bets on a particular
sport, given the fact, for instance, that broadcasters are
not allowed to simply broadcast television coverage of
a sport for free. In saying that, I do acknowledge that
many betting organisations make voluntary commercial
arrangements, through sponsorship, for example, as it
is in their interests for sport to be clean as well. One
argument against formal arrangements in the past has
been that, because it is actually the illegal markets that
drive match-fixing and corruption in sport, there is very
little point in restricting betting types by legal operators
within an individual country. However, as there would then
be money to put back into sport that could be used to
combat the illegal market, this may be one justification
for the proposed system. In return, sports must share
information with the betting operators.
There has already been a legal challenge to the
Convention, which was launched by Malta – home to
a significant online gambling industry. The country’s
complaint to the EU is on the basis that the definition
of “illegal sports betting” in Article 3, coupled with the
other betting provisions mainly in Articles 9 and 11, are
incompatible with key EU law and principles. They are
seen as being discriminatory and against the freedom
of establishment and freedom to provide services. The
practical effect of the Convention is that a betting operator
licensed in, for example, Malta, could be prohibited from
going about its business in another EU state, say France,
if French law proscribes some of the betting methods
which in Malta are perfectly legal. This would be a clear
impediment to a free internal market. In Malta’s view,
this goes beyond, and is not proportionate to, the
objective of the Convention to combat match-fixing,
and has the unnecessary and harmful effect of clamping
down on regulated sports betting operators. In addition,
the provisions of the Convention relating to betting
may lead to harmonisation of an area that is not yet
harmonised on an EU level, and is subject to a significant
review at the current time by the EU institutions.
For somebody who has been working to combat
match-fixing for some years, it is very pleasing that the
CoE has been able to come to a political consensus to
establish the Convention and have it ready for signature.
Yet, as with all such international legal instruments, it is
only as effective as the extent to which the signatories
implement and comply with the Articles of the Convention
through passing laws and regulations in their own state. In
addition, it depends on how effectively the CoE and other
Parties enforce compliance through the auspices of the
Convention Follow-up Committee pursuant to Chapter VIII.
The immediate challenge is to convince the remaining
32 members of the CoE to sign up to the Convention,
including large states, such as the UK, France, Spain
and Italy, which are cautious following the wider than
anticipated impact of the ECHR. Moreover, convincing as
many non-CoE countries to sign the Convention and join
the fight is crucial, particularly countries with large illegal
betting markets that tend to fuel match-fixing activity,
such as India, the US and much of Asia.
The original version of this article was written for and first
published on LawInSport.
Kevin Carpenter is a sports lawyer at international
law firm Hill Dickinson LLP, specialising in regulation,
governance and integrity matters. He can be contacted
by email at kevin.carpenter@hilldickinson.com or via his
Twitter handle @KevSportsLaw
69
Integrity
Integrity
Intermediary
regulations:
clarifying a murky area
N
othing polarises people within the world of
football like asking their opinion on player
agents. Player agents have been described
as ‘leeches’, ‘superfluous’ and even a
‘necessary evil’. Within football, the camp is split
between those who think that agents take money out
of the game, and those who recognise that some agents
do valuable work in developing a player’s career.
In late November, the FA Premier League announced
that its clubs had spent £115.26 million ($180.32 million)
on player agents during the 2013/14 season. This was
a rise of 19 per cent over 2012/13, but slowing from
the 26 per cent climb reported the previous season.
70
There is a reason for the recent rises. Clubs are under
increasing pressure to comply with Financial Fair Play
regulations, and so have been prepared to pay agents
that little bit more to get players through the door. However, the Premier League’s statement on
agent payments was perhaps more interesting for
what it didn’t show. Who are these agents? What are
they being paid for? By publishing block amounts for
each club with no detail, as it agreed to do in 2008,
the Premier League has perhaps opened itself up
to criticism. As our table illustrates (see page 74),
figures released by the Football League provide a
little more information on work carried out by the
iStock Images
FIFA’s intermediary regulations come into force on 1 April 2015. Andy Brown
examines how the new regulations clarify an agent’s role in a player contract
and looks at how agents are responding to the new approach
71
Integrity
agents. The highest-ranking Football League club in
terms of the amount paid to agents was Blackburn
Rovers. The club paid agents for 48 new registrations
and/or transfers, eight contract updates, six contract
cancellations and 21 loans. Unlike the Premier League’s
figures, at least this illustrates the work done by agents.
However, we don’t know who these agents are, how
much they received for each deal and what work they
have actually carried out to earn their money.
Such an environment can be conducive to corruption.
For example, Chann Sankaran, jailed in June along with
footballer Michael Boateng for attempting to fix the
results of football games, had posed as an agent in
a ploy to gain access to players. In a separate case,
undercover reporters and investigators approached
Christopher Forsythe, a licensed player agent, to fix
Ghanaian international football games in a Channel 4
Dispatches investigation last summer. Forsythe featured
on the list of licensed players’ agents published on
FIFA’s website (he still features, despite having been
filmed by investigators agreeing to help fix games).
All of this is about to change. On 1 April 2015,
FIFA is bringing in its Regulations on Working with
Intermediaries. But how will FIFA’s planned changes
serve to make football agents accountable? Already,
a battleground is developing between those who wish
to preserve the agent licensing system, and those
developing new business models.
The current regulatory environment
The current regulations are not working. If an agent
is used in a player contract, FIFA’s Players’ Agents
Regulations require them to be licensed by a national
association. FIFA’s Regulations on the Status and Transfer
of Players require any agent used in a player transfer to be
named in that contract. Players and clubs are forbidden
from using an unlicensed player agent.
National associations are responsible for issuing
sanctions relating to domestic transfers, and FIFA is
responsible for issuing sanctions relating to international
transfers. However, as the national associations are
responsible for licensing player agents, only they can
suspend or withdraw their licence. Accordingly, national
associations are responsible for issuing a report on the
activity of player agents to FIFA.
This makes the regulations very difficult to enforce
and police. “At the present time, we estimate only 25
per cent to 30 per cent of all international transfers are
conducted via licensed agents,” said FIFA’s legal director,
Marco Villiger, at a 15 July 2009 press conference. “FIFA
finds this unsatisfactory… under the current system,
unlicensed agents cannot be detected. Clubs will not
tell FIFA that they used an unlicensed agent. If a club
launched a complaint with FIFA, then there is a risk that
the investigation will involve them and they would have to
prove that they have not contacted an unlicensed agent.
The system as it is now doesn’t work.”
This may have more to do with a failure to enforce
the regulations than it does with any particular problem
72
Integrity
with the system. “Had the 2008 regulations been
implemented uniformly and, critically, been enforced
by national associations, such figures would not exist,”
wrote John Mehrzad, a barrister with Littleton Chambers,
and Udo Onwere, an associate with Farrer & Co, in World
Sports Law Report, Volume 12, Issue 11. “It is [our] view
that this points to a systematic failure of implementation
and enforcement rather than any particular problem with
the substance of the 2008 regulations.”
However, the creation of the FIFA Transfer Matching
System (TMS), which was implemented in 2010, presented
a new opportunity. Both clubs involved in an international
transfer now had to use an online system to record
payment details, intermediaries used and commission
paid. FIFA argues that if you know who an agent is, the
work he carried out and the amount he was paid, then
that largely replaces the need for him to be licensed by
a national association. But not everyone agrees.
Footballer Michael Boateng, who was jailed in June along
with Chann Sankaran for attempting to match-fix. Sankaran
had impersonated an agent in order to gain access to players
FIFA’s Regulations on Working
with Intermediaries
The new regulations mark a change of approach.
Rather than attempting to register and license player
agents, they will require FIFA member associations –
such as the FA – to implement a registration system
to record every intermediary used in a player contract.
National associations will also be responsible for
sanctioning any breaches of the regulations. FIFA’s role
is also changing: it will sanction member associations
that fail to implement its regulations correctly.
The key changes are as follows:
■■ Those engaged in providing services to a player or a
club to conclude an employment contract between a
player or conclude a transfer agreement between two
clubs will be termed an ‘intermediary’.
■■ An intermediary may be both legal or natural persons,
so corporate bodies such as agencies will fall under
the scope of the regulations.
■■ There is no examination requirement. Intermediaries
will merely need to have an ‘impeccable reputation’
and not have ‘a potential conflict of interest’ to
become registered with a national association.
■■ It is recommended that players and clubs adopt
the following benchmarks: the total amount of
remuneration per transaction due to intermediaries on
the player’s behalf should not exceed three per cent
of the player’s basic gross income for the duration of
the relevant employment contract; the total amount
of remuneration per transaction due to intermediaries
who have been engaged to act on a club’s behalf
in order to conclude an employment contract with
a player should not exceed three per cent of the
player’s eventual gross income for the entire duration
of the relevant employment contract; or the total
remuneration per transaction due to intermediaries
who have been engaged to act on a club’s behalf in
order to conclude a transfer agreement should not
exceed three per cent of the eventual transfer fee paid
in connection with the relevant transfer of the player.
Darren Staples/Reuters
Any party that violates the provisions of the new
regulations may be sanctioned by the national
association, the sanctions of which may be
extended by the FIFA Disciplinary Committee.
■■ If the relevant principles are not complied with,
the FIFA Disciplinary Committee may take
appropriate measures.
■■
Legal challenges
Existing licensed agents have two issues with the new
approach: the fact that anyone can act as a player agent
without any sort of qualification, and the recommended
three per cent cap. The Association of Football Agents
(AFA), which represents around 500 football agents
in England, has lodged a complaint with the European
Commission, alleging that the regulations infringe the
Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union, as both a
distortion of competition and abuse of a dominant position.
“A fee cap would be unique in a business of this
nature and is clearly anti-competitive,” Mel Stein, AFA
Chairman, wrote at the time. “The actions of FIFA are a
blatant breach of a dominant position.” The FA did not
hold any agent exams in the autumn of 2014, but has yet
to announce its future plans. “We have heard no more
from the Football Association”, says Stein. “We are not
privy to their plans, yet we are part of them.”
The AFA plans to continue with its challenge, and
is waiting to hear back from the commission. “Firstly,
we will try to stop FIFA’s plans,” explains Stein. “The
European Commission has yet to make a decision on
our complaint. If we haven’t heard back from them
by January, then we will request an injunction under
FA Rule K [agreement to arbitrate]. It would be defeatist
to accept self-regulation at this stage. Why would we
work with something that is blatantly illegal?”
Stein says that the European Football Agents
Association (EFAA), which represents 16 national player
agent associations, is backing its challenge. Self-regulation
is the AFA’s ‘plan B’; however, Stein says that England’s
football authorities are not keen on the idea of agents
regulating themselves: “The FA are not opposed to the
idea of self-regulation, registration and kitemarks, but the
other stakeholders – the FA Premier League, the Football
League and the Professional Footballers’ Association –
won’t do it. The League Managers Association can see
the benefit of self-regulation. We can legally self-regulate.
Nobody can stop us. If we fight and we lose, then we will
self-regulate. We have had draft regulations drawn up by
an outside lawyer and we are well advanced with this.”
Pieter Venema has created the Stichting Registratie
en Certificering Certified Players’ Agents (SRCCPA), an
independent non-profit centre for the registration and
certification of agents. It aims to certify qualified player
agents and intermediaries used in player transfers by:
■■ setting requirements concerning training, experience,
education and conduct;
■■ setting financial guarantees for services offered;
■■ drawing up and holding examinations or the
equivalent as a requirement for certifying natural
persons and granting them a licence as a Certified
Player Agent (CPA);
■■ drawing up and maintaining a Code of Conduct for CPAs;
■■ setting up a European register for CPAs;
■■ supervising compliance with the regulations in order
to maintain a licence as a CPA.
“I think that it is in the interests of the players, the
clubs and the associations to have trustworthy agents,”
says Venema. “I hope that they will see that we are
working in the general interest. I think that it’s in the
interests of the agents themselves to build bridges,
rather than put up walls.”
Venema was understandably reluctant to go into
detail about the necessary requirements to become a
player agent, given the AFA’s ‘plan B’ to self-regulate.
“The high-quality requirements to be fulfilled by a CPA
relate to subject-matter knowledge, behaviour and
accountability,” he says. “Subject knowledge is tested
before admission to the register. Once certified, a player
agent has to keep his knowledge up to date through
permanent education. Behaviour and accountability have
been set out in our code of conduct. A prospective agent
who fails to meet the high standards cannot become a CPA.”
Venema is also busy working on International
Organization for Standardization (ISO) kitemark
certification for player agents, which its members will
be able to point to as a mark of quality when dealing
with clubs. “We have been working towards achieving
73
Integrity
Integrity
English football clubs spending more than £500,000 on player agents during 2013/14* (ranked by amount spent)
Club
Division
2013/14 agent spend (£)
Total transactions
Average
payment per
transaction (£)
Chelsea
Premier League
16,771,328
n/a
n/a
Liverpool
Premier League
14,308,444
n/a
n/a
Manchester City
Premier League
12,811,946
n/a
n/a
Tottenham Hotspur
Premier League
10,983,011
n/a
n/a
Manchester United
Premier League
7,975,556
n/a
n/a
West Ham United
Premier League
6,380,339
n/a
n/a
Everton
Premier League
5,753,269
n/a
n/a
Sunderland
Premier League
5,276,674
n/a
n/a
Arsenal
Premier League
4,293,407
n/a
n/a
Stoke City
Premier League
3,986,850
n/a
n/a
Newcastle United
Premier League
3,876,250
n/a
n/a
Swansea City
Premier League
3,784,090
n/a
n/a
West Bromwich Albion
Premier League
3,493,745
n/a
n/a
Queens Park Rangers
Premier League
3,242,668
n/a
n/a
Southampton
Premier League
2,766,444
n/a
n/a
Aston Villa
Premier League
2,577,866
n/a
n/a
Hull City
Premier League
2,459,010
n/a
n/a
Crystal Palace
Premier League
2,200,797
n/a
n/a
Blackburn Rovers
Championship
1,681,080
83
20,254
Wigan Athletic
Championship
1,656,445
70
23,664
Leicester City
Premier League
1,608,418
n/a
n/a
Reading
Championship
1,460,460
57
25,622
Nottingham Forest
Championship
745,660
47
15,865
Burnley
Premier League
711,024
n/a
n/a
AFC Bournemouth
Championship
709,231
89
7,969
Huddersfield Town
Championship
676,639
65
10,410
Bolton Wanderers
Championship
639,840
52
12,305
Middlesbrough
Championship
635,662
45
14,126
Leeds United
Championship
597,901
49
12,202
Wolverhampton Wanderers
League One
571,350
64
8,927
All 92 clubs
Total spent on agents
£130,493,916
*Covers 1 October 2013 to 30 September 2014 for FA Premier League clubs, and 1 July 2013 to 30 June 2014 for
Football League clubs. Source: FA Premier League and Football League data
74
ISO certification,” says Venema. “We don’t believe in
enforced regulations. We are independent and we
want to meet international business standards. This is
business and if you want to raise quality, you have to be
able to outline what you do for your customers.”
Venema says that his approach is not about protecting
a profession, but ensuring that people have the relevant
qualifications, education and experience to do their job.
“If an athlete gets injured, you – as an agent – have
to think about what is going to happen then. Where
is he going to get his income? A certain amount of
financial planning is necessary. As an agent, you need to
understand financial fair play, because it is very important
for the clubs. You need to understand the industry. You
need to know the stages of an athlete’s career and
you need to be able to advise them with passion, and
with knowledge. Therefore, you need qualifications.”
“In terms of how we operate, it is a voluntary
organisation,” continues Venema. “There is no obligation to
join. We have a code of education and a code of conduct,
which will make our agents accountable for their actions.
These are not required under FIFA’s new regulations;
however, I think it’s good for the market to have these
things, because you will be able to clearly see who has
a certificate of quality and who doesn’t. We want quality
in the market and we want quality
agents. People who cannot fulfil our
requirements shouldn’t be entering
the business. Agents are responsible
for the profession, as they are the
professionals. If they don’t want to
come to talk to us, then that says more
about them than it does about us.”
Venema has talked to FIFA, UEFA and the European
Commission about his plans. “In 2011, I contacted UEFA
about doing this in Europe,” he says. “They said that they
had no competence at all to regulate this area. They said
that we had to go to our own national association, or talk
with FIFA. We decided to go to FIFA, because they are
responsible for the regulations. We discussed our code of
conduct with the European Commission and the European
Committee for Standardization (CEN) in 2012, and they
said that they see no obstacle to using it. We don’t want to
have any legal procedures over what we are trying to do,
because we want to create harmonisation in Europe.”
“Concerns were raised that we might be setting the
bar too high, but I actually disagree,” continues Venema.
“We want quality. We want good, ethical people and you
cannot realise that in a harmonisation procedure within
Europe, as it would take years. They asked why we were
better than FIFA. I thought about it, and if you look at
the activities of the agents, the regulation of this area
doesn’t belong with FIFA. This is labour law. FIFA should
deal with sporting rules. Player agency is an economic
activity that belongs with the freedom to provide services
in the European Union. I think it is very good that FIFA’s
new regulations have come in, because the licensing
system and all the legal uncertainty that was created
under that system cannot be enforced.”
If the regulations come into force, as planned,
on 1 April 2015, then some sort of certification of
player agents appears to be the way forward. It
is often forgotten that the new regulations do not
prohibit national associations and other organisations
from licensing player agents. Clubs may still wish to
use licensed agents with expertise rather than an
intermediary. It may, therefore, make sense for
organisations such as the AFA, EFAA and SRCCPA
to operate qualifications, kitemarks and exams,
in order to differentiate their expertise from that
of mere ‘intermediaries’.
The future of sports agents
The AFA may have a point that recommending that
agent fees are capped at three per cent is setting a
salary cap by abusing a dominant position, but it is
difficult to see the European Commission supporting an
argument that FIFA should take its entire Intermediary
Regulations back to the drawing board. FIFA and many
national associations were not effectively regulating the
use of agents in international transfers. Even if clubs
decided to use licensed agents, football authorities often
didn’t know who they were or how much they were paid.
It is a shame that licensed, honest, good agents have
The current Players’ Agents Regulations
are very difficult to enforce and police
been treated in the same way as unlicensed, dishonest
agents by removing the only thing that distinguished
them (the licence), but they were hardly impatient to
self-regulate when the system was broken.
Under the old system, if football authorities were
lucky enough to have a licensed agent listed on a player
contract (which only happened in 25 per cent to 30 per
cent of international transfers, less in domestic transfers),
they often didn’t know how much he took in commission
or what work he was carrying out. Now, every intermediary
will be listed on every player contract, including how much
they were paid, and whether they are a licensed agent or
not. That has to be more conducive to promoting integrity
around the activities of agents than the old system. As
intermediaries and agents are so closely linked with the
development and nurturing of our young players, the new
approach should be welcomed as bringing clarity to what
was becoming a murky area.
Some of the information in this article was reproduced
from ‘FIFA Regulations on Working With Intermediaries:
analysis’, World Sports Law Report, Volume 12 Issue 11,
November 2014, available at: http://bit.ly/1rVlZ74.
Many thanks to John Mehrzad of Littleton Chambers
and Udo Onwere of Farrer & Co, who gave their
permission for the article to be quoted
75
Technology
Technology
Crowd simulation:
for the trained eye
Crowd simulations allow for the kind of experimentation that is not possible in
real life, but this approach has its limits. Professor G Keith Still discusses
its appropriate uses for mitigating risk and managing crowds at sporting events
76
competent safety planner or crowd manager. So why do
the solutions providers promote their products in this
way? As simulations cost a lot of money to develop,
market and maintain, the development company needs to
recoup its investment. As a result, we often see inflated
claims for the potential applications of these simulations.
It is a sales pitch, a means to convince the potential buyer
of the system’s worth. However, the use of these kinds of
crowd simulation to prove a safety case is a fundamentally
flawed premise. You only need to read the small print in
the licence conditions that almost always accompany the
products to see this flaw.
Broadly, the licence conditions state that the user
is responsible for the inputs and the interpretation of
the resulting data. This means that software vendors
absolve themselves of any potential liability for any
eventual negative outcomes. What does that mean for
the end users’ safety considerations? How would they
know if the model was producing garbage? Or if the
model shows a situation that appears to work, but
may in reality prove to be fatal? It is a conundrum.
Developments and limitations
In order to use this kind of computer simulation and
ensure that the inputs and outputs are correct, the
user needs to know, understand and have experience
of crowd safety and management to avoid the ‘garbage
in, garbage out’ problem. This leads us on to asking the
fundamental question: what does the simulation tell the
user that they may not already know from experience?
We can demonstrate one type of failure in crowd
simulations. If a system’s literature states that the
maximum crowd density in the simulation is, say, 6.25
people per square metre, then the crowd density will
never exceed this limit. Therefore, the model will never
show the risk of crushing. To illustrate this problem,
the next page shows an image of a tennis court with
a packing density of six people per square metre.
Compare that with the next image of a crowd entering
a stadium in the United States and you can see that the
iStock Images
O
ver the past 25 years, there have been
significant advances in computer technology
and crowd simulations, but these advances
still have considerable limitations when
planning safety operations for major events.
Crowd simulations are limited by the mathematical
models on which they are built, and should always be
used in conjunction with other modelling and risk
assessment procedures. As Sam L Savage, author of
Insight.xla: Business Analysis Software for Microsoft
Excel, says: “Someone who builds a mathematical
model can get carried away with all the clever things
that can be done with it. The model becomes a safe
little world, free from anxiety, free from office politics,
rewarding in its own right. This often results in a very
clever model that has little to do with reality.”
Recently, an email arrived in my organisation’s inbox,
providing a link to one of the latest crowd simulation and
modelling tools. We see many such emails promoting
various scientific advances, typically with graphic images
of vast crowds in complex spaces. This particular email
was for a simulation of crowded spaces that could be used
to evaluate the safety of an environment. The graphics
accompanying the link showed an event, the crowd evenly
distributed across the event space – this does not happen
in real life – and a town centre, packed to capacity, with
no visible means of access or egress. Both of those
examples are instantly recognisable as incorrect and
potentially dangerous by anyone who has worked in crowd
management. Although the simulations look convincing,
can we trust their outputs? Are they capable of doing as
they claim, evaluating the safety of an environment?
Many solutions providers in this field argue that
safety and security at sports events have become more
important in recent years, but this argument is both
naive and misleading. Crowd safety has always been the
reason for developing safety concepts and robust crowdmanagement plans for places of public assembly. This
is not something that has suddenly ‘become’ an issue;
safety and security have always been the priority for a
77
Technology
packing density can be much higher in real life, and that is
one fundamental problem of many computer models: they
do not represent the real crowd-packing density, therefore
they cannot show the risk of crushing.
The real crowd can develop enormous pressures
when people are packed at high density, people squeeze
together and breathing becomes difficult. There are
significant risks to life and limb, but the simulation may
not ever display this risk. The simulation may show that
everything works, but reality may prove otherwise.
An experienced crowd manager is all too aware of this
kind of problem. Through design, it is possible to monitor,
manage and thereby maintain lower crowd density with
safe levels – where density is below five people per square
metre – and thereby mitigate the risk of crushing.
For over a quarter of a century, a wide range of crowd
simulation systems have been developed and applied to
crowded spaces. Indeed, teams I have led have developed
and used several different crowd simulations for many
of the world’s largest and most challenging events.
During the early years of research, crowd simulations were
essential tools that helped us understand crowd dynamics,
assess risk and experiment with the parameters in the
model, as well as understand how, when and why certain
types of risk arise in places of public assembly. They
also enabled us to develop an understanding of crowd
risks and experiment with a wide range of behavioural
assumptions without exposing crowds to those risks.
You can experiment with crowds in a computer-generated
environment in a way that is simply not possible with
real crowds for obvious safety reasons – you cannot
expose people to a potential crowd crushing in order
to gather the data necessary to validate the models.
Experimenting in the computer-generated world has
proved to be essential in understanding the interactions
between crowds and their environments. With crowd
simulations, we can understand how risks develop into
incidents and how incidents can escalate into disasters,
but the simulation approach is both expensive and timeconsuming. If the objective is understanding types of risk,
then the solution is to develop more appropriate crowdmanagement techniques, planning and operation safety
guidelines. The simulation is a means to that objective.
We still explore crowd risks using simulations to further
our understanding of risks in places of public assembly,
and to help us develop better, more appropriate, safety
guidance. It is an expert task and takes investment in
both time and simulation development.
Selling simulations
Companies need to make money in order to survive.
Obviously, this is a key economic driver in the marketing
of simulation products: to make profit, a return on the
development investment and income from product sales.
That is where the real capability of the crowd simulation
and the sales and marketing pitch can drift dangerously
apart. We see sales and marketing literature focusing on
‘safety’ as the reason clients need to buy their product,
playing to client fears, making assurances that this
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A crowd entering a stadium in the United States. There
are many unknown elements about crowd behaviour
that cannot be accounted for in mathematical models
Some crowd-simulation programs have limitations
when it comes to reflecting real-life situations, such
as depicting a realistic crowd-packing density
© 2013 G Keith Still
product will ensure the safety of their environment.
Consulting organisations also invest in crowd simulations,
making their income by demonstrating how a crowded
space is proposed to function safely. This can create an
interesting dynamic between the consultant, the software
vendor and the client. Clients do not want to be told that
their investments may fail; clients want to have their
confidence in a project reassured. The danger is that this
creates a motivation to show a client how a design can
work. This drives the process towards proof of concept,
where simulations are used to demonstrate how things
work, not stress-testing them to understand how things
may fail. There is a fundamental difference in these two
approaches and, to understand that, we need to outline
the concept of crowd risks.
Crowd risks
We know more about crowds now than we did 25 years
ago, but we may never know everything about them. We
do not yet fully understand many aspects of the human
condition – for example, how and why people react under
normal and emergency situations; or their decisionmaking processes as individuals, as groups, as families.
We simply cannot measure many elements, such as
emotion, anger and aggression levels. We do not know
exactly how a wide range of internal or external factors
– such as mood and weather, aggression and music –
influence crowds. There is a long list of unknowns, many
of which are subjective, individual, and can vary from
day to day. We are influenced by many variable elements
in our environment. In order to build simulations of how
individuals may behave in the crowd, we have to make
assumptions about human behaviour. These assumptions
are coded into the simulation.
Embedded within the computer simulation there is a
mathematical model; this is a numerical recipe describing
© 2013 G Keith Still
the interactions in the simulation, the way individuals
behave in a range of situations and to various stimuli
and the crowd dynamics. The crowd simulation is limited
by the assumptions built into that mathematical model;
the simulation process will not improve on an incorrect
or unsuitable set of assumptions. Therefore, to understand
the simulation, the user must be able to understand the
internal mathematical models, the assumptions, the
limits to the system.
This leads to another important question: what do
we need to test in a crowded space? What assumptions
are these simulations using when they claim to prove that
a system is safe? If you cannot read computer code, or
construct a mathematical model of crowd behaviour, you
need to trust that the vendor is honestly representing
their systems limitations in their marketing literature.
There are some very useful research applications of
mathematical models and crowd simulations. For example,
crowd simulations can help us to explore the assumptions
about human behaviour in order that we can build better
mathematical models. Crowd simulations are useful tools
for exploring the theoretical relationships between internal
and external factors on the crowd, and there are many
research applications for these types of models. However,
the focus for a safety system should be on risk analysis
and risk reporting, not exploring all the possible outcomes
of the variables in the model. To systematically test every
assumption and potential crowd condition for a mass
gathering takes time; time is money, the costs mount
up and you may never know if you have tested every
potential condition of failure.
We take a more pragmatic approach to the concepts
of risk analysis for crowded spaces. There are three
different levels of modelling (see diagram on page 80),
from the simple analysis (level one) to the full site/
event simulation (level three). We have seen level three
simulations prove that a system would function safely, yet
we can demonstrate that they would have failed a simpler
analysis (level one) and should have been rejected as ‘not
fit for its intended purpose’.
Lower-level modelling (one and two) is similar to
rough-cut capacity planning, used in manufacturing
to verify that you have sufficient capacity available to
meet the capacity requirements for your master schedule.
We can apply the same principles when assessing crowd
risks. We need to understand two fundamental parameters
of the spaces where crowds may form and move:
■■ Area – what area is available for the crowds
(at a safe density)?
■■ Movement rate – what are the rates of passage
(flow rates) during ingress/egress?
Area can be measured on the ground, or using mapmeasuring tools; there are many free map-measuring
tools available on the internet. Movement rates are
evaluated from the pinch points (the narrowest points)
or bottlenecks in the system, and then we can estimate
the crowd flow through those points and the rates at
which areas will fill or empty. This is an approximation,
but it has proved to be reliable for risk analysis.
Very few crowd-analysis projects require complex
computer simulations (level three) in order to develop
an understanding of the complexity and degree of crowd
interactions of people in spaces over time. For example,
as a special adviser for crowd safety in Saudi Arabia, I
worked on the design of the Jamarat Bridge (Mina Valley).
This is part of the Hajj (the holy pilgrimage to Mecca for
Muslims), where around three million pilgrims perform
the ‘stoning of the devil’ ritual that begins on the third
day of Hajj. This project involved a wide area where
millions of pilgrims would be moving on five different
levels, in multiple directions, completing complex rituals.
Computer simulation was an important research tool in
understanding the overall crowd dynamics across such
a wide space and on the different levels of a complex
structure. However, simulation was not the only tool
I and my team used to model, and understand, the
complexity of the site. We had to first construct the
fundamental models of area (capacity) and movement
(flow rates) to evaluate the crowd dynamics.
Site mapping
We start by using level one modelling, mapping out
the site on a drawing board using a series of overlays
(transparent sheets of drafting film, placed on top of
the site plan). We draw the routes the crowds would
take under normal and emergency situations, and check
dimensions such as travel distance and minimum width
along those routes. This is a simple bottleneck analysis,
a model of the potential areas of the risk of overcrowding.
To illustrate this principle, consider a bucket with a
hole in the bottom. If we pour water into the bucket at the
same rate at which the water flows out of the hole, the
bucket will not fill with water. If we pour water in faster
than it can flow out, the bucket will overflow. That is the
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The three levels of crowd-risk modelling
Agent analysis
Network analysis
Spatial analysis
Video analysis
Direction
Flow
Space
Time
Site analysis
Client brief (mostly
reverse client brief)
Client interaction
Document review
Scoping survey
same principle with crowded spaces. If the crowd flow,
approaching the bottleneck, is less than the capacity
(throughput) of the bottleneck, the crowd will pass through
and no queues will form. If the crowd flow approaching the
bottleneck exceeds the crowd flow through the bottleneck,
a queue will develop. If the approaching crowd flow
grossly exceeds the bottleneck’s flow capacity, there is
a significant risk of congestion and crushing. We do not
need anything more than a flow diagram and a bottleneck
analysis to determine the potential risk of failure in such
a system. Those are the principles of crowd risk analysis
– does this system have the potential to fail?
By working through the site, area by area, section
by section, we can build a clearer model of the overall
crowd risks across the site. Only when we had a complete
construction of the crowd flow paths and areas of potential
risk were we able to code those parameters into the
computer simulation. This process of site analysis was key
to understanding the large-scale complex sites. In essence,
you can determine the risks without the simulation. So,
what did the simulation provide the user with that the
model, which underpins the simulation, did not provide?
To answer that question, we need to outline the definitions
of an animation, a simulation and a model.
Animations, simulations and models
An animation is the process of creating motion and
shape-change illusion by means of the rapid display of
a sequence of static images that minimally differ from
each other. Animations may look realistic, but they are
often products of artistic licence, illusions of reality.
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Major projects.
Report and
analysis,
presentations,
simulations
Mid-sized
projects. Report
and analysis,
presentation
Small projects.
Report and
analysis.
Presentation
LEVEL THREE PROJECTS
Complex analysis, value
engineering, site and wide
area simulations site survey,
video/photographs
LEVEL TWO PROJECTS
Modelling and risk analysis,
site survey, photographs
LEVEL ONE PROJECTS
Survey, report and analysis.
Site survey via maps/plans
(internet service)
A simulation is an imitation of the operation of
a real-world process or system over a period of time.
The act of simulating something first requires that a
model be developed; this model represents the key
characteristics or behaviours/functions of the selected
physical or abstract system or process. Simulation
should be used when the consequences of a proposed
action, plan or design cannot be directly observed or it
is impractical, dangerous or prohibitively expensive to
test the alternatives directly. Simulation is particularly
valuable when there is significant uncertainty regarding
the outcome or consequences of a particular alternative.
It should be used when the system under consideration
has complex interactions and requires the input from
multiple disciplines. In such a case, it is difficult for
any one person to easily understand the system. A
simulation model can act as the framework to integrate
the various components in order to better understand
their interactions. As such, it becomes a management
tool that keeps you focused on the ‘big picture’ without
getting lost in unimportant details.
A mathematical model is a description of a system
using mathematical concepts and language. A crowd
simulation is the process of using mathematical models
to produce a simulation of the movement of a large
number of entities or characters. While simulating
crowds, observed human behaviour and interactions
are taken into account in the mathematical models
in order to simulate collective behaviour.
With these definitions, we need to consider how
the model is constructed – specifically, where this is
relevant to crowd safety cases. Crowd simulation can
also refer to simulations based on group dynamics and
crowd psychology; often in public safety planning we need
to consider how the crowd reacts to the environment.
Frequently, simulations will focus on a few behavioural
aspects of the crowd, and not the overall visual realism
of the simulation – for example, on the exploration of the
collective social behaviour of people at social gatherings,
assemblies, protests, rebellions, concerts, sporting events
and religious ceremonies.
Gaining insight into natural human behaviour under
varying types of stressful situation can allow better
models to be created that can be used to develop crowdcontrolling strategies. These are all excellent tools for
exploring the enormous complexity in the crowd reaction
and there have been some fascinating theories developed
from different approaches to crowd simulations over
the past decade. My team asked a very simple question:
who would gain the most benefit from the uses and
applications of complex crowd simulations? The crowd
managers were not computer scientists or researchers,
and they often needed a more practical, pragmatic
methodology for risk analysis.
For the past 15 years, I have been teaching practical
methods for crowd modelling, focusing on ‘simple to
apply’ and ‘simple to understand’ techniques for assessing
crowd risks and evaluating crowd safety strategies.
Colleagues and I developed a workshop approach to
problem-solving that was similar to what we were using in
our consulting projects – to identify and catalogue the key
information for crowd-risk analysis. We teach the same
methods that we use on major projects, not by trying to
simulate entire sites, but by breaking down the site into
its components, such as ingress (getting in), circulation
(moving around) and egress (leaving the site) elements.
Workshops had proved to be a successful means of
understanding site-related issues while teaching delegates
how to understand the fundamentals of crowd-related
risks for major events. Delegates were typically crowd
safety operations managers – the people who plan and
operate events – so there was a wealth of practical
experience to draw upon for our development projects,
and good general understanding of the key issues related
to crowd risks. Workshops have helped us develop better
mathematical models of crowd behaviour and improve
our understanding of crowd risks; specifically, they have
helped us develop more appropriate crowd modelling
(not crowd simulation) tools for crowd safety. As a result
of our having run safety workshops for over 15 years,
the teaching techniques and modelling tools we have
developed are not academic or theoretical exercises: they
are based on real-world situations. They are practical
and applicable tools, techniques and methodologies. The
key is crowd-risk analysis; understanding the causality
of accidents and incidents; how these risks develop and
escalate. The emphasis is on risk analysis.
For crowd-related issues you need to understand
how risks may be identified and then managed, and how
that risk-management process can be measured or
assessed in order to make the best improvements to the
site. This requires practice and a lot of experience, and
you cannot practise on real crowds; mistakes can cost
lives. Crowd simulations may help explore, quantify and
qualify the scale of the problem, whether the risk is small,
medium or great. In this approach, the crowd simulation
is not designed to provide solutions to risk-management
issues – only to assist in identifying the severity, location
and duration of the risk.
This is part of the problem with crowd simulations:
if they focus on how things work, they can mislead the
user about the nature of the underlying risks, specifically
if the underlying mathematical models are not published,
understood, or, in many cases, accurate.
For competent risk analysis there are several common
questions we need to address:
■■ How do we identify crowd risks during the eventplanning process?
■■ How do we assess whether or not a system of
entry/exit points will work?
■■ How do we manage the crowd flow into, around,
and leaving a site?
■■ What are the key parameters of crowd risk and
crowd safety?
These questions can be answered at a level one/
two modelling approach. These are also questions my
colleagues and I are asked at every workshop.
No feedback in the system
There are many best practices across a wide range
of events that are not being documented; pockets of
‘isolated experience’, local knowledge of crowd risks
and appropriate risk-management techniques, things
that work and things that don’t work. However, the
principles of risk analysis do not exist as a consistent
approach across the industry as a whole. Mistakes
made in one part of the country, or at one particular
type of event, or concerning a specific type of crowd
behaviour, are neither captured nor published – so the
system does not improve. Nobody wants to admit to a
near miss, but, unlike any other safety-related industry,
event planning has no standards for competency; anyone
can call themselves an event planner without accredited
qualifications and invite tens of thousands of people to
their event. That, in turn, creates a market for these
crowd-safety simulations with their promise to ‘ensure
safety at your event’. They offer a shortcut; why do you
need to hire in, or learn the skills of risk analysis, if a
vendor tells you their crowd simulation can do it for you?
If the simulation vendor is offering you the
assurances of crowd ‘safety’ at your event, just read
the small print, absolving them of all liabilities and
remember; caveat emptor – let the buyer beware.
Professor G Keith Still FIMA FICPEM SFIIRSM is
the Professor of Crowd Science at Manchester
Metropolitan University, UK. His workshops and
courses are run around the world – www.GKStill.com
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Monitoring the crowd:
privacy, data protection and best practice
Laura Scaife discusses the increasing use of crowd-monitoring technologies
to manage safety at major sports events, and examines the data-protection
and privacy issues that these technologies present from a legal perspective
I
ncreasingly, sporting events are being held on a
large scale, ranging from Olympic events and World
Cups to Super Bowls and city-based motorsports.
These events are attended by huge crowds and are
also shown on large monitors watched by spectators
outside the sports grounds.
While a huge crowd is an indication of a successful
event, it can pose significant safety challenges for event
organisers. Such events can be charged with excitement
and emotion, making crowds a challenge to understand
or manage in the short space of time in which an event
can become a critical incident. Crowd behaviour can
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be unpredictable and does not necessarily follow plans
or the modelled predictions that are developed by
event organisers. Therefore, event managers can find
themselves faced with difficult decisions to make with
regard to managing a security or safety issue, based
on how things unfold in ‘real time’ on the ground.
New technologies are available to operational
decision-makers tasked with making live assessments
of crowds in order to ensure that timely interventions
are made to deliver safe, enjoyable and profitable
events. But what is the value of the technologies
in this context?
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The issue of crowd security in a football context has
had a long and complex history. Arguably, 1985 was the
watershed moment in terms of governmental and police
responses to football violence. At Bradford City stadium,
56 people were killed by a fire. Serious disorder occurred
at the grounds of Birmingham City, Chelsea and Luton
Town. Furthermore, some Liverpool fans were seriously
implicated in the deaths of 39 football supporters, most
of them Italian, prior to the European Cup Final between
Liverpool and Juventus at the Heysel Stadium in Brussels.
Although 1985 proved to be the start of a change in
the way in which crowd security was approached – with
the introduction of CCTV, hoolivans (a technology deployed
at high-profile games that enabled police to maintain radio
contact with all officers inside and outside the grounds,
and to be linked with the CCTV cameras in and around
the stadium at events) and the increasing use of stewards
in the grounds – few will ever forget the events that
occurred on 15 April 1989 in Sheffield, UK. During the FA
Cup semi-final match between Liverpool and Nottingham
Forest, a human crush resulted in the deaths of 96 people
and injuries to 766 others. When the gates were opened,
thousands of fans entered a narrow tunnel leading to the
rear of the terrace into two overcrowded central pens,
creating pressure at the front. Hundreds of people were
pressed against one another and against the fencing
by the weight of the crowd behind them. Hillsborough
remains the worst stadium-related disaster in British
history, and one of the world’s worst football disasters.
The 1990s saw a shift away from using police to
control fans inside the ground, with clubs relying more
and more on stewards employed by the clubs themselves.
As technology has developed, so did its deployment as
a crowd-control and monitoring method. The National
Criminal Intelligence Service (NCIS) Football Unit serves
as a useful example of how technology was used to
complement the work of the police, as regards strategy,
to tackle hardcore offenders. The unit became fully
operational in 1990, staffed by six full-time police officers
led by a superintendent; by 1992, the database operated
by NCIS had amassed over 6,000 names and photographs
of individuals, which would be used to identify offenders
and conduct monitoring.
In the interim years, there has been a move towards
ensuring crowd security, and implementing control
methods to ensure crowd safety with good-practice
guides such as Crowd Management Measures: FA Good
Practice Guide for Football Clubs. However, in the present
day, arguably the first truly digitally connected age,
the proliferation of social media and smartphones has
meant that crowds can be quickly mobilised. Whereas
previously, a hard core of radicalised fans or individuals
seeking to cause insurrection would have had to plan
how to cause disruption (the football hooligans of the
1980s transformed themselves from an ill-organised mob
into highly organised forces with a complex network of
hierarchies), in the technological age, disruption can be
started at the click of a smartphone, or with a Facebook
post that captures crowd sensitivities (as was seen in
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Hillsborough Stadium in Sheffield, 1989, when a crush
resulted in the deaths of 96 people and many more injuries.
The disaster highlighted the importance of crowd control
as thousands of fans were streaming through the centre
of London. The data, which was given voluntarily and
anonymously, was then analysed and visualised on a map.
By using this kind of crowd monitoring, the City of London
Police could follow the streams of visitors live in their
borough, recognise potentially hazardous situations
early on and inform visitors directly.
‘Big data’ and the Data Protection Act 1998
While the type of technology deployed during the
Olympic Games had a clear utility, and the technological
capabilities were demonstrated to map well onto the
challenges faced by event organisers, when discussing
the application of this type of technology it is important
to consider what the ‘big data’ (which feeds into such
heat-mapping technology) actually is and how it is
regulated. While such advances in technology appear
to be cutting-edge, big data has been a major topic of
discussion in Europe for a number of years. Indeed, the
phrase ‘data analytics’ may have become a buzzword
in digital speak, but it is worth pausing to consider what
big data analytics actually covers in order to look at its
uses and limitations in the context of sport.
It is important to consider
what ‘big data’ actually
is and how it is regulated
David Cannon/Getty Images
the London riots in 2011). While people with a history of
disruptive behaviour will clearly be of interest, in theory
anyone could mobilise a crowd with little thought. While
traditional monitoring methods will remain important,
technology that can monitor crowds and their personal
devices is increasing in importance, too. The dynamics
of large crowds of people cannot be easily measured,
and security forces can rarely react directly in critical
situations. Therefore, location data can prove a rich and
valuable resource when identifying areas of risk based
on quickly changing patterns of crowd behaviour.
Heat mapping
Heat mapping involves monitoring crowded places and
automatically generating real-time information and
insights into the crowd as it develops, for example:
■■ how many people are present;
■■ how they are distributed;
how they are moving;
how they may move next; and
■■ whether any behaviour indicates that unusual
activity is occurring.
■■
■■
The technology also offers the ability to analyse crowd
characteristics over extended periods of time, which
can be of use in terms of reflecting upon events, when
drafting impact assessments going forward and when
determining how measures designed to manage crowds
can be adapted and/or improved. By way of example, a
smartphone app was used for the exchange of information
between the City of London Police and visitors to the 2012
London Olympics. Using integrated crowd-monitoring
technology, crowds were tracked in real time and given
relevant security information. The smartphone apps of
the City of London Police and Westminster City Council
sent sensor data collected by mobile phones to a server
Typically, analytics is characterised by volume,
variety and velocity. Through the use of algorithms, the
data can be utilised to understand trends. While there
is a conception that big data is not personal data about
a person (data from which a living individual can be
identified), there are examples of big data analytics that
do involve processing personal data, from sources such
as social media, loyalty cards and contactless payments.
A further example drawn from the London Olympics
was the use of Oyster cards (the Transport for London
smart travel card), which measured ‘touches in’ and
‘touches out’ on the London Underground in order to
pinpoint congestion as crowds moved around the city.
Alerts were set up to let crowds know in real time where
congestion was occurring and suggest alternative routes,
thereby keeping travellers to the Olympics calm, as well
as preventing bottlenecking on the Underground network.
Where personal data is being used, organisations
must ensure that they are complying with their obligations
under the Data Protection Act 1998 (DPA). In the rather
apt words of the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO),
the United Kingdom’s privacy watchdog, “big data is not
a game that is played by different rules”. Given that a key
feature of big data is using all of the data that is available
on an individual, which contrasts with the concept of
data minimisation contained in principle five of the DPA
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David Pearson/Alamy
Anthony Devlin – WPA Pool/Getty Images
During the London Olympics, Oyster-card data
was used to pinpoint areas of congestion in the city
principles, questions are raised as to whether big data is
excessive, while the variety of data sources often used in
the analysis may also prompt questions over whether the
personal information being used is relevant. The challenge
for organisations is to address this by being clear from the
outset on what they expect to learn or be able to do by
processing that data, as well as satisfying themselves that
the data is relevant and not excessive, in relation to that
aim. Organisations must also be proactive in considering
any information security risks posed by big data. Security
depends upon the proper assessment of risk, and so
responsible organisations should apply their normal riskmanagement policies and procedures when they acquire
new data sets, or use existing ones for big-data analytics.
Information security
Big data can also be a tool to improve information
security. In the context of large events, data security
will be key in order to avoid such valuable data getting
into the wrong hands. It is no stretch of the imagination
to envisage that such data on crowd volume would be
extremely useful for insurgents plotting terrorist attacks.
Systems that support the processing and transmission of
data (for example to stewards) should therefore regularly
be subjected to penetration testing to ensure that they are
robust enough to prevent penetration by those who may
seek to use the data for darker purposes.
If adopted, the proposed European Union General
Data Protection Regulation could improve the level of
data protection for individuals in the context of big data
analytics, in that it aims to increase the transparency of
the processing, enhance the rights of data subjects and
introduce a requirement for privacy by design and privacy
impact assessments. The ICO stresses that these data
protection benefits should be achieved through a riskbased approach that avoids over-prescription.
When it comes to managing data protection
compliance practically, the DPA requires all data
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Staff monitor screens in the Olympics security control room
during London 2012. CCTV is now widely used at sports events
controllers ( those who determine the manner and the
purpose of processing), when processing personal data,
to comply with the data protection principles set out
in Schedule 1 to the DPA (section 4[4]). In terms of
identifying the data controller, the Guide to Safety at
Sports Grounds, published by the UK’s Department of
Culture, Media and Sport, states that “responsibility for
the safety of spectators lies at all times with the ground
management. The management will normally be either
the owner or the lessee of the ground, who may not
necessarily be the promoter of the event.” The first data
protection principle provides that personal data must be
processed fairly and lawfully, and must not be processed
unless at least one of the conditions set out in Schedule
2 to the DPA is satisfied. Among other things, Schedule 2
permits the processing of personal data if:
■■ the individual to whom the data relates has consented
to the processing;
■■ the processing is necessary to perform a contract
with the individual;
■■ the processing is necessary to protect the individual’s
‘vital interests’ (this condition only applies in cases
of life or death);
the processing is necessary for administering justice,
or for exercising statutory, governmental or other
public functions;
■■ the processing is necessary for the legitimate interests
of the data controller or a third party to whom the
data is disclosed, except where it is unwarranted
because it is prejudicial to the individual.
■■
The first four grounds are preferred as grounds to
justify processing, as the disadvantage of relying on
the ‘legitimate interests’ condition is that it is open
to the individual to demonstrate that their own rights
and freedoms have been prejudiced by the processing.
According to case law in this area, a data subject’s
interests remain paramount even if a company can
establish its own legitimate interests. If at all possible,
it is advisable to obtain consent rather than rely on the
legitimate interests condition or another of the conditions.
When considering how to balance the need to control
crowds against the potential prejudice to an individual’s
privacy, one route to consider is anonymisation, which,
if done correctly, means that the information being
analysed is no longer considered personal data. In a
world of multiple data sources, effective anonymisation
can be challenging, and organisations must carry out
a robust risk assessment.
Anonymisation and best practice
By way of example, Telefonica’s Smart Steps tool uses
data on the location of mobile phones on its network in
order to track the movement of crowds of people. The
data that identifies individuals is stripped out prior to
the analysis and the anonymised data is aggregated to
gain insights into the population as a whole, and is then
combined with market research data from other sources.
However, depending on the exact circumstances
in which tools such as this are used, there could be
a residual risk of identification, and it is often difficult
to create a truly anonymous data set if the underlying
information is still retained.
A recent opinion issued by Article 29 Working
Party, the EU think thank charged with privacy matters,
recommended that regular risk assessments be
undertaken in order to manage such risks. It would
therefore, if possible, be good practice to refer to the
use of data analytics in the terms and conditions that
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In recent years, organisers
and grounds have invested
in better infrastructure,
planning and technology
FA Good Practice Guide for Football Clubs, to provide
a briefing to supervisors, stewards and other personnel
involved in the safety operation (for example, first aid
personnel and turnstile operators) that deals with details
of the event and any anticipated problems; the customer
care, well-being and safety management strategies
and objectives; tactics for achieving these strategies
and objectives; and assessment of the main risks of the
event and the contingencies for dealing with them.
One key area addressed in the good practice guide
looks at the means by which personnel will be informed
and directed, as well as the receiving of feedback to
identify any ongoing issues. Therefore, perhaps the
greatest use of new technologies to deliver security
strategies and manage crowds effectively is deploying
them in a way that complements the strategy rather
than becoming a substitute for it.
Data processors
There are various players in the market offering crowdmonitoring technology software and capability in the
context of sporting events. However, while on first glance
a particular provider’s sales pitch and promotional
materials may appear appealing, event organisers and
clubs need to be sure that they choose a supplier that
can guarantee compliance with the law, as well as
offering a method through which to deliver sophisticated
technology-based crowd monitoring.
The DPA requires that a data controller using a data
processor (any person other than an employee of the
data controller who processes the data on behalf of
the data controller), must put in place a contract or
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evidence in writing that the processor only acts on
instructions from the data controller, and that it has
security in place that is equivalent to that imposed on the
data controller by the seventh data protection principle
of the DPA. This principle requires the data controller
to ensure that appropriate technical and organisational
measures are taken against the unauthorised or unlawful
processing of personal data and against the accidental
loss or destruction of, or damage to, personal data. Data
controllers must also ensure that data processors provide
sufficient guarantees about their security measures to
protect the processing, take reasonable steps to check
that those security measures are being put into practice,
and require data processors to take the same security
measures that the data controller would have to take
if it were processing the data itself.
In terms of risk management and compliance with
the law, it is therefore critical to perform appropriate
due diligence on any company providing such services
and ensure that there are robust data protection and
security controls in such contracts. Under the Draft Data
Protection regulation (scheduled for implementation in
late 2016), which is currently making passage through
Europe, the requirement for data privacy impact
assessments to be undertaken may go on a legislative
footing. Therefore, in terms of future-proofing,
thinking about DPA concerns as part of general
security-management methods would be a good idea
for the relevant event stakeholders. There should also be
liability provisions in case the worst should happen and
the event organiser or club is left with a claim for damages
by a distressed individual alleging privacy infringement,
or when dealing with a complaint from the regulator.
Data retention
The value of data in respect of crowd management often
lies in the ability to gather data over a period of time.
This will usually involve collecting data over long periods
of time in order to be able to identify trends and patterns
of behaviour. One of the key challenges posed by the
creation of databases is how long data can be kept for.
The DPA does not set out any specific minimum or
maximum periods for retaining personal data. Instead,
the fifth data protection principle states that personal data
must not be kept for longer than necessary. In practice,
this will require organisations to:
■■ consider retention periods;
■■ consider the purpose or purposes for which they
are processing the information;
■■ securely delete information that is no longer
needed for this purpose or these purposes; and
■■ update, archive or securely delete information
if it goes out of date.
If large amounts of data are gathered and it is not
anonymous or the underlying non-anonymised data
set is retained, data controllers should take care to
ensure that the lawful retention of such data is regularly
reviewed. Data controllers should also make sure that
A steward performs security checks before a game. The increasing use of
stewards in football grounds characterises modern event-security practices
Daniel Hambury/EMPICS Sport
are communicated to event attendees and ticket holders.
Such terms could be displayed on event websites and in
apps. Furthermore, the transmission could, in theory, be
limited to a particular area and only activated in critical
situations for a defined time period (which may be all that
is needed to deal with critical security issues, and which
may be justified under another ground for processing,
such as the vital interests of the data subject).
While examples such as London 2012 demonstrate
that big data can lend itself well to large sporting events
management, in recent years organisers and grounds have
invested in better infrastructure, planning and technology
in order to ensure fan safety. Additionally, at every
football match the safety officer (or his/her deputy) is
recommended, under the Crowd Management Measures:
Technology
any arrangement with a data processor providing such
mapping solutions covers the deletion of data and audit
rights during the life and upon termination of the contract
for services, to ensure that data is not being used by
the provider company for purposes not permitted by the
data controller, or, more concerning, that the data is not
being used or sold to other event organisers without the
appropriate consents having been sought.
Although beyond the scope of this privacy-focused
article, it is worth noting some points in relation to
intellectual property. While there is no ownership in
personal data, there may be intellectual property rights
vesting in the construction of any data set (see the 1996
Database Directive 96/9/EC).
Therefore, those engaging specialist analytics providers
should think about protecting the value of any such data
set that may be of use to other event organisers, and
ensuring that any intellectual property vesting in the data
remains the property of the data controller and reverts to it
in the event of the termination or a breach of the contract.
If this is not considered, the service provider could obtain
rights in a valuable data set and the data controller may
leave themselves open to the risk of a data breach if the
provider does not ensure that any underlying personal data
in the data set is deleted or shares it with a third party.
Managing the safety of spectators at sports grounds
is a skill that requires significant knowledge, expertise
and experience. The crowd-management measures outlined
in this article form a small but important part of the wider
task of crowd-safety management, and also demonstrate
that with the increased ability to monitor crowds comes an
increased sense of responsibility and the need for a focus
on legal compliance. Even without technological aids and a
higher level of resources, there are basic steps that sports
clubs at every level can take to reduce the risk of spectator
misconduct within the grounds, to identify and deal with
such offenders and to promote good behaviour.
In the next article in this series, we will take the
examples explored in the previous two issues and apply
them to a case study of a fictional international football
event that draws large crowds and raises logistical issues,
looking at the challenges presented when crowd control
threatens to turn into public disorder, and at how data
can be used to target areas of congestion or heightened
activity, dispelling issues before they have the potential
to cause a fatality or riot.
Laura Scaife is a data protection, social media and
privacy specialist with a sports focus. She can be
reached at laurascaife.ls@googlemail.com or on LinkedIn
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Technology
Technology
Beacon technology:
a solution for micro-localisation in stadia
As stadia managers seek to satisfy fans’ desire for ubiquitous communications
and utilise connectivity to their advantage, they must decide among a range
of solutions. Tracey Caldwell explores the uses and limitations of beacons
90
In most stadia there is a crowd-control
consideration when thousands of people try to
access food and drink kiosks during the interval.
Beacons could have a role to play in distributing
fans evenly across the stadium by counting fans
with the app close to a retail kiosk and notifying
them about which kiosks have the smallest queues.
Of interest to stadium security management,
the security team at Virgin Atlantic has been piloting
beacon technology to direct passengers. For example,
passengers joining the airport security channel would
find their phone automatically displaying their boarding
pass ready for inspection and receive special partner
offers. Other uses are also being looked at.
The US leads the way
Beacon technology is already well established in US
stadia. The National Football League (NFL) installed a
network of iBeacons in New York City’s Times Square
and the MetLife Stadium for the 2014 Super Bowl, while
Amway Center stadium, home of the basketball team
Orlando Magic, has installed around 20 iBeacons. Via
the iBeacons it hopes to provide the ability for fans to
access their tickets, upgrade their seats and receive
notifications on special offers, as well as informing
them of the shortest queues for facilities.
Magic CEO Alex Martins is focused on fan
experience: “As the first NBA [National Basketball
iStock Images
B
eacons provide in-stadia location and
communication technology at a much lower
cost than established Wi-Fi, cellular and
telecasting technologies. The advantages
of this technology look likely to drive beacon
environments that can support enhancements to
stadium safety and security, including improved
navigation and wayfinding at every level, emergency
alerts, tracking of staff or business visitors, and support
for those with visual impairment or overseas fans who
may not read the language used in the stadium.
Beacons are proximity sensors based on Bluetooth
Low Energy (Bluetooth version 4.0). Apple’s iBeacon
technology is built into its operating system, which
means that every device with Bluetooth turned on acts
as a transmitter and receiver in the iBeacon system,
alerting apps when users are close to a beacon. This
technology is not restricted to Apple products – iBeacon
supports Android, and other beacons are available.
The earliest beacon applications tended to be
related to retail, tapping into micro-location capabilities
to deliver targeted messages and special offers. In
stadia, the precise location capabilities can be used
to advise people of the nearest toilets and for in-seat
ordering. Apple is reported to be working on a loyalty
programme that would reward people for using Apple
Pay, via iBeacon implementations, which could power
in-seat payments for food, drink and merchandise.
Beacon technology has the potential to revolutionise
in-stadium fan experience and event-security management
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Technology
Technology
San Francisco 49ers combine Wi-Fi and iBeacons for wayfinding
Around 1,000 beacons sit on hundreds
of Wi-Fi access points at the Levi’s
Stadium, the new home of the San
Francisco 49ers. Levi’s Stadium’s network
was built on Brocade switching and
Aruba technology, including iBeacons
and also Beacons for Android.
Jeff Hardison, former Vice President
at mobile software company Meridian,
now Marketing Director at Aruba
Networks, told ICSS Journal: “Stadia
are wrestling with people bringing their
smart devices into these venues and
expecting the same kind of location
awareness as they get from other
types of applications, such as Google
Maps or Yelp. That is why Levi’s Stadium
created a wayfinding application using
Aruba’s Meridian app.”
Hardison points out that “Wi-Fi
would locate people to within 30 metres,
and may take up to two minutes to do
that, whereas iBeacons can locate people
to a range of one metre within seconds.”
Hardison believes beacons will be
very useful when there is construction
work going on, enabling the rerouting
of people away from the normal paths:
“Also for push notification, so that if
there is an emergency such as a riot at
a certain stadium, only people in that
stadium at that time – people who have
downloaded the app – get notified.”
Aruba has not yet set its pricing
for beacons, but Hardison says, “It
will be competitive in a market where
the average price for an iBeacon is
$25-$35 – so tremendously more
economical than Wi-Fi.”
Association] team to offer one-to-one personalised
experiences enabled by iBeacons and integrated with
our mobile app, it allows us to build on our mission of
providing legendary moments every step of the way.”
NBA team Golden State Warriors, too, has introduced
iBeacons to its Oracle Arena for potential uses, such as
seat upgrade notifications, welcome messages and
in-arena offers. Oracle Arena iBeacons also provide
a parking map and a function that shows live traffic
conditions in the sports venue’s immediate area.
Also in the US, Major League Baseball (MLB)
has installed iBeacons at 20 ballparks. Mobile devices
installed with the requisite app can access beacons
at the stadium entrance, which enables the device to
display the barcode of the fan’s ticket and direct him
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Marcio Jose Sanchez/PA Images
San Francisco 49ers players at the Levi’s Stadium, where around 1,000
beacons have been installed, enabling wayfinding and other functions
or her to their seat via a map, while highlighting nearby
points of interest. Gimbal, supplier of proximity solutions,
has been working with MLB to: “Beacon-enable stadiums
to message to fans that are in micro-locations, such as
telling them that if they are standing in a long concession
line that they may find shorter lines another gate up.
This is something we are doing with Miami Dolphins,”
says Brian Dunphy, Gimbal Senior Vice President of
Business Development and Partner Relations.
“Beacons can also help trigger stadium service alerts,
such as triggering messages to alert fans that an elevator
is broken or they need to exit a certain way in the event
of an emergency. Beacons can also be used for enhancing
indoor location and wayfinding. While we don’t like to
say they are superior to other location technologies, they
certainly have benefits in certain circumstances over other
location technologies, such as providing micro-location
details where GPS can’t when indoors,” adds Dunphy.
As well as MLB, Gimbal iBeacons are deployed in
over 50 major sports and entertainment venues. “The
variety of use cases continues to expand across teams
that continue to experiment with different fan experiences,
including creating personalised experiences on digital
displays triggered by fans who are in proximity of the
screen,” says Dunphy.
In the United Kingdom, in early 2014, Wembley
Stadium was reported to be planning to work with mobile
service provider EE to introduce iBeacon technology, but
widespread implementation is yet to be seen. Mike Crooks,
iBeacons Development Director for app company Mubaloo,
believes that beacon technology uptake in the UK will
not be driven by fan experience and upselling as in the
US, due to the different nature of UK sport. “There is
only so much football clubs can sell during the time a
fan is at the stadium. A fan will spend two hours in the
stadium at best. If I sell a few extra pies it does not add
that much revenue intake to the business, whose main
source of revenue is through sponsorship,” says Crooks
“The opportunity is with the enterprise, looking at
how the operations are run and how the staff and security
work. We are talking to UK stadium management – people
are expressing an interest and there are conversations
under way,” he adds.
Crooks points out that from the point of view of fan
safety and security, it has to be taken into account that
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Technology
a mobile marketing company that is working on a number
of iBeacon installations, says: “We envisage that there will
be huge take-up of iBeacons in stadia for multiple reasons.
Virtually every body and club we are working with is
considering the commercial opportunities.”
Lancaster adds: “It’s unlikely a fan would download
an app purely for safety messaging. There has to be
something instantly gratifying in it for them, like a promise
of a discount for downloading an app etc. I envisage
marketing and safety moving forward hand-in-hand with
regard to iBeacon usage. Clubs could use them for crowd
control to direct people away from bottlenecks or areas
where trouble has broken out.”
Warbler Digital’s Moball platform bundles iBeacons
with digital tools, including a content management system
(CMS). As people pass through a turnstile they may be
welcomed with a personal video from the manager or a
popular team player, says Lancaster. This could include
a discount for merchandise or equally could be a safety
message containing specific information about fire exits
and toilets and what to do in a crisis. It could also warn
them about unwanted behaviour, such as racist chanting,
reminding people of the penalties.
Geofencing technology
Lancaster also points to the potential for associated
geofencing technology. “This really cool feature seems
to be being forgotten over the iBeacon hysteria, but they
work best together. Geofences can create a much larger
hotzone for messaging by simply dropping pins on a
map. The whole area of the stadium or a town can then
be covered without the need for
hundreds of iBeacons. The app users
then receive information as they
enter the perimeter of that hotzone.
This could alert passing fans that
there are tickets left, for example, or
direct them to entrances,” she says.
Lancaster believes that the
single biggest barrier to Beacon uptake currently is the
availability of the 3G network. In practice, when a stadium
is full, often the local 3G and even 4G networks fail to
deliver under the strain of high usage. Bluetooth-based
beacons would still be able to communicate with mobile
devices in the absence of cellular network – indeed this is
a major benefit for safety and security – but many apps
work best in conjunction with cellular network if they are
to download video and other rich media from the cloud.
Alick Mackenzie, grassroots and inclusion specialist
at Enabled City, believes that wayfinding has applications
for many people, not just those with visual impairment,
including people who do not speak English, have low
literacy, or who find traditional linear maps hard to follow
and may benefit from a visual representation of stadium
locations. iBeacons can provide real-time indoor tracking
information for these users and lead them from the
entrance of the stadium to their seats, via stairs and lifts,
using 3D navigation for different levels within the building.
Visually impaired people will be able to have iBeacon
A beacon implementation is only as
good as the app that works with it
“If you want to do very accurate XY coordinate
positioning then there is nothing on the market that
can rival beacons for that. We can achieve one metre of
accuracy and very low latency in updates and they are a
much cheaper option than using Wi-Fi for that,” he adds.
Also in the UK Football League, sponsor Sky Bet
has introduced iBeacons at the Leeds United stadium,
Elland Road. The free service, tested at Elland Road
during a game with Sheffield Wednesday, is provided
through Sky Bet’s mobile apps. The company’s Head of
Sponsorship, Edwin Martin, says: “This is cutting edge
technology that we’re trying out, and hope to offer football
fans a range of special offers in the near future.”
App driver
A Beacon implementation is only as good as the app that
works with it. App developers are turning their attention
to iBeacons as the relatively low associated hardware
cost allows for new and innovative applications. Helen
Lancaster, Communications Director at Warbler Digital,
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2012-2014 © by Estimote, Inc
not every fan will download the app: “There is a limited
population using the application. However, from the
perspective of the athlete or sportsman or woman, as
with the Olympic village where the athletes are moving
about between amenities, there are security aspects,
and the stadium management are accountable for the
athletes’ wellbeing.” In this case, he explains, athletes
may be instructed to use the app on their devices in
order to ensure their wellbeing: “Every athlete has
to use the app as policy and the beacons serve that
process. This reduces the barriers to participation.”
Crooks also points out that beacon technology could
take some of the strain from cellular or Wi-Fi networks:
“The problem is in the stadium bowl area – that requires a
high density of access points to service that many people.
The bandwidth causes the issues, so having navigation or
alerting apps that are triggered off beacons would reduce
the problem of access and offload capacity elsewhere.”
He adds: “There is a privacy issue about what data
you collect and what you intend to do with it, but it is
possible to build up a picture of how the stadium is being
used, how people are moving around it and where people
are congregating, and this data could have an impact
on how you alert people to hazards or if you need to
evacuate, how you manage the crowd, the flow of people,
how you handle queues and positioning retail outlets for
optimum crowd safety. Using those analytics to inform
how the stadium operates could be quite powerful.”
Crooks estimates that a stadium could get a solution
that uses beacons for around £100,000 ($156,000). “You
would get the full solution with a decent app,” he says.
Technology
A beacon and its associated app sending push notifications to a shopper.
Such technology has a multitude of commercial applications in stadia
track their location and provide spoken directions and
sensory information, directing them to their seats.
Enabled City is looking at integrating iBeacon tech
with its PhotoRoute app to provide wayfinding for people
who are visually impaired. The London 2012 Olympic
and Paralympic Games used PhotoRoute. Enabled City
has been working with UK football club Tottenham Hotspur
to provide, via its PhotoRoute app, matchday wayfinding
from the nearest public and private transport to its
stadium, White Hart Lane, and internal stadium wayfinding
from public transport and car parking locations. Enabled
City is planning to trial the app via an iBeacons pilot in
preparation for the club’s new stadium, which is scheduled
to open in 2018 at a site next to the current stadium.
“Our approach is to get it right for people who have
support needs first. If we design things well then everyone
else can take advantage of them. People are often
concerned about doing stuff around disability as they are
worried about getting it wrong, so they do nothing, but it
is important to make it safe for everyone,” says Mackenzie.
Tottenham is also using Photoroute for community
work. Enabled City has developed technology to track
young people coming from school to participate in
community programmes, so that their key worker can see
where they are. “If someone deviates off the route they will
get a message and their support worker will see that as
well. That works for people with learning disabilities and
who are visually impaired,” says Mackenzie.
Enabled City also points out that fans will be able
to report safety hazards or confrontations between fans
of opposing teams in real time to stadium staff, who
will be able to track the user’s location and appear on
the scene quickly. Customer services will also be
able to message fans directly with safety alerts
and warnings based on events at their location.
Beacon technology looks set to drive innovation
in the fields of safety and security. José Miguel Burgos,
a football consultant, points out: “The way people
interact with mobile devices is different from what it
used to be three or four years ago, when people would
start the interaction with the device to search or find
something. This has changed; nowadays devices start
the interaction with the user based on information
available upon specific geolocation.”
He adds: “I would [envisage] setting up a beacon
in each emergency exit of the stadium and once a
fan passes by, it makes you aware of it, so in case of
a disaster your mind is already set as to what is the
closest emergency exit.” In his opinion, the main barrier
for stadia considering implementing iBeacons is the
development costs for the app, “since the actual beacon
hardware is so cheap nowadays, that is not a barrier”.
Burgos adds that the main technical issue for stadia
considering implementing iBeacons may lie with where
to install the multiple beacons. “They have to be placed
in different areas of the stadium that can’t be accessed
by a fan in an easy way, otherwise they might just take
it, or damage it,” he says.
The relatively low cost of entry, precise location
capabilities and lack of reliance on Wi-Fi and 3G look
likely to drive beacon technology into stadia and provide
an important platform to enhance safety and security.
Tracey Caldwell is a business technology journalist
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Legacy
Legacy
How will sport ride the
new technology wave?
Dr Shaun McCarthy discusses how sport is likely to be affected by the
rapid changes in technology that are happening across society, and how
sport can help communities adjust to new social and economic environments
A
s a child in South Africa, I used to watch
surfers trying to catch some of the
thunderous waves off the Umhlanga Rocks
in Natal, the African equivalent of Hawaii.
Each surfer was focused on catching the big one, and
every so often, two large waves would follow in close
proximity and merge into a maelstrom of towering
water and white foam. Few surfers managed to ride
this powerful force, but those who did rode high. What
struck me was not the fact that many tried and few
succeeded, but the persistence and determination of
each surfer to ride the wave.
The modern world has been swept in the past
20 years by two technology waves. The first saw major
advances in computing, which has exerted a profound
impact on the world of business and industry. The
second is the explosion of connectivity, internet, Wi-Fi
and cellular technologies, which is not only reshaping
business models across many sectors through the
powerful momentum of analytics, cloud computing,
but it is also changing wider social behaviour – the
way we live and work.
The merger of these two waves, the biggest
wave to ride so far, is what we call social media,
the amalgamation of computing and connective
capacity in the hands of the public. This is currently
empowering individuals economically through greater
and more immediate knowledge, and empowering
them politically by making it possible to share ideas,
opinions, and experience on a global basis. How this
will change society’s consensus on how to manage
resources and distribute power has yet to be seen,
but changes in social behaviour are already clear.
96
Who books a hotel without reading five or six recent
reviews? Who spends an evening out without using
their connected device at least five times? Who
interacts only with those physically close to them?
These technology changes are also affecting
businesses. The term SMAC (Social, Mobile, Analytics,
Cloud Computing) denotes the technical advances that
now make information more valuable than material
resources in any organisation – at least according to
the literature.1 This seems unlikely to be true for all
organisations, but given the prominence of the claim,
we should at least ask how true it may be of sport. In
any case, SMAC proponents argue these factors are not
just changing IT, but transforming the entire business
model for organisations, and suggest that organisations
that do not adapt get wiped out by others that do.
So we have a technology advance affecting social
behaviour at an individual level, and changing the way
that organisations do business. Why discuss this here?
For those of us concerned with sport, one question
is how these changes will affect it over the next 30
years: not just elite, organised sport, but also in the
broadest sense of leisure. Sport is a part of society and
culture, and if there are big changes going on in society,
sport is going to change as well. So, is sport as we know
it going to ride these waves of change or get wiped out?
Another question is whether sport can itself play a role
in helping communities, cities and countries ride this
wave? Are there values inherent in sport that can assist
communities that are experiencing dramatic change?
To help get a perspective on the possibilities
for sport, I want to look briefly at what is happening
in some other sectors. This is not meant to be a
97
Legacy
Legacy
From barrels to bits
The laws of disruption
Some countries in the Middle East are
highly dependent on hydrocarbons as
their core industry. They are actively
searching for waves to catch in order
to diversify their economies and create
jobs. They are faced with the challenge
of being able to transcend building
economic diversity and complexity
based on the old industrial models.
Some of these countries are
rapidly developing knowledgeeconomy capabilities, as seen in
Qatar Foundation’s Education City,
Dubai’s Media City, Abu Dhabi’s
Masdar Institute and King Abdullah
University for Science and Technology
in Jeddah. In addition, these countries
command significant petro-chemical
assets that are base feedstock for the
manufacture of poly-carbons, plastics
and materials required for 3D printing.
They also have internet access. Thus at
a macro level, they command three key
ingredients required to participate in
and stimulate the growth of an Adaptive
Virtual Enterprise Manufacturing
Economy (ADVENTURE) and leap-frog
industrial economies to catapult their
younger generations onto the big wave.
The architecture to connect all
the potential activities and knowledge
contributors could resemble the
illustration below.
In this new adaptive industrial and
commercial world, the area where the
highest value potential is to be found will
not lie in the ownership of 3D printers or
similar such peripherals. One only has
to look back at the example of Microsoft
versus computer manufacturers to learn
that lesson; Bill Gates realised that future
value did not lie in the hardware, but
rather in the software, the blood that
would course through the veins, carrying
data and nutrients to be more specific,
the operating system, such as Windows.
IBM found that out the hard way. And
without the switchgear and router firms,
such as Cisco Systems, which provide
the exchange through which all the code
is transmitted and routed to the right user
in time using data packets, the IT industry
would not have been a success that it is
today. What do we learn from that?
In the world of SMAC and adaptive
manufacturing, the entities that can
assimilate, integrate and propel the
myriad contributions from individual
content providers at the right time,
in the right sequence to the adaptive
manufacturer, will dominate the synapses
of the entire industry. This is where the
money and the power will reside.
Exponential v incremental change
Technology change
Social change
Business change
Political change
Time
Differential rates of technology, social, business and political change. Based on Downes
and Mui, Unleashing the Killer App: Digital Strategies for Market Dominance (2000)
Quality and
standards
enforcement
Innovation
generation
initiatives
Process
integration
Aggregate
execution and
monitoring
Product
customisation &
enhancement
The sports ADVENTURE
architecture
Plug-and-play virtual factories:
aligning components to develop,
optimise and monitor growth
SMAC Influence
Micro-factory
alignment
Virtual
production
Distribution
Virtual design
& systems
Customer
feedback
mechanisms
Market
research
Source: ICSS
comprehensive approach, but rather to get some ideas
that we can then consider in the environment of sports.
First, let us look at the automotive sector. In 2012,
BMW Group and Local Motors launched a collaborative
design and development project called ‘The Urban Driving
Experience Challenge’. According to a report by Asit
Kumar, the project “asked the Local Motors community
of nearly 30,000 designers, engineers, fabricators and
enthusiasts to identify the future premium vehicle features
and functions that will define the urban driving experience
in the year 2025. The three-week competition was held on
the Forge at LocalMotors.com from 25 September to 16
October 2012. By the end of the challenge period, nearly
3,500 individual design boards had been submitted in
support of just over 400 innovative feature concepts.” In
short, BMW crowdsourced design ideas and engaged with
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external automotive enthusiasts to help develop future
products through an online, participatory process.
Now, I want to cover another sector: pop music.
Hatsune Miku is currently one of Japan’s most popular
music celebrities, has supported Lady Gaga on her North
American tour, and played her own shows in New York and
Los Angeles. That she is a software-created avatar who
can only appear holographically at live shows is not her
most interesting feature. What is most interesting is that
her fans write her songs and style her appearance – with
the most popular lyrics and designs appearing at her live,
holographic shows: in front of real fans, in real stadia.
According to Kate Hutchinson, writing in the Guardian
newspaper, “Miku was created in 2007 as the distinct
avatar of voice synthesiser Vocaloid, software anyone
can buy and use to make Miku music... [to] her creators,
Crypton Future Media, she’s a “creative tool”, enabling
collaboration in a way that’s been unheard of until now.
Her songs – and there are more than 100,000 of them –
have been written by her online community, many of whom
work together and who have never made music before.
New York Magazine called it ‘a wildly new model of pop
stardom that’s both participatory and anti-hierarchical’.”
Finally, here is a somewhat different example, but one
that suggests how some approaches based in industry
When utilised correctly, these protocols have been
proven to maximise wealth and job creation through the
development of intellectual property, applied knowledge
and product development.
Indeed, the AWRC model is based upon the successful
Advanced Manufacturing Research Centre (AMRC), which
in 2004 moved into its current location – another purposebuilt Sheffield facility. The AMRC exemplifies the model’s
potential through the successful alignment of public and
private sectors. The AMRC facilitated companies such as
Boeing and Rolls Royce to collaborate with universities
and other providers to facilitate knowledge exchange,
job creation, applied research, training and development
of new intellectual property. The AMRC model enabled
the AWRC to follow a blueprint for success that has led
to it being officially recognised as the research hub for
the National Centre for Sport and Exercise Medicine
in Sheffield. In addition to driving intellectual property
development and economic growth, this designation
means the AWRC will have a remit to use and test the
viability of physical activity as medicine. The AWRC will
ultimately create, test, evaluate and showcase innovations
that have the potential to change behaviour and increase
sustained physical activity and sports participation. The
results of this will inform health policy, enhance the quality
of life of local people and improve the health of large
populations, all of which carry global ramifications.
The AWRC model promises to bring together
technology, sport and health issues to further drive
development. To those ends, prospective research at
such centres will likely explore the utilisation and
application of techniques such as 3D printing for
technological advancement in developing fields such as
orthotics (see page 100), that promise much for reducing
the problems disabilities cause. Social media will exert its
influence here as well. The AWRC and those that mirror it
promise to lead innovation through
combining cutting-edge research
and technology with educational
development and knowledge
leadership in the pursuit of enhanced
bio-medical offerings and impactful
proven health solutions to serious
issues, such as obesity.
Social change is happening and sport is
unlikely to remain untouched by this
are crossing over to the sport-related sector. The Sheffield
Advanced Wellbeing Research Centre (AWRC) is a new
initiative that has been specifically designed to take
products and services related to the medical, physical
activity, leisure and sports sectors through every stage of
the design process – from concept to market. The AWRC
will be based within a new multi-million pound stateof-the-art complex that lies at the heart of Sheffield’s
Olympic Legacy Park (OLP). The OLP combines both
indoor and outdoor facilities, which enables the design,
research, evaluation and implementation of products that
promise to impact across the medical, physical activity,
leisure and sport sectors. This multi-dimensional process
effectively mirrors technological readiness protocols
that are utilised in other sectors, such as engineering.
Relevance for sport
So, what is the relevance of these examples for sport? The
most obvious, though perhaps the hardest to appreciate, is
that social and organisational change is happening now and
the world will not be the same in 10 years, never mind in
30 years. Sport is unlikely to remain untouched by this.
The second thing to note is that there is a shift towards
greater participation and engagement. This is enabled by
the technology and can be exploited by organisations that
‘ride the wave’. Individuals will chose whether to participate
or simply consume. One would hope that the majority
would chose to participate – creativity has more value than
consumption in my view. A wide range of participatory
opportunities will be important: creative, organisational,
99
Legacy
Legacy
Protecting children in sport
Facilitating innovation in orthotics
is an area requiring special attention
to the main party involved: the patient.
Using cutting-edge technology, it is now
possible to create high-performance
bespoke orthoses. These body extensions
integrate with the human body to improve
its potential as regards looks, sporting
performance or to resolve medical issues.
Using 3D printing in generative orthotics
involves three key phases:
• scanning of the patient’s limb;
• generating the 3D model of
the orthosis; and
• construction of the orthosis.
political, just as examples. Those organisations that actively
drive such participation (whether clubs, governments, or
companies) will reap the benefits.
Another important message is the ‘anti-hierarchical’
nature of this development. The previous diagram (see
page 99) shows the differences in technical, social and
business change over time. In general, it is probably quite
a good thing that political structures do not change as
rapidly as technical or social ones – volatility is not
always a good thing. But the differential rates of change
do produce tensions. For now, it is sufficient to point
out that the more hierarchical sports organisations,
especially those with more vested commercial interests,
are likely to have the greater difficulties in adapting to
more participatory, anti-hierarchical social behaviour.
Before drawing further conclusions, I think it is worth
highlighting comments made by three speakers at the
recent ICSS conference in London. Jose Ramos-Horta
underlined the importance of engaging young people
in society, and stressed that this could only be done if
sport retains its integrity; Lord Sebastian Coe said that
engaging with youth is what will define sport in this
century; and Judge Fausto Pocar said that children must
be able to participate in sport – not just watching games
– but actually engaging actively in an event or sport,
not necessarily on the field of play, but in one form or
another. Why is this important? Participation, whether it
is in sport or other activities, does not just help young
people learn tolerance, cooperation and respect, it teaches
them about agency – how their actions can impact the
world around them. This is one of the great benefits that
participation brings, and, as the example of Hatsune Miku
demonstrates, it is what many young people crave.
So, what conclusions can we draw? I think it likely
that sport will split between those codes that have the least
hierarchical organisational superstructures and those that
have large, conservative administrations. The former will
change continuously, be highly participatory in all ways –
from the design of equipment through to event organisation
– and will have a wide range of fans. The latter will change
100
The production of orthoses
can be aligned with professional
physical therapists and rehabilitation
specialists in order to advance solutions
for patients, an activity that is also
closely aligned with sport.
This example of 3D printing output
extends the application of this strategy
from industrial manufacturing, such as
that seen within the automotive industry,
towards its utilisation across myriad
fields – which could help achieve farreaching results that would be felt on
an international scale.
much less, will exist as spectator sports with a significant
divide between the athletes and the fans, and will succeed
as models of social values so long as they retain their own
integrity. I should stress that both types of sport have their
place and are good. They will just have different futures.
The other question we asked is how sport can help
communities adapt to the changes that technology brings?
One obvious answer is to relate the passion that young
people often have for sport to ways in which they can
participate, especially ways that help them develop
skills that they can use more generally. Whether these
are technological skills, such as designing football playing
robots, or business skills, such as publishing a fanzine,
or social skills, such as helping build and protect their
local communities – sport can act as a conduit.
A more general sense in which sport can help
communities in times of uncertainty is as a manifestation
of solidarity. Richard Serino described at the ICSS
conference in October how sports teams in Boston, and
2014’s edition of the Boston Marathon, had helped the
city’s community to recover following the bombings at
the 2013 marathon. The phrase ‘Boston Strong’ – an
expression of solidarity and defiance – adorned the
helmets of the Boston Bruins football team just two
days after the bombings took place.
While societal changes are not as extreme as bombing
incidents, sporting events and teams can help to anchor
communities and provide important expressions of
solidarity. This may well be one of the important functions
that the more conservative sports organisations referred
to above serve for their local communities.
Dr Shaun McCarthy is Executive Director
of ICSS Enterprise
Reference
1.
Asit Kumar, SMACing the Automotive industry: From concept
to consumer, Part 2, http://blog.valuelabs.com/miscellaneous/
smacing-automotive-industry-concept-consumer-part2/#.
VILRxDHF_xU
Dr Susan Bissell, Chief of Child Protection at UNICEF, provides a global
perspective on the need to protect children in sport, and explores some of the
most pressing challenges – from a lack of awareness, to persistent cultural norms
overtraining to run marathons at the age of four.
We had a longer history of the problems around
gymnastics, where we were more cognisant of the
effects of overtraining on small bodies.
This is a huge project to undertake.
Where did you start?
The beginning was research, but we also started
getting out into the field. We commissioned a study
into child protection in sports and found that the
need was ubiquitous; children in both public and
private settings, basically wherever they are under
the authority of adults, are potentially vulnerable.
The ICSS
The BMW/Local Motors project was
one example of the potential that new
technology holds for individuals to
collaborate in the manufacture of a wide
array of components, many of them
associated with sports equipment. This
potential also exists in areas such as biomechanics, orthotics, food technology
and architecture. For example, companies
such as the CRP Group are becoming
industry leaders in international research
and development of innovative materials
and technologies through 3D printing.
The emerging field of generative orthotics
D
r Susan Bissell is the Chief of Child Protection
at UNICEF, the UN’s lead agency for children.
Her career at UNICEF has included periods
in the field in Sri Lanka and Bangladesh, and
as Chief of Child Protection in India. Dr Bissell deals on
a daily basis with the need to protect the world’s most
vulnerable members from slavery, trafficking, disease,
exploitation and hunger. She took time out of her busy
schedule – the Ebola crisis was top of her agenda when
we spoke – to discuss UNICEF’s role in protecting
children in sport, and some of the key issues involved.
When did UNICEF begin to work on this issue?
UNICEF first began to get seriously involved around
2003-4 during the preparation of the UN Secretary
General’s report on violence against children. Researchers
at Brunel University, who had been working on violence
against women in sport, identified this lacuna around
sport and the protection of children at the heart of the
Secretary-General’s report, and alerted us.
Were there specific things that began to raise
red flags for you?
UNICEF was in a position to gather information globally.
There were things we were aware of – the trafficking of
boys from West Africa into Europe for football, and the
trafficking of girls from eastern Europe to play volleyball.
There were incidents involving child matadors in
Mexico, young Thai kickboxers, an Indian child who was
Did you meet resistance?
Not resistance, more a lack of awareness, a failure to
recognise the problem. Whenever we entrust children to
the hands of others, there is always a risk of exploitation
– that’s the challenge that exists in many, many forms
and with many variations. It can come down to culture,
to the way people are socialised – how sport is part of
‘turning boys into men’, for example.
Is gender a big part of this? Does it mainly
affect boys?
No, the misery is shared, if not always the same kind of
misery. For girls, it can be sexual exploitation prior to
entering into elite athletics; for the LGBT community,
there’s bullying and issues around masculinity.
Obviously there is a very lucrative
industry around sport. To what extent
does money contribute to creating an
exploitative environment?
It’s a good question. UNICEF can’t be in the business of
providing alternative livelihoods, but we recognise that
we can do things in terms of prevention. For example,
we’ve been working with football to ensure the trafficking
of young players doesn’t happen.
How about sport? Can it do more to address
these problems?
Sport is definitely moving forward on this. We’ve seen
some developments within the IOC [International Olympic
Committee]. Dr Margot Mountjoy, who’s a member of the
101
Legacy
Children practise football in the mud in Dacope
Upazila in Khulna, Bangladesh. Play is recognised
by the United Nations as the birthright of every child
ICSS
FOR SPORT SECURIT Y
December 2014 | January 2015 Vol 2 | No 4
icss-journal.newsdeskmedia.com
UNICEF/BANA2012-01083/Khan
Asit Kumar, SMACing the Automotive industry: From concept to
consumer Part 2
http://blog.valuelabs.com/miscellaneous/smacing-automotiveindustry-concept-consumer-part2/#.VILRxDHF_xU
Kate Hutchinson, Hatsune Miku: Japan’s holographic pop star might
be the future of music
http://www.theguardian.com/music/2014/dec/05/hatsune-mikujapan-hologram-pop-star
Chris Aaron
Simon Michell
Marion Flaig
Dr Shaun P McCarthy
Executive Director, ICSS Enterprise
Art Director
Art Editor
IOC’s Medical Commission, has been fearless in taking
this forward with her work on medical standards.
FINA [Fédération Internationale de Natation] has
been working on swimming. In Bangladesh [where
drowning is a major cause of death for children] it’s
good to teach children to swim for their own safety,
and at the same time it’s an opportunity to think about
other issues around keeping children safe in sport.
What we’ll see coming down the pipeline is a
proliferation of codes of conduct as more sports get
involved. Countries like Canada, Australia, and the UK are
among the leaders, especially in swimming and gymnastics.
Who is taking this forward in the
developing world?
A lot of impetus is coming from communities, from the
grassroots level, the clubs themselves – getting coaches
and teachers trained and getting parents aware. UNESCO
is working with developing curricula with teachers that are
involved in interacting with children in sport and play.
UNICEF itself has six strategies for ending violence
against children in all situations, and these are applicable
to sport: 1) getting policy on the books; 2) empowering
young people – things like hotlines are very effective;
3) providing support for families – even sharing
information is really helpful; 4) providing services for
102
Editor
Consulting Editor
Assistant Editor, Safety
ICSS Editorial Director Editor-in-Chief
Managing Editor
Chief Sub-editor
Senior Sub-editor
Sub-editors
victims; 5) data collection and monitoring;
6) and my favourite, changing attitudes.
How can we change attitudes?
Whatever works. We need to change the norms, the
pervasive attitudes surrounding sport and also around
what parents’ expectations are. In North American
football, we’re seeing this rape culture, there’s players
committing child abuse. A useful if unfortunate way to
raise awareness is getting convictions in high-profile
cases that grab people’s attention. This does a lot to
raise awareness about how people exploit or abuse
children. The solution has to occur at all levels – top
down, bottom up, and it has to include law enforcement.
What’s the single best way to
empower children?
Information. They need to know their rights, they
need to have a sense of what’s appropriate and
acceptable in terms of what’s being asked of them,
and who to talk to if they have concerns. The overriding
message to get across is that sport and play are fantastic
things for children, but there have to be appropriate
protections and safeguards around these activities.
Dr Susan Bissell was interviewed by Dr Ann Rogers
Production and Distribution Manager
Publishing Director Chief Operating Officer Chairman President
Barry Davies
Jane Douglas
Victoria Green
Ka Yee Meck
Amanda Simms, Emilie Dock
Jean-Philippe Stanway
Herita MacDonald
Elizabeth Heuchan
Anne Sadler
Caroline Minshell
Lord David Evans
Paul Duffen
Cover photo: CommerceandCultureAgency/Getty Images
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ICSS
FOR SPORT SECURIT Y
International Centre for Sport Security,
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© 2015. The entire contents of this publication are protected by copyright. All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a
retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means: electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without the prior permission of
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