September 7 – SIGA chairman Franco Frattini kicked off the Sports Integrity Week of webinars with a strong call to action to all stakeholders in sports to be uncompromising in the battle against criminality.
Highlighting the trend for criminal and mafia gangs to buy lower level sports clubs to clean both their images and launder money, Frattini, who is also the Justice and Chamber president of the Italian Supreme Court, said we must “fight against any illegality” and at all costs “fight for the purity of sport”.
There are a number of key weapons in this battle, according to Frattini, with “education being the first key to success”. He pointed to the Sports Integrity Global Alliance’s (SIGA) bid to give youth a voice and encouraged them to stay in the forefront of the debate.
He also talked about a “growing participation” in the sports integrity movement, and a “sharing of the same vision”. At the centre of this is the importance of the international exchange of information.
“As Europol pointed out in their recent report,” said Frattini, “sharing of information is the key, it is the key in fighting every form of crime. Sport infiltration (by criminal gangs) is no different.”
Frattini said that this needs to be followed up with “tough punishment of criminals that try to pollute the pure environment of sport.”
SIGA CEO Emanuel Macedo de Medeiros in a typical tub-thumping address said the sports and their stakeholders must “stand united and strong in the resolve to overcome this crisis”. He said that sports “must feel the passion – the catalyst of socio-economic progression. There is no second chance. Sport owns the problems but it must also own the solutions.”
One of this solutions he encouraged sports to use is SIGA’s standard independent ratings valuations (SIRVs) that have been launched to give sports an integrity audit and valuation as governing bodies seek, in many cases, to regain or retain trust in their sports.
The Sports Integrity Week will see more than 60 webinars and over 200 speakers participate from more than 30 countries.
Webinars are free to attend. Register here
View the full programme here
Download the app here
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