By Paul Nicholson
July 27 – SIGA (the Sport Integrity Global Alliance) opened its fourth Sport Integrity Forum at the United Nations Office in Geneva with a powerful call for sport to harness its power to make a difference to the social fabric of the world by Michael Møller, Director General of the United Nations Office in Geneva.
“The UN is committed to harnessing the power of sport, you have seen us start this with our partnership with UEFA and the match for solidarity that raised over a million euros for humanitarian and development projects to help children with disabilities,” said Møller.
“Sport is a mirror of our world and inequalities, vices and bigotry of that world. Look at the world’s top 100 highest paid athletes and you will not find one woman – that has to change,” he continued.
“For sport to use its power for good it needs to change. Respect for integrity and ethics is indispensable to establish this. It will make (sport and the world) a better place for all and will leave no-one behind.”
A day of panels tackled issues from the political will to actively embrace sport integrity, meaningful action on diversity, financial integrity, sports betting integrity and the role of business and sponsors in sports integrity.
A session examining the power of sport and how it has a role to play in contributing to the United Nations’ sustainable development goals saw Michelle Ford Ericksson, an Olympic Gold medal winner in swimming from the Moscow games, give a passionate and inspirational reminder to the delegates of why people play sport and the contributions and role athletes have to play within what are increasingly complex and myriad sports integrity issues and stakeholders.
Member of the European Parliament Emma McClarkin, addressed the issue of political support for sports integrity issues saying: “We are missing a real political will to push (integrity) issues forward. (Politicians) don’t see it as a priority. We have to look at how we can make these issues a priority and to focus on the protection of sports integrity…We really need leadership. It is good to see that as a signal from the UN.”
Former UK sports minister Richard Caborn picked up similarly on the theme asking “what the price is really for a clean sport a strong sport and a sport we can all be proud of.”
SIGA has developed a set of universal standards and is developing its own SIGA Independent Rating and Verification System (SIRVS) to push sport and the wider sporting industry into an era of enhanced governance, integrity, transparency and accountability.
Møller gave an unequivocal message of support for the initiative saying: “We are ready to help make your objectives a reality…and the SIGA Universal Standards are the framework for this.”
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