Fair Sport 4 All Workshop Launched at SC Cambuur!

Yesterday on the 27th of September, the first Fair Sport for All Workshop was held at the Cambuurstadion, the stadium of the Eredivisie club and recently added EFDN member SC Cambuur. The workshop consisted of a mix of learning tools to teach the SC Cambuur team about the dangers of match fixing and what to do when they are involved in any way in a matchfixing situation.

Match-fixing is seen as one of the biggest threats facing modern-day football. It undermines the overall spirit of the games and the principles of fairness, respect and integrity. The widespread and global nature of match-fixing has made it a problem that has now become a priority for sports movements and public authorities worldwide. Such that, the European Football for Development Network has created the Fair Sport 4 All programme, to call attention to the responsibility everyone has, in promoting clean and fair competitions.

Education

Fair Sport 4 All has developed user-friendly educational tools that can be used by all stakeholders involved in the game, to help:

Increase the awareness of players, managers and other stakeholders involved in football, about the different types of corruption, fraud and match-fixing incidents that occur, at different competitive levels of football.
Teach coping skills on resisting offers and temptations to engage in match-fixing.
Indicate ways to properly report match-fixing incidents to the relevant authorities.

This programme comprises of all-round education, with the key issues of match-fixing at its core. The educational component will help increase the understanding of the rules and risks associated with match-fixing, working with clubs and players and all stakeholders involved in the game. Education is a fundamental part of the Fair Sports 4 All programme, as this will help ensure that all clubs, officials, players and stakeholders are committed to protecting the integrity of the game.

Workshop

The workshop was kicked off with a presentation given by EFDN staff member, Hanna Kernkamp, which educated the players about matchfixing. Covering topics of the dangers, the stakeholders involved, the consequences, how matchfixing tends to occur, how to react to matchfixing situations (including The Red Button App), and much more.

Next up, the players enthusiastically participated in a quiz which summarized the topics during the presentation with 2 teams achieving a perfect score on the quiz.

Finally the whole first team participated in the newly designed Fair Sport for All matchfixing roleplay game. The players were given different roles: “A fair and honest player” or a “Match fixer” with tasks such as “give away 3 corners in the first half” or “get a yellow card in the second half”. The players all tried to achieve their tasks and at the end of the game they all voted on who they think was “fixing” the game. Allowing the players to be able to understand further what matchfixing is and what it looks like in a real time situation.

It was a very succesful session with the SC Cambuur team, who were fabulous first participants for this workshop, EFDN and Fair Sport 4 All are looking forward to the upcoming workshops.

Fair Sport 4 All Programme

Fair Sport 4 All is a programme that aims to raise awareness of the threats of match-fixing, by educating clubs’, players and all stakeholders involved in the game. The main objective of the programme is to ensure that the integrity and values of true sportsmanship are represented, respected, and encouraged by all individuals involved in European football.

To safeguard the integrity and to reinforce the true values of sportsmanship, the Fair Sport 4 All programme proposes a number of comprehensive components. EFDN will provide guidance and support within the context of social responsibility of clubs, by the creation of the ‘Fair Sport 4 All Handbook’. This handbook features a set of guidelines on how clubs can sustain the integrity of football, which can also be used by leagues, FAs, and all stakeholders operating within football. This handbook will help to educate players on match-fixing, no matter the level they play at.