Sport's anti-racism role

Grassroots action
In a keynote conference at a conference in Bratislava, staged by the Football Against Racism in Europe (FARE) organisation, the European Commissioner for education, culture and multilinguism, Ján Figel, said that it was vital to encourage grassroots action as part of the campaign.

EU backing
Figel added that the EU would continue to give its backing to FARE – one of UEFA’s main charity partners - and that there would be “even more focused action to achieve what we set out to do. Networking is a key part of this and I would like to see you and us working more closely together.

Educational power
"Sport is an important means to promote intercultural dialogue and fight anti-discrimination. Racism and discrimination contradict the core values of sport. We should take advantage of the educational power of sport and of its positive social impact.

Promoting values
"When the European Union designated 2004 as the 'European Year of Education through sport', it was following similar principles," Figel added. "Thanks to EYES 2004, the EU has promoted such values as tolerance, fair play, respect of the rules and of the opponent and teamwork in 28 countries. I applaud the FARE network for holding this conference and I fully support the key messages it promotes.

Key messages
"The educational value of sport and the use of sports – above all football – to fight racism and discrimination. These are also the objectives underlined in article III-282 of the draft Constitutional Treaty, where sport is mentioned for the first-time ever at Community level. I am confident that in the future, with this new legal basis, we will be able to work even closer together to give racism and xenophobia the red card."

Sanctions and actions
At various workshops which were held, delegates formulated a number of proposals and recommendations for the FARE network. They said they felt that that sanctions and actions from the game's various authorities must be more proportionate to the problem, because a lack of appropriate action undermined the work of FARE.

Slovakia’s efforts
On behalf of the host country's national football association, the Slovak Football Association, general secretary Dušan Tittel said it had implemented a range of anti-racism measures since the racist chanting aimed at Emile Heskey and Ashley Cole during the Slovakia versus England game in 2003.

Players in schools
Among other things, the association was using national players in schools to promote tolerance in Slovak society, Tittel explained.