La Parisienne of Cafébabel.com - Sports

Sport: a European value

BabelParis — Tue, 13 May 2008 16:41:00 +02:00

On the path leading to the construction of ‘Europe’, our leaders often look for common values through which everyone can feel united. What if this were to also be achieved through sport? “Sport and Citizenship”, a young Franco-Belgian association, has given itself the objective of assembling and representing all those who contribute to sport as citizens of Europe.

At the root of the initiative is an ex-European official from the Directorate General for Education, Culture and Sport, Julian Jappert, who in September 2007 decided to found “Sport and Citizenship” (3S), a European platform with the whole of Europe as its playing field.

An exchange of experiences

In combing a fundamental social value and a popular activity inside the same organisation, the ambition is clear: to promote the sport ethics which are too often overshadowed by ‘business sport’.

To enable this ambitious project to be carried out the association takes various lines of action. First of all it offers direct services to sports associations and high level sportsmen who wish to work at a European level. This is to facilitate administrative steps and to propose “lobbying” with institutions in Brussels. These activities, which are often essential for the development of an initiative on a larger scale, are usually out of reach for small organisations. Furthermore all those who desire it are enabled to exchange their good practices, experiences or failures with others who run sport-citizenship projects.

Reflection on sport

Besides this aspect, the association predominantly offers advice and comment to all those organisations, federations and associations who wish to combine ethics with their sport activities.

At a level which is perhaps less accessible for everyday sportsmen, the association also organises conferences and workshops with the big names in sport, journalists, directors and mulitidisciplinary scientists on the future of sport and its place in society, which is another mission of 3S.

Informing and commenting therefore play an important role in the work of the association, which is why from the start it launched a website and prints a monthly scientific review. The first edition was free, although the following editions will only be avalable to associations and organisations with subscriptions.

The second edition has just appeared (with a fee). It talks about the ties between sport and health, a field in which the association is greatly involved.

Living together

The objective of its founders is that “Sport and Citizenship” become a federal platform, recognised as a reference network for all those Europeans who think that sport can convey values to help people to live side by side in society.

This is an initiative regarding the highly relevant debate currently taking place over the principles of the Olympic Games and a mishandled flame paraded around the whole world, by a country which sees sport and these Games only in a political context.

For more information you can consult the associations website : Sport et citoyenneté

Translation : Christina G Connolly

Olympics: Paris bursts into flame

BabelParis — Wed, 16 Apr 2008 11:30:00 +02:00

We were warned: "Get prepared for some games !" And it seems like the Olympics events happened a bit earlier. Indeed Monday April, 7th the flame tour stopped in Paris and the least we could say is that it has been brought out of track. Despite the €400 000 security staff, the pro-Tibet demonstrators definetely made their point in order to support the Dalai-Lama people. Will Beijing hear their claim? That is less certain...

Photo: Andrew Wood

The French football blues

BabelParis — Thu, 10 Apr 2008 15:22:00 +02:00

The memory dated back to 15 years ago. 1993, the Olympique de Marseille team won the Champion’s league cup. Since that day: it seems like the desert. No French club has succeeded in reaching the top European football heights. While the Real Madrid won the prestigious cup nine times, seven times for the Milan AC, Liverpool chalked it up five times, four times for the Bayern of Munich; compared to this prize lists, French performances look pale.

To Bernard Laporte, secretary of state in charge of sports, one of the main reasons of the French football bad shape is due to a financial deficit. “There’s definitely a big budget lack” declares the former coach of the National rugby team, to the journalists of Téléfoot.

A billionaire in Chelsea

Whereas foreign investors rush at European clubs such as the Russian billionaire Roman Abramovitch in Chelsea or American pension funds in Manchester, very few foreign capitals are investing in France. “There are not many clubs which refuse foreign investors. That’s just that today we’re not drawing their attention” explains Bernard Laporte. “Because, when they take a look at our revenue, when they look at the games’ conditions, they are just got to the conclusion that ‘there’s no way we can invest there, we’d better go to Spain or England’. That’s that simple.”

For French budgets compared with the ones in Europe, are multiplied by three. According to a survey on their turnovers carried out by auditing firm Deloitte, Real Madrid (with €351 millions), Manchester United (€315 millions), and FC Barcelona (€141 millions) trust the top of three first places, whereas the Olympique Lyonnais (€141 millions) first French club hits only the 13th position and the Olympique de Marseille, the 19th position (€99 millions). The heaviest fiscal concerns in France or the TV tax revenues that include a “solidarity” clause towards the smallest teams, affect the French football’s attraction. On the first place, concerning the players. Robert Pires, French football athlete who spent a big part of his career in England in Arsenal, confirms this statement in Téléfoot. “It’s difficult to come back (to France), first on a sports level and then financially… it’s simply not possible…”

The most evidential example within the first league, mocked many times by Guignols de l’info (a satirical show with puppets on French TV): Paris Saint-Germain (PSG). Former coach of the Parisian team, Luis Fernandes explained the raisons of their walloping to the newspaper Direct Matin (on March 27, 2008): “This is a young club, it has to be underlined. With the first titles and the investments of Canal +, we started to get big. At that time, we didn’t use the chance to build up strong groundworks.” And added up laconically: “Years after years, it got worst and we were not able to make a ‘working tool’, especially for the training part. We used our time changing coaches and presidents of the club, selling and buying players.”

Club versus national team

But how to compete with English salaries, more then three times higher than the French average? Although some clubs such as Lyons try to diversify their revenues through an IPO (Initial Public Offering) or substantial merchandising (from shirts, to hair salons and even driving school for the Olympique Lyonnais), these initiatives are still a minority Eric Besson, new secretary of state for forecasting is in fact in charge of a mission of the highest importance: to work on French football competitiveness! But the situation is not that dark. France has a good training centre network where each year many future football stars – of French and sometimes European championships – are being discovered. Cannes, Auxerre, Lyon or Monaco were the training clubs where young Zinedine Zidane, Thierry Henry, Franck Ribéri or Karim Benzema were brought to light. Moreover, at a national level, the French national team, played the last World Cup finale in Germany and is qualified for the Euro 2008 in Austria and Switzerland while David Beckham and his British mates won’t reach that competition this coming June.

-Johara BOUKABOUS

Photo licence: Marius Hanstad/FlickR

« Small » States also have their games !

BabelParis — Wed, 14 Nov 2007 22:37:00 +01:00

Who said that the European Union was reduced to the “Grand States”’ directory?

If it is true that in the institutional arena France, Great-Britain and Germany have a major impact on the decision making process (though the new balanced voting system introduced by the reformed treaty is about to change this context of “dominating position”), the European Union remains everyone’s concern, especially for the smallest States. In opposition to the complex of inferiority that could have been generated by such a disposition, small States seized the opportunity to affirm, or even to proclaim, their small geographic specificity through sports.

We are small but we do exist … why not create our own Olympic games?

You may ignore it but various forms of Olympic games exist: the summer and the winter Olympics, these are supposedly known by everyone; the game of handicapped people called the “Paralympics or handisports”. But do you know the “games of the small European States”? Founded in 1984 during the Los Angeles Olympics, they concern all the States counting less than a million inhabitants. Since its first edition in 1985, the competition has taken place every two years and every States has organized it successively.

But which are these “small States”?

Andora, Cyprus, Iceland, Liechtenstein, Luxembourg, Malta, Monaco and Saint-Marin became members of the organization in 1985 and were joined by Montenegro in 2006 (even if this country didn’t participate in the 2007 edition). The Feroe Islands also applied and are still waiting for an answer.

The sports represented are athletics, basket-ball, le cycling, la gymnastics, judo, swimming, « boules » (Lyonnaise), taekwondo, tennis, ping-pong, shooting, sailing, beach volley, volley-ball. And the games are more and more successful. Last June, Monaco, which was organizing the 2007 edition, welcomed many visitors at the opening ceremony. The port was bordered with crowded steps built up for the Grand Prix and left for the games. For the occasion, a cruise boat had been moored to the Principality’s new floating dyke, and served as the “Olympics’ village”.

On the participants’ side, these games also have a real impact. Mostly left apart in international events, many athletes and clubs find these games as the opportunity to distinguish themselves without feeling pressed by the financial steamroller of big competitions. However, organizing these games remains very expensive and the event is still under-mediatised.

Next edition : 2009 in Cyprus

Sophie Helbert