| Member's News | No.43 January 2005 |
European Fair Play Movement Georges Diderich, Portugal |
In September 2004, the European Fair Play Movement (EFPM) celebrated in Vienna its 10th anniversary at its 10th Fair Play Congress and Annual General Assembly. The origins of the movement date back to 1989, when the “Stichting Fair Play Club of the Netherlands” took the initiative by inviting Fair Play delegates from Belgium (Flanders), Denmark, Germany, Luxembourg and Switzerland to exchange views on national Fair Play campaigns. At its subsequent gathering, hosted one year later by the Luxembourg National Olympic Committee (COSL), Raoul Mollet, the former President of the National Olympic Committee (NOC) of Belgium and IOC member, recognized the need to institute an European Fair Play Organization. Following meetings were held in Germany (1991), Denmark (1992) and the Netherlands (1993) with an extended Fair Play agenda and witnessed a growing interest from other countries. At the 1993 meeting, fourteen European countries agreed to establish the EFPM, which was consequently inaugurated at the Founding Assembly on May 27th-28th, 1994 at the FIFA House in Zurich. Following on from its foundation, the EFPM continuously elaborated its statutes and developed its organizational structure such that today 37 national Fair Play Organizations, all linked to their respective NOC’s, are affiliated to the EFPM. The achievements of the EFPM are listed below: organization of an annual Fair Play Congress to be concluded with an announcement of the annual Fair Play theme, organization of regional Fair Play meetings, Fair Play promotion at different international Games, presentation of the annual European Fair Play awards, publication (twice a year) of the magazine “Play Fair!”, development of the EFPM Website (www.fairplayeur.com, E-mail: Info@fairplayeur.com), official recognition of the EFPM by the European Olympic Committees (EOC) and establishment of a joint venture in the fields of Sports, Tolerance and Fair Play, liaising with the Council of Europe (CDDS), the International Olympic Academy (IOA), the International Foundation of Olympic and Sport Education (IFOSE), the European Non-Governmental Sport Organization (ENGSO) and “Panathlon International”, member of the “Comité International pour le Fair Play” (CIFP) and the International Council of Sport Science and Physical Education (ICSSPE). The intentions of the EFPM are to go beyond these more common tasks and to take a visionary perspective, including the conception of new ways to increase the awareness of Fair Play in European countries. Building on a statement made by Jacques Rogge, the President of the IOC, during an inspiring conference in St. Moritz (CH) on February 12th, 2004, that his organization is a fervent advocate of the Fair Play concept in the sense that it refutes doping, hooliganism and corruption as the main impediments to public faith in sports, the EFPM has herewith a supplementary important support for its activities which should bring a precious contribution to more Fair Play in sports and other activities. The next important event of the EFPM will be the 11th EFPM Fair Play Congress which will be organized by NOC of Lithuania and will take place in Vilnius from Thursday, September 22nd to Friday, September 23rd, 2005, the 11th General Assembly of the EFPM being held on Saturday, September 24th, 2005. Georges Diderich Secretary General European Fair Play Movement Av. Tomás Ribeiro 43, 5°E 2795-187 Linda-a-Velha Portugal Email: georges_diderich@hotmail.com http://www.icsspe.org/portal/bulletin-january2005.htm European Fair Play Movement Georges Diderich, Portugal