Grassroots Sports for Social Inclusion and to combat Racism and Discrimination
Call: FINAL CONFERENCE, Monday 28.06.2021
Time in Ireland: 14:00 - 17:00
Time in Germany/Italy: 15:00 - 18:00
Time in Finland: 16:00 - 19:00
Experiences with and gained through our ERASMUS+ project 2019 - 2021
Online via Zoom (link will be provided to email, messenger or whatsapp), send mail or message to receive access code.
About Grassroots Sports:
The project idea was originally based on Baumann and Cardosos research results for the HLG. Baumann and Cardoso (2016) reported to the European Commission (DG EAC) High Level Group (HLG) on Grassroots Sport that all respectable academic studies are pointing to significant economic benefits from grassroots sport through positive impact on health, crime prevention and social cohesion. All of which we were able to confirm during our project.
The HLG defined Grassroots Sport as follows:
“Grassroots sport is physical leisure activity, organised and non-organised, practised regularly at non-professional level for health, educational or social purposes.”
About the Project:
Comparing four differently structured organisations with different
focus involving Grassroots Sports and from four different regions
of Europe, allowed us to make conclusions about best practices
and how they can be adapted in the different situations.
During the 2,5 year project period from 2019 – 2021 we held
3 national seminars and 2 online seminars, during which we shared
and compared each partners methods and experiences and got to
Know their national networks, with whom we also exchanged.
Finally we identified six complimenting and beneficial actions plus a number of needs and challenges, all described in the following.
Program:
1. Welcome by Liikkukaa - Sports For All c
Chairman Ike Chime
2. Greetings by the Finnish National Agency for Education (tbc)
3. Report about the project
3. Introducing Best-Practise-Brochure
4. Partners Viewpoints
a. Show Racism the Red Card, Ireland,
Emer Costello, former major of Dublin
b. Sports For All, Matera, Italy, Peppe
Pecora
c. SportsYouth Brandenburg, Andra
Priedniece
5. Q&A/panel/Discussion
6. About our next project
7. Thank Yous and Music
We hope that our shared findings can inform the design and
decision making for Grassroots within Europe and there over.
About the Partners:
Liikkukaa – Sports For All, a national Grassroots Sports
Umbrella in Finland with up to 80 member organisations
Brandenburgische Sportjugend, a German federal state
Youth Sports Union
UISP– Matera, a regional division of the Italian Sports For All Movement
Immigrant Council of Ireland/Show racism the red card,
An immigrant advocacy and a anti-racism educative campaign
ERASMUS + Project
1. Motivation for the project
Baumann and Cardoso (2016) reported to the European Commission (DG EAC) High Level Group (HLG) on Grassroots Sport about all respectable academic studies to be pointing to significant economic benefits from grassroots sport through positive impact on health, crime prevention and social cohesion. stating that although the enormous benefits of grassroots sport, defined as regular physical activities for social and health reasons are well known, no large scale and sustainable concept has been developed. The report called out for further research into sustainability. The need for a large scale and sustainable concept for grassroots sports has been further stressed by political leaders and research reports.
It was also stated that further research was needed in order to make recommendations for sustainable funding opportunities.
The HLG defined Grassroots Sport as follows:
“Grassroots sport is physical leisure activity, organised and non-organised, practised regularly at non-professional level for health, educational or social purposes.”
The need for a large scale and sustainable concept for grassroots sports has been further stressed by political leaders and research reports. The president of Finland, Sauli Niinistö has repeatedly and most recently on August 24th 2016 expressed his concern about the lack of social cohesion in Finland.
2. Needs analyses
Encouraged by the reports to the Commission, Liikkukaa – Sports For research has been interested in researching the sustainable funding opportunities for good practice and the quality of the service delivery by the providers of sports opportunities, we asked the questions why no large scale program has been implemented so far and how sustainable financing for grassroots sport could be achieved.
The research has been conducted by Liikkukaa CEO Christian Thibault in 2016, under the guidance of the Helsinki School of Business. The data was collected through survey, interviews and from secondary data.
According to the findings challenges and opportunities are in 3 categories: Structures and Agency, Motivation, Resources.
There seems to be no true agency for grassroots sports in order to promote physical activity for health and social reasons and to coordinate between the different sectors involved. Efforts are wide spread and uncoordinated and do not reach a sufficient part of the population in order to make an impact on the large scale. The project and uncoordinated nature of almost all the efforts made so far and the lack of definition, do not support the development of sustainable structures and networks.
We can identify 3 main groups in the population, those who are physically exercising on a regular basis already, those who would like to exercise but get de-motivated by obstacles like costs, lack of possibilities, bullying and racism in sports and poor service quality in sports and those who are not interested, or even reject physical activities, the latest group being the most important in order to achieve an impact on the public economy. Full awareness of the topic seems to be lacking on most parts. The project nature of almost all the efforts made so far, does rather de-motivate than motivate in the long run.
Demotivating factors, as identified in this research should be erased and efforts for motivating the most needy groups should be financed. Facilities need to be provided on a sufficient level and expertise should be maintained and developed. Social media, electronic tools and apps should be made use of in order to promote physical activity for social and health reasons.
Diversity training and other sensitizing training should be provided and attended on every level in the structures. Minorities should be empowered and their participation should be secured on all levels.
Costs in the health and social sector caused by lack of physical activity compared to the costs of motivating those in need to embrace a more physically active lifestyle and to offer sufficient methods and opportunities.
There is a sufficient amount of good practice reports. The best practices should be analyzed, common factors identified and quality marks developed. The results should be branded for large scale use and promoted through an agency
3. Impact of the project
The aim of the project is to develop and transfer innovative practices in the area of Grassroots Sports for equal social participation and combating racism between various organisations and actors in and outside of sport. The partners will develop their network both between each other on a European level and in their home countries. The aim is also to promote sustainability in the partners innovative practices to support prevention of racism and marginalization, to tackle violence and intolerance in sports.
The expected outcome of the project is that the partners will have exchanged, streamlined and upgraded their practise models, methods and approach in conducting Grassroot Sports and combating racism. They will have extended and improved their networks on regional, national and EU level in order to contribute to the identified needs reported to the Commissions High Level Group by Baumann and Cardoso.
“Grassroots sport is physical leisure activity, organised and non-organised, practised regularly at non-professional level for health, educational or social purposes.” Bauman & Gardoso, 2016
Read:
“In Grassroots Sports, Sports is ”just” a vehicle to transport education and social action and to promote health.” Project Brochure, 2021
About the Partners:
Liikkukaa – Sports For All, a national Grassroots Sports Umbrella in Finland with up to 80 member organisations
Brandenburgische Sportjugend, a German federal state Youth Sports Union
UISP– Matera, a regional division of the Italian Sports For All Movement
Immigrant Council of Ireland/Show racism the red card, An immigrant advocacy and aanti-racism educative campaign
About the Project:
The main partner meetings were in Helsinki, Matera and Potsdam, as well as two times online due to covid-19 restrictions, one centered in Ireland and another in Helsinki. Comparing four differently structured organisationsand partners with different action and focusinvolving Grassroots Sports and from four different regions of Europe allowed us to make conclusions about best practices andhow they can be adapted in the different situations.
During the 2,5 yearproject period from 2019 – 2021 we held 3 national seminars and 2 online seminars, during which we shared and compared each partners methods and experiences and got to know their national networks, with whom we also exchanged.
Finally we identified several complimenting and beneficial actions plus a number of needs and challenges, all described in the following. We hope that our shared findings can inform the design and decision-making for Grassroots within Europe and there-over.
Research report, Christian Thibault et.al. , 2021'
Implementation practice, quality of service delivery and sustainable finance opportunities for Grassroots Sports
(to promote health, social inclusion and cohesion)
The topic of the research is sports as a promoter of health, social inclusion and social cohesion and how effective concepts can be developed and marketed.
•Q1: What is the level of satisfaction with services and opportunities provided in grassroots sport and what is the level of understanding with decision makers?
•Q2: How can the best practices in Grassroots Sports be promoted on a large scale and what have been the obstacles for implementing effective Grassroots Sports programs at a large scale?
•Q3: How can (a) marketable concept(s) be developed to gain sustainable financing for promoting social cohesion through sports?