sport executive june 15

Women’s sports? Boring? Sport Executive presents Sportsisters.

FOOTBALL CAN CHANGE THE WORLD//MARKETING JUST FOR WOMEN//WOMEN STEREOTYPED AS MASCULINE//FRONTRUNNERS ON WHEELS//SPORT’S LAST BIG TABOO: MENSTRUATION//A WHISTLEBLOWER’S LIFE//

SPORT EXECUTIVE – SPORTSISTERS – NUMBER 1 JUNE 2015

SPORTSISTERS

This girl can

SPORTEXECUTIVE

Frontpage photo: Alejandra Carles-TolraPhoto: All Over Press

Photo: All Over Press

3 BLOGSport is for men

4 TransformationFrom machoto unisex

8 ArtThe world ofAlejandra Carles-Tolra

14 FrontrunnersWomen onthe move

16 ChampionInterview withMarianne Vos

20 HistoryWomenin sport

22 BloodThe lasttaboo

26 MarketingJust for women

29 RunningEvents justfor ladies

30 QuoteThat’s what makes a champion

32 SexismDo a little twirl

34 WhistleblowerMeet Phaedra Almajidand Bonita Mersiades

42 LifeFootball canchange the world

44 PhotographyOffside withBelinda Mason

51 IndustryIt’s a man’s world

FLOYD MAYWEATHERSalary: 285Endorsement: 15Job: Boxing

MARIA SHARAPOVASalary: 6.7Endorsement: 23Job: TennisMillion dollars.Source: Forbes

And they earn

The magazine is published by Tekstwerk, a Danish freelance bureau.Tekstwerk consists of journalist Lars Andersson and journalist Kristian Boye.Editor in chief: Lars Andersson.You can contact us by mail: [email protected]/[email protected] phone: +4528201554.Design and layout: Søren Møller.Translation: Rachel Payne.Get our NEWSLETTER – sign up on www.sportexecutive.dk.Are you a journalist or photographer – and want to contribute? Contact [email protected] you want to advertise? Contact [email protected] or phone +4528201554.Follow us at www.sportexecutive.dk, Facebook and Twitter.All rights reserved.Team Tekstwerk, 2015.

SPORT EXECUTIVE

CONTENT

Nine percent of the sports articles in international print media are written about women.Only eight percent of the articles are written by women.Floyd Mayweather earns 300 million dollars a year – Maria Sharapova pockets 29.7 million dollars a year.In the boardrooms of clubs and federations there are men, men and men, everywhere you look.There needs to be a top-down change, from the boardrooms to the playing fields and to the media.Women’s sport needs a serious approach. A survey of 110 British female athletes across 20 different sports conducted by BT

Sport revealed that 80 percent of female athletes feel pressure to look a certain way, whilst 67 percent believe the public and media value looks more than achievement! Would a survey of male athletes tell the same story? Despite this, every new scientific study shows that more and more women are engaged in sports, and that the impor-tance of female fans and female athletes is becoming more evident. Or as Paul Smith, founder and CEO of Repucom, says:“Aside from the digital revolution, the rapid rise in the importance, influence and value of female fans has been one of the most distinctive shifts in the sports marketing landscape in the last 50 years. This has been

driven by some major societal and cultural changes around the world, and the increasing participation of women in sport, in particu-larly at school.”In other words: The gap is closing. This was clearly illustrated when the British maga-zine SportsPro named Eugenie Bouchard as being the most marketable athlete in 2015. ‘The Times They are a-Changin’, as Bob Dylan noted in the sixties. 50 years later the times are finally changing in the sports world. Sport Executive welcomes you to Sport- sisters.Sources: International Sports Press Survey 2011, Repucom, Forbes, BT Sport and SportsPro.

BY LARS ANDERSSON, TEAM TEKSTWERK

Sport and sport journalism are done by men and for men. Meanwhile, women’s sports is marching ahead – fast.

BLOG

IT’S A MAN’S WORLD

Photos: Das Büro for Team Denmark

SPORT EXECUTIVE4

121,000 girls across 138 nations were intro-duced to rugby in 2014.1.77 million women across the globe were playing rugby in 2014.In the future: women’s rugby sevens teams are going to the Olympics for the first time in Rio de Janeiro 2016 and are expected to gain exposure on and off the field like they’ve never seen before.A macho sport is becoming one of the world’s fastest growing female team sports.“We are experiencing significant growth in the game for women and girls around the world. Once given the opportunity, girls will play, regardless of where in the world they are. There are as many girls taking up the sport in Fiji and Tonga as boys, girls are playing rugby in Iran and Egypt. Rugby is central to the sport for development pro-gramme in Laos where girls develop life skills and leadership skills as well as playing rugby,” World Rugby Women’s Develop-ment Manager, Susan Carty, says to Sport Executive.“And becoming an Olympic sport has already added huge impetus to the development of the game for women and girls. More countries are getting involved, increasing support and engagement from

NOCs and government agencies, and in-creased funding directed to women’s rug-

by. More unions are contracting full-time female players and including them in

professional high-performance centres. Women and girls in the game are set to reach new heights post-Rio 2016 when women’s rugby will reach a record global

audience,” Susan Carty continues.The International Rugby Board (IRB) has since 2012 developed the ‘Get Into Rugby’

programme with resources for girls:“The participation of girls in the programme is already at 36 percent and the number of girls taking up the sport continues to increase across all regions of the world. Rugby is a great sport for girls,” Susan Carty explains.Using social media to propel the game’s popularity among women, initiatives such as ‘Get Into Rugby’, ‘Make It Happen’ on In-ternational Women’s Day and the Women’s Rugby World Cup 2014 paving the way for a shift in rugby from being a macho to a unisex sport. And maybe away from the sexism that also has racked the sport such as the big scandal in Australian rugby back in 2009 where male players have subse-quently been made to do courses on how to treat women with respect after abusive behaviour.“And with rugby sevens set to make its Olympic Games debut, it should encourage even more women and girls to take up the sport,” Susan Carty concludes. READ MORETHE WOMEN’S RUGBY PLAN 2011-2016:www.scrrs.net/download/irbdocs/120229ljwomensstrategyplanv9.pdf

FROM MACHO TO UNISEX

“Rugby is a great sport for girls.”

Susan Carty.

“The women’s game has a strong, proud history.”

Susan Carty.

“25 percent of the global playing population is female.”

Susan Carty.

MAKE IT HAPPEN


Rugby is becoming the world’s fastest growing female team sports.

Photo: All Over PressPhoto: Alejandra Carles-Tolra

SPORT EXECUTIVE6

MAKE IT HAPPEN

A BRIEF HISTORY OF WOMEN RUGBYThe first reported female rugby match was mentioned in the Liverpool Mercury on 27 June 1881.In 1891, an attempt to form a women’s team in New Zealand was cancelled due to a public outcry.During the First World War, a lot of women’s charity games were organised, for example on 16 December 1917 at Cardiff Arms Park.In 1921, two women’s teams played a rugby game in front of a crowd of 30,000 in Sydney, Australia.In 1930, a women’s league was formed in Australia. Photographs of women’s teams from New Zealand in the same period have also been found.In 1960s, the women’s game finally began to put down roots outside of the Commonwealth countries, initially in the universi-ties of Western Europe. It spread to Canada in 1970, to the USA in 1972, to the Netherlands and Spain in 1975 and to Italy in 1979.From 1983, the game started to be organised on a more formal basis, first in United Kingdom.In 1990, the first formal international tournament, RugbyFest, was held.From 1991, the rugby unions started to take control of the women’s game.In 1996, the International Rugby Board (IRB) established a Women’s Advisory Committee, which produced a five-year

development plan.In 1998, the first fully sanctioned version of the Women’s Rugby World Cup took place.In 2012, IRB launched the IRB Women’s Sevens World Series.In 2016, the Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro will include women’s and men’s rugby sevens.

THE GAME

Women’s rugby is a sport that is identical to the men’s game with the same rules, same size pitch and same equipment. Read more: http://www.worldrugby.org/welcome-to-rugby/what-is-rugby

PLAYERS

In 2014, the total number of registered players increased from 2.36 million to 2.56 million, while the total number of non-registered rugby players rose from 4.3 million to 4.47 million. 488,000 children in 105 nations were also introduced to the sport via ‘World Rugby’s Get Into Rugby’ programme during the year.

Where do they play: http://pulse-static-files.s3.amazonaws.com/worldrugby/photo/2015/03/05/61b7a966-a65a-4952-8b71-74bed89a8d7c/WR_2014_Player_Numbers.jpg

Photo: Alejandra Carles-Tolra

PlaytheGame2015

Aarhus

October

Global sport: reform or revolution?

For the 9th time, the world conference Play the Game invites academics, journalists, sports officials and other stakeholders in sport to share their knowledge on crucial challenges to sport:

• The revolt against global events: A perfect storm for sport?

• Governments vs. fixers: Will the rule of law beat the law of the jungle?

• Good governance in sport: Setting standards, raising bars

• A new World Code against doping: Anybody willing to comply?

• The deadly disease of inactivity: Is the world ready for a cure?

• Transfers and trafficking: The human cost of broken dreams

• College sport in the USA: Unprotected amateurs in a billion-dollar business

Read more about the conference, the conference themes and submit your abstract no later than 13 May at

25-29Denmark

Tell your story at

www.playthegame.org/2015

Photo credit: Mario Cliche

Photo: Alejandra Carles-Tolra

PlaytheGame2015

Aarhus

October











25-29Denmark

Tell your story at



ART AND SPORT

Photos: Alejandra Carles-Tolra

SPORT EXECUTIVE8

Sport Executive presents Alejandra Carles-Tolra.

WHEN WOMEN PERFORM IN A MALE-DOMINATED FIELD

What defines our identities? What is the relationship between individual and group identity? That is what Alejandra Carles-Tolra examines.

‘The Bears’ is a series of photographs portraying women who are a part of Brown University’s rugby team. “After photographing ROTC cadets for my series ‘Fall In’, I learned about the experiences of women who perform in a male-dominated field. I then became very interested in photographing other women with emergent identities who were also part of a group in a

predominantly male field. Women who join the sport are commonly pictured to fit a masculine stereotype. Rugby has a complex identity that is often simplified, and hence the identity of those who play it, especially women, is often also simplified. Through my portraits, I aim to bring a broader understanding of their identi-ties, and what it means to be a woman who plays a male-dominated sport such as rugby,” Alejandra Car-les-Tolra says to Sport Executive.

Enjoy the photos.

BY: LARS ANDERSSON, TEAM TEKSTWERK

WHEN WOMEN PERFORM IN A MALE-DOMINATED FIELD

ART AND SPORT

SPORT EXECUTIVE10

ALEJANDRA CARLES-TOLRA Alejandra Carles-Tolra is a Spanish photographer from Barcelona, Spain, living on the US East Coast. Her work examines the rela-tionship between individual and group identity, and how the latter shapes the former. Questions regarding what defines it, the role the surroundings play and the threshold between individual and group identity drive and inform her work as an artist. Her work has been published and exhibited internationally, most recently at CNN, The Huffington Post, Gup Magazine, Cosmo-politan, Flash Forward Festival and Valid Foto BCN Gallery in Bar-celona. She has received several awards and mentions such as 21 New & Emerging Photographers by Lens Culture, Descubrimien-tos PhotoEspaña 2013 and was a winner of the Biennal D’Art Jove at the Fine Arts Academy of Sabadell in Barcelona. She has taught photography at The University of New Hampshire, Bryant Univer-sity, Massachusetts College of Art and Design, and Camera Eye Workshops, among other institutions.

EDUCATION:2013 MFA, Photography Massachusetts College of Art and Design, Boston, USA.2010 BA, Sociology Universitat de Barcelona, Barcelona, Spain.

ART AND SPORT

SPORT EXECUTIVE12

SPORT EXECUTIVE14

For as long as there have been profes-sional riders in the peloton, there have been good looking podium girls in smart dresses standing beside the winners on the po-dium. Even in the year of our Lord 2015, a Belgian race organiser hired bikini-clad podium girls – to stand in front of the win-ners of the women’s event in the Flanders Diamond Tour.It wasn’t so long ago that the podium girls were the only women who were visible in pro cy-cling. But ‘The Times They are a-Changin’, even in cycling – despite the dubious Belgian event. The Union Cycliste Internationale (UCI) has increased its focus on women’s cycling since Brian Cookson’s presidential campaign. And 2016 will be the year when women’s pro cycling expand world wide. UCI will thus introduce the Women’s WorldTour, with a total of 30 to 35 race days, focus on generating broader me-dia coverage for women’s events, including

on social media, and try to attract bigger sponsors.“In 2014 we saw a number of new races and this isn’t slowing down in 2015. From a calendar point of view, we need to make sure the top teams will be at the top races and that we can tell a compelling story from early in the season up to the World Cham-pionships. Enter the Women’s WorldTour – this is what the fans and the media will be able to follow from the start of the season to the finish, and that’s how we believe we will be able to engage with sponsors, bringing financial stability to women’s road cycling,” UCI women’s cycling coordinator Andrea Marcellini says: to international media.

NO MINIMUM SALARYIn other words: UCI is trying to profes-sionalise women’s cycling. The next step will be requirements for elite teams from 2017 in regard to salaries, the number of rid-ers, support staff, team doctors and sport

directors.“Of course all this is a goal. But everyone involved, riders included, understand now that there are other important steps to be taken before a minimum salary in women’s cycling becomes a sustainable move. If we enforced a minimum salary now, half of the teams would go out of business, and half of the peloton would be without a team. What is important to say here is that we are all working together to take the steps that will allow, for example, a minimum salary to become a reality in the future,” Andrea Marcellini explains.

“Our focus is development. We don’t want to make policies for the top five teams; we want to make policies that are beneficial for all women teams,” Andrea Marcellini says.Andrea Marcillini and her colleagues in UCI are pedalling to reduce the equality gap in cycling. So maybe the scantily clad podium girls will finally become a relic of the past?


UCI is pedalling to reduce the equality gap in cycling.

FRONTRUNNERS

FROM PODIUM GIRLS TO PRO RIDERS

Phto: All Over Press

SPORT EXECUTIVE16

FRONTRUNNERS

PLAN’S FOR WOMEN’S CYCLING ELITE UCI GOALS - WOMEN’S CYCLING

The Women’s WorldTour will be introduced in 2016 – with a total of 30 to 35 race days.From 2017, a two-tiered division of teams will be implemented. The top level will include ten teams, all of which will be required to race in all WorldTour events.Regulations will be rolled out over a four-year period (2017-2020) and include rules around salaries, the number of riders on a roster, sup-port staf- to-rider ratio, team doctors and sport director training.There is talks about teams being required to pay a minimum salary, as is the requirement in men’s cycling. However it is still just talk. One proposal says that at least two riders in a top level team should have a minimum salary.There is still a lot of discussion about developing women’s cycling by:Expanding live streaming and television coverage of women’s events.Encouraging the UCI, teams, riders and race organizers to use social media to amplify the coverage.Attracting bigger sponsors to women’s cycling.Source: UCI

The UCI is responsible to both men and women cyclists, which we shall reflect across all our work. In addition, recognising areas of current imbalance, the UCI has a specific strategy for women’s cycling. Our goals are: In areas of current imbalance, we will set out and implement specific initiatives, such as the commercial development of women’s professional road cycling, bringing women’s cycling to new and diverse audi-ences.Rectifying the imbalance in female participation in transport and leisure cycling.Continue to build on the strengths of women’s cycling in disciplines from track to MTB.

Posters: E3 Harelbeke


UCI GOALS - WOMEN’S CYCLING

Contact: Editor Lars Andersson/[email protected]

YOUR AD COULD BE HERE!

SPORTSISTERS

SPORTEXECUTIVE


Posters: E3 Harelbeke

SPORT EXECUTIVE18

She has won two Olympic gold medals, three UCI Road World Championships and many other races. But for Marianne Vos it’s not about winning trophies – it’s about riding a bike.“For me riding my bike is pure freedom; it’s the thing I love most. Of course there are

difficult moments, but in the end I realize how much I love the sport. It’s a sport where fitness, mental strength, technique, tactics and flexibility have to come all together for a result. It’s great when you are with a team and the puzzle works out,” Marianne Vos says to Sport Executive.

“At the age of five I came into contact with the sport of cycling. My dad got into amateur racing in his thirties and my older brother followed him to do the same. I went to their trainings, but watching them made me want to ride as well.”“I’ve done other sports, such as ice speed-skating and inline skating, but when I had to choose, cycling had my preference.”“As a kid I didn’t start cycling because of the fame or the attention, I just wanted to ride my bike. When people discovered my talents and I achieved my first results, I had to deal with a lot of interest in what I was doing. It was of course in recognisation of my achievements, but as a shy girl it was overwhelming. People start to get certain expectations, but the pressure is only as big I put on my own shoulders. I try to work

on all the elements I have an influence on and then let the rest go. If my preparation is good, I need to rely on my intuition and the only thing I have to do is try my best.”Fame followed automatically, especially when she won the road race at the London Olympics in 2012.

“I wanted that gold so badly, but you know you only have one chance and can’t mess it up. Crossing the line first, it was a com-bination of happiness, relief and satisfac-tion that came over me. Everything came together. The team put me in the perfect position; I ‘only’ had to finish it off, but I still

WHEN DREAMS COME TRUE

CHAMPION


She has won it all. But Marianne Vos still has ambitions. For example, she wants to change people’s mindset.

“For me it’s not about quantity of wins, but about

quality of life.”

“The athletic performances are exactly the same.”

Photos: All Over Press

SPORT EXECUTIVE20

got very nervous in the final. This is a feeling that I can’t really describe in words. The only thing is that is that I know it was the best feeling I’ve ever had.”

THE BEAUTY ON THE BIKESo the dream of victories came true for Marianne Vos. But the Dutch rider has a lot of other dreams. For example, she dreams about “making cycling more accessible and popular for women”.“I know I can’t do this on my own, but there is a change going on in cycling. More and more people can see the beauty of going out on a bike. A lot of women hesitate, but I

want to take away the barriers that prevent them from giving it a try. This means sharing information, setting up group rides and so on. As a professional rider I want to close the gap to beginners and show that our passion is the same. It’s a privilege to be able to share my experiences.”“The UCI sees the value of women’s cy-cling and that there are some more steps to take towards further professionalisation. Therefore you need a push from different parties and the possibility to reach a bigger

audience. It is not easy to make this change, because you have to break through traditions, but I’m sure that with the right investments we will go forward.”“Changing a mindset is one of the most difficult things to do. Women’s cycling has changed a lot in the last decade, but its value needs to be showcased to the world. With some strong combined races and parallel teams, we are taking the best from the men’s world to create a stronger women’s division. A few high profile stand alone races are demonstrating the growing interest in the sport.”

TO PUSH FOR EQUALITY“Should there be a minimum wage for professionals in women’s cycling?”“In the future I don’t see any reason why it should be different than the men’s. Women’s cycling is starting to close the gap, but as a much younger international category, it’s logical that there are steps to take. The UCI made a plan to build on its WorldTour with a change of structure in the coming five years. All parties need time to match the requirements, but this will help the sport move forward. You can’t rush this process, but it helps when UCI is pushing for equality from above.”“The media interest is increasing, but the bigger audience should be able to see more

racing. If you can identify with riders or teams it will be more interesting. Visibility is everything and this is a chicken and egg story. I’m sure it is going in the right direc-tion, but sometimes it needs a forceful push (for example from the UCI) to take the next step.”“But women’s sport should not put itself in the ‘Calimero position’. I think it’s better to work together and show our potential, in-stead of comparing ourselves with the men. There are differences between men and women, so we shouldn’t focus on that. The athletic performances are exactly the same and that’s where the focus should be.”

“For me money has never been the reason to cycle. I’ve been gifted with a certain talent and I’m happy to be pro rider. But I don’t think it’s fair that there is such a big difference between men and women in sports. The amount of effort put in is the same and at the end the same emotion comes out with the sport. On the other hand it’s fantastic to see how passionate the riders are, because they aren’t driven by money,” Marianne Vos says to Sport Executive.

CHAMPION

“It wasn’t allways easy to find sponsors.”

“I still have my first bike, a small green Mercier.”


MARIANNE VOSBorn 13 May 1987 in s-Hertogenbosch, the Netherlands.Started racing at the age of 8.Has won 2 Olympic titles, 3 UCI Road World Championships, 7 UCI Cyclo-cross World Championships and 2 UCI Track World Championships.Riding for Rabo-Liv.


SPORT EXECUTIVE22

A BRIEF HISTORY OF WOMEN IN SPORT776 B.C.: The first Olympics – no women allowed.Late 19th Century: Horseback riding, archery, golf, tennis, skiing and skating were being enjoyed among women in the upper social class.1900: Women compete in the Paris Olympics in golf, tennis and croquet.1924: Figure skating is the only sport open to women at the first Winter Olympic Games.1926: Gertrude Ederle becomes the first woman to swim the English Channel. 1943: The All American Girls Professional Baseball League was formed. 1948: The Ladies’ Professional Golf Association is founded.1952: Women and men compete together in Olympic equestrian events.1970: WTA tennis was created by Billie Jean King and others.1973: Fifty million television viewers watch Billie Jean King defeat Bobby Riggs in the ‘Battle of the Sexes’ tennis match. 1987: Jackie Joyner-Kersee is the first woman athlete on the cover of Sports Illustrated.2008: Danica Patrick becomes the first woman to win an IndyCar race.2015: The best paid male athlete, Floyd Mayweather, earns 300 million dollar – the best paid female, Maria Sharapova, 29.7 million dollars.


HISTORY

SPORT EXECUTIVE24

“I think it’s just one of these things that I have - girl things.”Those was the words that came out of British tennis player Heather Watson’s mouth when she crashed out of the Australian Open in 2015.“Girl things.”A rather vague formulation. Or as Karen Houppert, the author of “The Curse: Con-fronting the Last Unmentionable Taboo, Menstruation”, puts it:“It could have been something else, but we presume it’s her period. Periods are wrapped up in myth and magic and sexuality.”And that’s a taboo, especially in the sporting world. Or as the British World Record holder in the marathon, Paula Rad-cliffe, tells Sport Executive: “Sport has not learned how to deal with elite athletes’ periods.”Paula Radcliffe herself broke the world record in the marathon back 13 October 2002 while having her period:“I tried to put it out of my head and not let it become an issue. It’s one of those things that can become a bigger issue if you let it,” Paula Radcliffe says.

“I broke the world record so it can’t be that much of a hindrance, but undoubtedly that’s why I had a cramped stomach in the final third of the race and didn’t feel as comfortable as I could’ve done.”

DOCTORS ARE MENAccording to Paula Radcliffe there is a lack of knowledge about elite athletes’ periods:“Too often in sport, doctors are men and they don’t understand. You need more women who understand to give more evidence,” she says to Sport Executive.She calls for more studies to be done on the impact of the menstrual cycle on female’s performances – drawing on the experience of elite athletes like herself. That is because the research in that area is quite limited, and even this limited research differs as to the impact menstruation has on sportswomen’s performances. In 2011, a study of female rowers tested their heart rates, oxygen consumption, power output, blood lactate levels and other measures of endurance, and found no variation in the results, regardless of where a woman was in her menstrual cycle. But Women in Sport

commissioned its own research in 2010 and found “that in some circumstances, reduction in aerobic capacity and strength were exhibited”. And a study in Italy indi-cates that female football players may have a greater injury risk during their menstrual periods.“There’s no conclusive evidence that it has a massive impact on performance but, at the same time, anecdotal evidence would suggest if you lose a significant amount of iron and you become anaemic your endurance performance will suffer,” professor of applied sport science at St. Mary’s Univer-sity, John Brewer, explains to international media.“But there is an issue that you might be slightly prone to injury because oestrogen is at peak level around the time of ovulation and that causes the tendons and ligaments to become lax and elastic,” John Brewer continues.Therefore, St. Mary’s University has put a research team together to look at the impact of anaemia and iron deficiency non-anaemia on human performance. That study started in 2015.

THE LAST GREAT SPORTING TABOO

GIRL THINGS


Heather Watson broke the silence. Is elite athletes’ menstruation coming out of the closet?


HEATHER WATSONBritish tennis player from Guernsey.Turned pro 2010.Current Ranking 64.2 WTA titles: Hobart International in January 2015 and Japan Open in October 2012.

PAULA RADCLIFFEBorn 17 December 1973 in Davenham, Cheshire, England.Joined the Bedford and County Athletics Club at the age of 11.World Record in Marathon and 10 Kilometres.Has won the World Marathon Championships, World Half Mara-thon Championships, London Marathon, New York Marathon, Chicago Marathon and World Cross Country Championships long course.

SPORT EXECUTIVE26

Women’s sports is a niche. Its commer-cial success, participation figures, media coverage and attendance lag far behind men’s sports. But maybe the future looks different?According to Fraser Houlder and John Postlethwaite, that could be the case. In 2015 the two men created the Female Sports Group, which is dedicated to increasing commercial funding for fe-male sports rights holders by using their experience and contacts to highlight the commercial and marketing benefits of sponsoring these sports. More specifically, the Female Sports Group intends to be a major contributor towards helping raise the share of sponsorship investment in women’s sport from 0.2 percent to 3 percent of the sports market by 2018.“We believe that female and mixed gender sports are at a tipping point; participation, media coverage and attendances at events are all growing; yet results, performance and achievements in these sectors currently outstrip commercial investment. However, we believe that - as female sport continues to grow, globally mixed gender and female sports provide the biggest growth oppor-

tunity for brands and broadcasters over the next 10 years. In addition to the CSR, marketing, brand and other benefits, there is a very strong commercial argument for sponsoring females and mixed gender sport. Women are the ‘alpha’-consumer and the key decision maker and purchaser in most households. Women have more buying power than ever before as there are more commercially independent women. Female Sports Group has been created to help highlight the significant value for money opportunities that are available in women’s sport globally and in the UK,” director at Female Sports Group, Fraser Houlder, says to Sport Executive.

OVERWHELMING POSITIVE“We believe that female sport will continue to grow. The Aviva Women’s Tour cycling race concluded last week and this event showed that if presented, managed and promoted well fans will turn up and support the event and the media will cover it. This event will continue to grow, as will other female sports events as they are presented better. England Netball have developed their events and now Sky are showing more

live netball games in 2015 than ever before. In 2014 Sky’s TV audience for netball grew 40% over 2013. Sponsors entering female sport will enable the sports to make the biggest steps forward.”“How has the reaction been?” “The reaction from governing bodies, spon-sors and everybody has been overwhelming positive. We have met with a very large number of governing bodies to learn more about female and mixed gender sports and the opportunities within it and we now are working with a number of these. We have on-going discussions with a number of sponsors who agree that this is an area of interest and are keen to explore the oppor-tunities within female sport.”“Your group is dedicated to increasing sponsorship investment from its current levels. Is that realistic?” “Yes, we are dedicated to increasing sponsorship investment and four months on from our launch we believe more than ever before the time is right and sponsors are interested in these opportunities. SSE have recently become the title sponsor of the Women’s FA Cup in a four year six figure deal proof of a moving market.”


Is sport as we know it at a turning point? In this interview, the Female Sports Group tells about a new future for women’s sports.

JUST FOR WOMEN

WOMEN ARE THE KEY CONSUMER AND DECISION MAKERS

Photo: Adidas

SPORT EXECUTIVE28

JUST FOR WOMEN

WOMEN’S INTEREST IN SPORTUnder 50:Very interested: 17 %Interested: 31 %A little interested: 28 %Not interested: 24 %

Over 50:Very interested: 12 %Interested: 24 %A little interested: 30 %Not interested: 34 %

WOMEN’S INTERESTSTravel 82 %Film 79 %Music 77 %Fashion 66 %Culture 64 %Technology 61 %Sport 46 %

FEMALE SPORTS GROUPFounded by John Postlethwaite and Fraser Houlder in 2015.Female Sports Group’s mission is to be a major contributor towards helping increase female sport’s share of sponsor-ship investment from 0.2 % to 3 % by 2018. In real terms that will be an increase of annual investments from 1.7 million pounds to 26 million pounds.

WOMEN WHO SOMETIMES WATCH SPORTS ON TVAge 16-29:Football 65 %Tennis 48 %Figure skating 47 %Age 30-49:Football 67 %Tennis 53 %Athletics 53 %

Age 50-69Figure skating 58 %Football 55 %Athletics 53 %Source: Repucom

Photo: Adidas

18

Photo: All Over PressPhoto: Adidas

LEADING LADIES’ MARATHON16 August 2015, Spearfish, USAVisit: http://www.leadingladiesmarathon.com/

OSAKA INTERNATIONAL LADIES’ MARATHON31 January 2016, Osaka, JapanVisit: http://www.osaka-marathon.jp/en/

261VM MARATHON 10 April 2016, Palma de Mallorca, SpainVisit: http://www.261wm.com/en/

Photos: Leading Ladies Marathon/Osaka Inter-national Ladies Marathon/261VM Marathon

SPORT EXECUTIVE18

Go running. Sport Executive takes a look at three events just for ladies.

Everyone is a StarBY LARS ANDERSSON, TEAM TEKSTWERK

MARATHON

Fancy running where Dunbar danced with his wolf? Or in the most scenic and historic areas of Osaka? Or accompanied by the sea breeze from the Mediterranean? Go running!

EUROPEAN GAMES

SPORT EXECUTIVE4

WOMEN IN SPORT


“A champion is afraid of losing. Everyone else is

afraid of winning. Champions keep

playing until they get it right.”

Billie Jean King

SEXISM

SPORT EXECUTIVE4

DO A LITTLE TWIRL

When Eugenie Bouchard danced at the Australian Open women’s sport was reduced to one long, funky girlie pyjama party.

“Give us a twirl,” Tennis Australia commentator Ian Cohen said to Eugenie Bouchard at the Australian Open in 2015.And Eugenie Bouchard twirled…“They try to ask funny questions. It’s entertaining, I guess. I don’t mind it. People can think what they want about it. I’m fine with it,” Eugenie Bouchard explained to international media after the dance.While Eugenie Bouchard is fine doing a little twirl, the woman who fought for equality in tennis and sports, Billie Jean King, is furious:“The Australian Open interviewer asking the women to twirl on

court is out of line. This is truly sexist. Let’s focus on competition and accomplishments of both genders, and not our looks,” she said to international media.The fuss didn’t bother Eugenie Bouchard:“I’m fine with being asked to twirl if they ask the guys to flex their muscles.”So now we wait. Wait for Novak Djokovic, Roger Federer, Andy Murray and Rafael Nadal to show off their six packs…The British magazine SportsPro named Eugenie Bouchard as the most marketable athlete in 2015.


5 MYTHS ABOUT WOMEN AND WOMEN’S SPORTWomen who play sport are masculine.Women who play sport are aggressive.Women are weak.Women lack the mental strength to be competitive in sport.Men are better at playing competitive sport than women.

In this interview Bonita Mersiades tells about life before and after becoming a whistleblower.

MOMENTS OF GREAT TENSION AND SADNESS

Bonita Mersiades has always loved foot-ball. Therefore, it was natural that she began working for Football Federation Australia in the late 1990s and later for the Australian 2022 FIFA World Cup bid. But sometime along the way it be-

came apparent to her that there were two Australian bids. One for the public – and then another one…“The one for which I was largely respon-sible – where we positioned ourselves as the ‘fun, relaxed, safe and secure’ World Cup, the ‘no worries’ tournament where everything would work like clockwork and

everybody would have a wonderful time. With all my heart, I believed it then and still do,” Bonita Mersiades explains to Sport Executive.“But there was also the second one. The one that only a handful of people knew about; where meetings took place behind closed doors; where 10.5 million dollars was allocated for football development in Oceania, Asia and Africa; where visits were made to Russia, Qatar and China on our behalf; and where the support of Jack Warner, then the President of CONCA-CAF, was seen as critical to our chances. This is the world in which our international consultants were comfortable.”

STOP ASKING QUESTIONSThat made Bonita Mersiades stop and think - about ethics and morality. “I raised my concerns with my boss on

many occasions. He told me either to stop asking questions, stop complaining, that I didn’t need to know or ‘there are things going on in this bid which you don’t want to know but you’ve got to stick with me’.”“I also discussed the issues and my

concerns with my husband. I was so worried at one stage that I gave him some documentation for safe-keeping in case I needed it at a later time.” “There are a number of emotions that you deal with (in this situation, ed.). On the one hand I have always loved football, I enjoyed my job, I love my country and I


SPORTS ORGANISATIONS ARE BEING PLAGUED TO AN INCREASING EXTENT BY CORRUPTION, SHADY BUSINESS PRACTICES AND ETHICAL PROBLEMS. THEIR MASSIVE PROBLEMS ARE PROMPTING MORE AND MORE PEOPLE TO TALK TO THE MEDIA – OFTEN AT A GREAT PERSONAL COST. SPORT EXECUTIVE SPEAKS TO TWO OF THESE SO-CALLED “WHISTLEBLOWERS”.

WHISTLEBLOWER

“I found it stressful; it was an intense and uncomfortable time.”

Bonita Mersiades

“It seems people don’t like it when people tell the truth.”

Bonita Mersiades

SPORT EXECUTIVE34

Photo: Private

would love to see Australia host the World Cup. On the other hand, I could see that there were things going on for which we ran a significant reputational risk – not just in terms of what was being done in our name, but the way it was being done and the people involved. I found it stressful; it was an intense and uncomfortable time; there were moments of great tension and sadness as well as a sense of helplessness and unfairness.” “I was also bullied by one consultant, both in writing and in person.”Bonita Mersiades was sacked, but before that, she spoke to her boss again “Under pressure from the consultants, he

decided it was better not to have me there at all.” And then Bonita Mersiades spoke out.“In Australia I was ostracised from most of the football community including most of my former colleagues. This is a commu-nity in which I had grown up as a lifelong fan and grassroots volunteer. In Australia, outside of the football community, some people knew and understood the issues I was raising; others didn’t care one way or the other. I had strong support always from my family – my husband, sons, brother – and those who knew me well, as they knew I wouldn’t say what I did without a good reason.”

THEY PROTECT THEMSELVESBonita Mersiades also talked to FIFA’s

Chairman of the investigatory chamber of the Ethics Committee, Michael J. Garcia, who was investigating the bidding process for the 2018 and 2022 World Cups. His investigation resulted in a 42-page sum-mary by Hans Joachim Eckert, Chairman of the FIFA Ethics Committee’s adjudica-tion chamber.“In one way, I was not surprised by the Eckert summary report. It was typical of FIFA that they would, above all else, protect themselves and that is what the Eckert report did: it said that there was nothing wrong with their decision about Russia and Qatar, but they singled out two whistleblowers – both women – from

75 witnesses and attempted to discredit them. I saw it almost as a badge of honour. I knew I had dealt honestly with Mr. Gar-cia; I knew I had not told him anything that was not true or could not be backed-up.” “The Eckert report, and subsequent actions by FIFA and their close associ-ates including setting up a fake website in my name and falsely soliciting money in my name, told me that I was on the right track and they were under pressure. These things encouraged me, and others interested in pursuing the truth and advocating reform, to keep going.”

WHEN THE CHIPS ARE DOWNSo becoming a whistleblower can change one’s life.“My life has changed. I went from having

a job that I mostly enjoyed and in which I worked very hard to having no alterna-tive employment other than casual work. When the President of the football as-sociation is one of the most powerful and richest men in the country, it is very dif-ficult to find alternative employment. It seems people don’t like it when people tell the truth! This has had a big impact on my family and our future – but you adjust because you have to, and you get on with life.”“As with anything in life when the ‘chips are down’ you learn who your real friends are, and that’s always a good thing. Some

so-called friends have dropped away; but I have also found some very good and life-long new friends. I am forever apprecia-tive of my husband, who is a person with enormous integrity, and my sons.” “But my aim was and is not to be a ‘public person’. I want to see FIFA as an organisa-tion in which the forgotten stakeholders of the game – players and fans – as well as the other stakeholders, can have con-fidence and trust that the business behind the game is being conducted with the highest levels of transparency, accoun- tability and probity. If I can be part of con-tributing to that outcome, that’s terrific. It is about being on the right side of history.” Bonita Mersiades is today active in New FIFA Now.

BONITA MERSIADESWorked for the Football Federation Australia and the Austra-lian 2022 FIFA World Cup bid as Head of Corporate and Public Affairs and as a member of the Senior Management Team. She left on 24 January 2010.

PHAEDRA ALMAJIDWorked as an International Media Officer for the Qatar 2022 World Cup bid team before losing her job in 2010.BOTH ARE KNOWN AS WHISTLEBLOWERS IN FIFA.

WHISTLEBLOWER

“It is about being on the right side of history.”

Bonita Mersiades

“I saw it almost as a badge of honour.”Bonita Mersiades

“I was so worried that I gave my husband some

documentation.”Bonita Mersiades

SPORT EXECUTIVE36

Photo: Private

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The Qatari whistleblower Phaedra Almajid feels betrayed after her testimony on the World Cup 2018/2022 bidding process, despite promises of anonymity, was publicly dismissed as unreliable in a FIFA report. In this interview, she tells about the personal costs of standing up, and repeats her accusations of corruption in the bidding process.

THE TRUTH CANNOT BE CONCEALED

“The Chairman of the Adjudicatory Chamber concludes that the various incidents which might have occurred are not suited to compromise the integrity of the FIFA World Cup 2018/2022 bidding process as a whole.”This was the conclusion by Hans Joachim Eckert, chairman of the Adjudicative Chamber of FIFA Ethics Committee, on 13 November 2014, when summarising the investigation into the alleged bribery and corruption in relation to the awarding of the 2018/2022 World Cups to Qatar and Russia respectively. The investiga-tion and report were compiled by FIFA’s special investigator, Michael J. Garcia, chairman of the Investigatory Chamber of FIFA’s Ethics Committee.The conclusion was met with surprise throughout the world of football. The surprise did not lessen when the special in-

vestigator himself, Michael J. Garcia, went public with statements complaining about the conclusions drawn from his report.In another part of the world, Phaedra Almajid was feeling not only surprised and astounded, but also mad and – not least – scared. The fact was that she was easily identified as ‘the whistleblower from Qa-tar’ in Eckert’s 42-page long statement on the report, in which her testimony was dismissed as unreliable.This led her to send Michael J. Garcia a complaint, dated 16 November. In the complaint she writes that by identifying her in the report, Eckert has violated art. 16.1 of the FIFA Code of Ethics. She further concludes:“A culture of silence is rewarded; those who speak out and dare to question the system are not just cast aside, but ironi-cally denied any protection or respect

under FIFA’s Code of Ethics.”“I have taken great personal risks to stand up for the truth in a highly politicized atmosphere. However I have found myself betrayed and denigrated for being coura-geous enough to come forward.”Today, Phaedra Almajid says to the Danish magazine Sport Executive:“I agreed to meet and cooperate with Mr. Garcia based on his promise of anonymity and confidentiality. I would never have participated in his investigation had this not been promised to me. A name is not unique to a person; there are many different ways to identify a person. And Eckert purposely and maliciously made my identity known.”

COERCED TO SIGNAlmajid worked as the head of interna-tional media relations in the Qatar 2022


SPORTS ORGANISATIONS ARE BEING PLAGUED TO AN INCREASING EXTENT BY CORRUPTION, SHADY BUSINESS PRACTICES AND ETHICAL PROBLEMS. THEIR MASSIVE PROBLEMS ARE PROMPTING MORE AND MORE PEOPLE TO TALK TO THE MEDIA – OFTEN AT A GREAT PERSONAL COST. SPORT EXECUTIVE SPEAKS TO TWO OF THESE SO-CALLED “WHISTLEBLOWERS”.

WHISTLEBLOWER

SPORT EXECUTIVE38

bid committee. At the beginning of 2010, her assignment ended there, because she was concerned about what was going on. In spite of her worries, she agreed to talk to Garcia.The consequences of leaving the bid committee soon became clear.“In July 2011, I was coerced by the Qatari bid team and their army of lawyers to sign an affidavit – retracting my claims. If I did not sign, I was told, there was already a Qatari injunction against me for having broken my non-disclosure agree-ment and they threatened to enforce it legally internationally. I was alone; I had no legal representation. I am a single mother of two, one of whom is severely disabled. I was scared and I signed.”

I WITNESSED BRIBESToday, she sticks to her original testimony: “Bribery took place in relation to the battle to host the World Cups 2018 and 2022.”“I will only speak of the bid I worked for and, yes, there has been lots of docu-mented evidence of wrong-doing within the FIFA World Cup bidding process.”“I witnessed bribes made to Issa Hayatou, Jacques Anouma and Amos Adamu. And I witnessed them agree in exchange for voting for Qatar. That was in Angola,” Almajid explains and continues:“I witnessed the Spain/Portugal vote collusion with Qatar, too.”The three African football officials have all denied the accusations, as has the Spain/Portugal bid committee.When asked who, to her knowledge, the central players in Qatar are, Almajid replies:“Mohammed Bin Hammam and the royal family. I will not comment further than this.”Yet Almajid still does not think that Qatar should be stripped of the right to host the World Cup in 2022.“According to Garcia’s comments, and the little we can read in Eckert’s report, every bidding country was engaged in unethical and dubious affairs. Therefore, the problem is not with the bidding nations but underlines a much deeper problem within

FIFA itself. If all countries played the same unethical game, isn’t it maybe what FIFA expects? And therefore; no, I do not think that Qatar should lose the right to host the World Cup because they didn’t do anything any other country didn’t do – they only had deeper pockets.”

AN ARAB TRAITORToday, Almajid feels like haunted prey:“There are many people who are extremely angry with me in the Arab world. As a senior Qatari official said to me: ‘You have not only hurt the bid, but you hurt the State of Qatar and every Arab out there’. It is hard to explain due to cultural differences, but I am considered an ‘Arab traitor’ for having spoken out.”“It is funny, because, you know, I never saw it as an Arab versus non-Arab issue; for me it was simply a question of right and wrong. But that is not the way the majority of Arabs see it. All I can say is that if Qatar loses the bid, someone is going to have to pay the price.”“So yes, there have been threats. Legal threats from the Qataris to sue me for more than one million dollars; and there have since been other forms of threats directed at both me and my two sons. Due to the fact that this is ongoing, I cannot comment further.”“So - I will have to look over my shoulder for the rest of my life…”

CULTURE OF SELF-PROTECTIONSport Executive/Play the Game have asked Michael J. Garcia and Hans Joachim Eckert for a comment on Phaedra Alma-jid’s complaint. Kate Slaasted, Garcia’s spokesperson, refers to FIFA’s Disci-plinary Committee, while Eckert has not responded to our enquiries. On 16 December, FIFA’s Disciplinary Commit-tee rejected the complaint by Almajid with a statement saying:”There were no grounds to justify the opening of disciplinary proceedings against Hans Joachim Eckert”.And the FIFA statement continues:“The chairman reviewed all provided material and stressed that since the

participants in the investigation had gone public with their own media activities long before the publication of the state-ment of the chairman of the adjudica-tory chamber Judge Eckert, the breach of confidentiality claim had no substance”.This makes Almajid wonder. And in a response to FIFA’s dismissal of her com-plaint, she says to Sport Executive/Play the Game:“The conclusion of the FIFA Disciplinary Committee dismissing my complaint against Herr Eckert for breaching my con-fidentiality is a transparent avoidance of a clear violation of its own rules. I cooperated with Mr. Garcia’s investigation for over two and a half years under a clear, unquali-fied promise of confidentiality. He asked me for my confidentiality and repeatedly promised me mine. I kept my promise. Herr Eckert breached that confidentiality. I did not. The Disciplinary Committee’s avoidance of this undisputable violation is emblematic of its culture of self-protec-tion.”She further denies having gone to the media before the publication of the Eckert statement.“The Disciplinary Committee’s asser-tion that I had ‘gone public with [my] own media activities long before the publica-tion’ of Herr Eckert’s statement is an obvious dodge. My public statements were all made long before I entered into a con-fidentiality agreement with Mr. Garcia. I made no public statements during the en-tire period of Mr. Garcia’s investigation. I relied on FIFA’s promise of confidentiality and continued to honour my promise until Herr Eckert published his ‘Summary’. My recent public statements have only been made AFTER Herr Eckert’s identification of me in blatant violation of FIFA confi-dentiality rules,” she explains.

“The Disciplinary Committee’s decision today (16 December) is one more example of an organisation whose rules are mere formalities meaning nothing. Woe be to any other person who cares enough to risk personal safety to report FIFA corrup-tion,” Almajid concludes.

WHISTLEBLOWER

SPORT EXECUTIVE40

Photo: Private Photo: All Over Press

ENTREPRENEUR

SPORT EXECUTIVE42

FOOTBALL CAN CHANGE THE WORLDMeet Futebol da Forca – the organisation that change girls’ lives.

“Football is something that everyone can relate to. If your daughter could play football just like your son, you would accept that women have the same rights as men. Their progress could transform individuals – and if you can change enough individuals, you will be able to change society.”This is what Cecilia Andrén Nyström believes.She founded Futebol da Forca in Mozambique in 2012. Her

organisation’s aim is to strengthen girls’ self-confidence and to provide them with tools and knowledge to enable them to create a better future for themselves.“Our vision is to change prevailing attitudes, structures and norms that today prevent girls from realising themselves and reaching their full potential,” Cecilia Andrén Nyström says and continues:“With football as a platform for change we reach great results with great impact at all levels in society, at a low cost, and create sustainable and inclusive development – starting on the football

field and further in life.”And Futebol da Force is achieving results. More than 8,000 girls have started playing football in Mozambique – and more girls are playing in Zambia.

“The girls now have a completely different status. Before the foot-ball pitches were only for the boys, but now they’re being occupied

by the girls as well. They are becoming a meeting place for girls who are realising that they are no longer alone,” Cecilia Andrén Nyström explains.“Now they are brave enough to speak, ask questions and move around in the often harsh urban environments. Football therefore has great symbolic value, and it is transforming from a traditionally male sport into something else –something that actually gives girls self-confidence,” Cecilia Andrén Nyström says.The next step for Futebol da Force is to establish itself in Brazil.


“Our goal is to give young girls a platform to become agents of their own development and

make their dreams come true.”Cecilia Andrén Nyström,

founder of Futebol da Forca

“Our vision is a world in which peoples’ attitudes and societal structures and norms no longer prevent girls from realising their goals.”

Cecilia Andrén Nyström, founder of Futebol da Forca

Photos: Futbol da Forca

ART AND SPORT

Photos: Belinda Mason

SPORT EXECUTIVE44

Sport Executive presents Belinda Mason.

OFFSIDE – WOMEN IN SPORT

Women and sport? A complex issue! Can it be examined through art? Belinda Mason is one of the talented photographers who tried – back in 2013.“The women shown are diverse and extraordinary because of their lives outside of sport. They are all strong and fragile, which is the thread that links womanhood. Their fears and insecurities are the foun-dations that have empowered their passions, and, in turn, give rise for them to experience larger and richer lives,” Belinda Mason tells Sport Executive.“The women as a group represent the diversity of experiences of sport across cultural boundaries and societal expectations, each of these women has broken unwritten rules to play their sport and follow a passion that has broadened their lives outside of sport,” she continues.

Enjoy.

BY: LARS ANDERSSON, TEAM TEKSTWERK

OFFSIDE – WOMEN IN SPORT

ART AND SPORT

SPORT EXECUTIVE46

BELINDA MASON Belinda Mason has worked as a freelance photographer in Sydney since 1990 providing photography services for a range of corporate, fashion, industrial, advertising, and media clients. Since 2000, Belinda Mason’s work has focused on taboo social issues that explore the very personal and sometimes difficult subjects of grief, body image, identity and family. Mason’s has conceptualised, produced and presented high quality socio-cultural en-gaged art exhibitions and events for national and inter-national audiences. For 14 years Mason’s exhibition of photographs titled ‘Intimate Encounters’ concerning sexuality and disability, toured to every metropolitan and key regional city throughout Australia – 32 venues from 2001 to 2007 and to nine international cities from 2002 to 2014 including London, Barcelona, New York, Toronto

and Auckland. The exhibition of media and photomedia titled ‘Unfinished Business’ by Mason exposed the impact of disability in Indigenous communities throughout Australia.

Other exhibitions include invited commissions. For example in 2013, the Casula Powerhouse Arts Centre, Liverpool NSW, commissioned Mason to produce a series of 3D lenticlars photographs to explore her con-cept of ‘Women in Sport’. She selected women from diverse experiences including a 102 year old athlete who still competes and a Muslim woman who repre-sents NSW in the Australian Football League. Two of these images are on permanent display at the building of the United Nations, Geneva.

ART AND SPORT

SPORT EXECUTIVE48

PlaytheGame2015

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SPORT EXECUTIVE – INTERNATIONAL


SPORTEXECUTIVE

Life in the sports industry

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Money, money, money

WOMENALEX MORGAN

Portland Thorns and USA.Earnings: 3.0Salary: 0.2Endorsements: 2.8Mio. dollars.Sources: Forbes and BBC.

The best-paid players in football.BY: LARS ANDERSSON, TEAM TEKSTWERK

BIG EARNERSPhoto: All Over Press

Money, money, money

MEN CHRISTIANO RONALDO

Real Madrid and Portugal.Earnings: 79.6Salary: 52.6Endorsements: 27.0



SPORT, POLITICS AND GENDERAND IN CHARGE IS?

THE PRESIDENTS OF THE INTERNATIONAL OLYMPIC COMMITTEE AND THE MEMBER FEDERATIONSMEN: 34 – 94.45 %WOMEN: 2 – 5.55 %

THE EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE’S MEMBERSMEN: 545 – 86.5 %WOMEN: 85 – 13.5 %

AND THE PRESIDENT AREHE IS A MAN.HE IS 50+.HE IS WELL EDUCATED.HE HAS EARNED MORE THAN THE AVERAGE MAN.HE HAS SERVED THE SPORT FEDERATIONS FOR SEVERAL DECADES.

AND TO THE STATS

LEADERSHIP AND WORKFORCE IN GREAT BRITAIN

COMMERCIAL AND MEDIA IN GREAT BRITAIN

49 % OF SPORT ENGLAND FUNDED NATIONAL GOVERNING BODIES (NGB) HAVE LESS THAN A QUARTER OF THEIR BOARD MEMBERSHIP MADE UP OF WOMEN.23 % OF NGB CHIEF EXECUTIVES WERE FEMALE.11 % OF NGB CHAIRS WERE FEMALE.33 % OF NGB DEVELOPMENT DIRECTORS WERE FEMALE.18 % OF NGB PERFORMANCE DIRECTORS WERE FEMALE.

BETWEEN SEPTEMBER 2011 AND DECEMBER 2013, WOMEN’S SPORT RE-CEIVED JUST 0.4 % OF REPORTED UK SPONSORSHIP DEALS IN SPORT.BETWEEN SEPTEMBER 2011 AND DECEMBER 2013, WOMEN’S SPORT SPONSORSHIP DEALS ACCOUNTED FOR 5.4 % OF THE TOTAL NUMBER OF SPONSORSHIP DEALS RECORDED.WOMEN’S SPORT MAKES UP 7 % OF ALL SPORTS MEDIA COVERAGE IN UK.JUST OVER 10 % OF TELEVISED SPORTS COVERAGE IS DEDICATED TO WOMEN’S SPORT.2 % OF NATIONAL NEWSPAPER SPORTS COVERAGE IS DEDICATED TO WOMEN’S SPORT.5 % OF RADIO SPORTS COVERAGE IS DEDICATED TO WOMEN’S SPORT.4 % OF ONLINE SPORTS COVERAGE IS DEDICATED TO WOMEN’S SPORT.SOURCES: WOMEN IN SPORT, IOC AND MEMBERS FEDERATIONS.RESEARCH: SPORT EXECUTIVE

AND TO THE STATSPhoto: All Over Presss

SPORT EXECUTIVE56

Almost every day Samnang and her children from Phnom Penh, Cambodia, eat a small amount of rice and vegetables. “But it isn’t enough,” Samnang tells. “Mostly we go to bed hungry.” Except the first days after payday, then she gets a meal from her boss. In the sweatshop of her employer, articles for Adidas are being produced. Here Sam-nang stitches football shirts, 6 days a week, for at least 10 hours a day. With a salary of 112 euro a month textile workers can not live in Cambodia, so a lot of workers make

a lot of overtime. Working weeks of 86 hours are no exception. But even then a lot of textile workers go to bed hungry. More than 15 percent of them is underweight, according to research, and almost the half of the workers suffer from anemia. Malnu-trition and bad working conditions cause to mass faintings in the textile industry. Suppliers of Adidas has to comply with a code of conduct for factory working con-ditions, but Samnang hardly notices this. “Sometimes people from Europe or the United States visites the factory. They talk

to our employer, but never ask questions to the workers. Our supervisor has forbidden us to say anything to the visitors. In the 3 years I’ve been working here, nothing has improved.”

Adidas allows trade unions within the textile industry, but according to Samnang that’s a charade. “The only trade union is controlled by our employer. That union is doing every-thing he tells it to do. Of course I prefer a real trade union, but workers are to scared to unite.”

BY BART SPELEERS

Worldwide millions of people contribute to the sport industry and international sport events such as the World Cup Soccer and the Olympic Games. Under which conditions do these employees do their job - in Cambodia, Qatar and the Netherlands?

SPORT INDUSTRY

CAMBODIA “GOING TO BED HUNGRY” SAMNANG (26), STITCHES SPORT SHIRTS FOR ADIDAS

UNSPORTING CONDUCT

Photo: All over presss

After years of working as a construction worker in Qatar, Kiran has just returned to his wife and two children in Nepal. He’s glad to be back and will not return to the Gulf state. In Qatar he was working at ho-tels, bridges and parking lots, which are al-ready being built for the World Cup Soccer in 2022. With more than 350,000 mi-grant workers, Nepal is one of the biggest “suppliers” of employees to the sporting event’s preparation. At the moment 1.4 million migrant workers are in some way contributing to the World Cup in Qatar. In the Gulf state, Kiran was working for a big construction company that accomo-dates their workers in labour camps. “In that camp I shared a dirty room with 16

other employees,” he says. “There was only one bathroom for 32 people. But that was not the biggest problem, the heat was. In the building the temperature often rose to 40 degrees Celsius or more and there was no airconditioning or fan. People dried up and had to go to the hospital, but no one could afford that and the company did not pay for medical expenses.”

Beside housing, the working conditions for migrants in Qatar are very poor. “In my first 9 months in Qatar I worked 14 hours 7 days a week, without a day off. Once I even worked 46 hours without a break.” On the construction site safety has no priority at all. In the first 4 years after FIFA awarded

the World Cup 2022 to Qatar, 400 Nepa-lese workers were killed through work ac-cidents and exhaustion. The international trade union ITUC estimates that at least 4,000 migrant workers will die before the World Cup starts.

Complaining about the circumstances is risky, Kiran experienced. “I told my super-visor I was not happy with the long working hours. When I returned to the labour camp that day, an employee of the company was waiting for me with a return ticket to Nepal.” Kiran went to the police, who helped him to stay at the construction company. “But neither the housing nor working conditions improved.”

QATAR “WORKING 46 HOURS WITHOUT A BREAK”KIRAN (32), NEPALESE CONSTRUCTION WORKER IN QATAR

Photo: All over presss Photo: Benjamin Crowe, ITUC

SPORT EXECUTIVE58

TenCate is a major player in the world of artificial grass. It delivers sport fields to international sport events like the World Cup Hockey and soccer clubs worldwide. In the near future the Dutch company wants to make the fields for the World Cup Soccer, if FIFA decides to play on artificial grass. At TenCate the working conditions are very good, tells teammanager Meindert Jansen (65), who works in the weaving mill where the so-called backing, the backside of the grass, is made. “Traditionally TenCate is a very social company. Employees do have nothing or little to complain. In this region of the Netherlands people say: when you

work for TenCate, then you’re lucky.”The sport fields are made according to a tight code of conduct regarding environ-ment and workers, where suppliers from the Netherlands and abroad have to comply with. An independent supervisor controls the working conditions of the suppliers. “TenCate doesn’t want to be associated with abusive situations like the collapsing of Rana Plaza in Bangladesh, where more than 1,000 workers died.” The contrast between the working condi-tions at TenCate and those in Russia (World Cup Soccer 2018), Rio de Janeiro (Olympic Games 2016) and especially Qatar (World Cup Soccer 2022), are huge, Jansen re-

alises. “The way workers are treated over there, is unbelievable. All people worldwide making a contribution to a sports event should work under the same conditions as we do in Western Europe.”

Jansen is supporting action against poor labor conditions in other parts of the world. “My trade union in the Netherlands, FNV, is criticising FIFA because of the working conditions in Qatar. It’s good to increase the pressure on Qatar and FIFA to improve the situation for migrant workers. If this will have no or to little effect, I personally hope that the Dutch national team boycots the World Cup.”

SPORT INDUSTRY

THE NETHERLANDS “NO NEED TO COMPLAIN”MEINDERT JANSEN (65), TEAM MANAGER AT TENCATE, PRODUCER OF ARTIFICIAL GRASS SPORT FIELDS

Photo: Benjamin Crowe, ITUC

“I want to earn enough money in Qatar so I can send my children to school in the Philippines. That would be possible accord-ing to the salary, 291 euros a month, that is mentioned in the contract I signed in my home country. According to this contract I also would receive a food allowance.”When Jago arrived in Qatar at the end of 2011 his passport was immediately con-fiscated by his employer. In Qatar this is a common practice. “Without permission of the employer a migrant worker can not change jobs or leave the country,” Jago ex-

plains. Through this this so called “Kafala system” the employer has got a lot of power over his employee. Demonstrating, striking or complaining about the working condi-tions can lead to deportation from Qatar or not returning of the passport, which entails that migrant workers are “imprisoned” in Qatar for years without income. According to his contract, Jago would be working as a architectural designer in Qatar, but he was employed as a construc-tion worker. “I’m working 60 hours a week for a salary that is lower than promised. My

food allowance stopped after a short time. And when I get sick for 1 day, my employer withdraws 2 days of salary.” The Filipino wants to return to his home country, but that’s impossible. “I handed over my letter of dismissal to my boss, but he threw it in the dustbin and said I would not get my passport back. So now I’m imprisoned like a slave.” The names of Kiran, Samnang and Jago are fictional to ensure their safety. Thanks to Dutch trade union FNV, ITUC, Workers Rights Consortium, Sport Executive.

QATAR “IMPRISONED LIKE A SLAVE”JAGO (34), FILIPINO CONSTRUCTING WORKER IN QATAR

Photo: Benjamin Crowe, ITUC Photo: Benjamin Crowe, ITUC

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