The conference is the closing event of the project “Football for Equality - Tackling racism and homophobia with a focus and Central- and Eastern Europe”, co-funded by the European Commission. The conference will discuss cross-sectional approaches to fight discrimination, bridge gaps between different stakeholders and regions, promote sport as a tool for inclusion and will share experiences about campaigns and educational work in the field of sport.
Multiple Discrimination
Well known experts and activists in the field of anti-discrimination in sports will speak at the panels and workshops. Honey Thaljieh was the captain of the first women's football national team of Palestine. Today she works as a multiplicator for FIFA and speaks up for Women's Rights world wide. Vladimír Sendrei fights for the rights of Roma people. He is football a coach and the initiator of the Slovakian sports and civil rights association Futbal nas Spaja. Both will discuss approaches to tackle discrimination on different grounds in the panel on Saturday, together with Polish LGBT and feminist activist Suzie Andreis from female football team 'Chrz?szczyki', Claudia Krobitzsch from Football Against Racism in Europe (FARE) and also involved in the network F_in (Frauen im Fußball / Women and football) and a representative of the Slovak Football Association. Daniela Wurbs from Football Supporters Europe will be chairing the panel.
Moving forward
FARE ambassador and former Inter Bratislava Player Alias Lembakoalis will open the second conference day on Sunday. Then the second panel will start. Following a European wide essay competition, four authors were chosen to present their thoughts and analyses how to move forward in the fight against discrimination in sports across Europe. Elizaveta Zhuk (Russia) will talk about racism in Russian football, antidiscrimination laws and the situation in Russia before World Cup 2018. Stefan Heissenberger (Austria) will discuss his essay “Raw Fairplay” about football, masculinities and dimensions of homophobia. Mariann Bardocz-Bencsik (Hungary) will discuss about Honey Thaljieh as a role model for people who have to cope with multiple discriminations. Last but not least Henri Erti (Estonia, Croatia) will analyse and question current policies of punishment as reaction to racism in European stadiums.
For an input and critical comments on the presentations, a high profile expert and activist in the field will be our guest: former German professional footballer Marcus Urban, who came out after the end of his career and processed and published his experiences in the book Versteckspieler (“hidden player”)– Story of the Gay Footballer Marcus Urban, written by Ronny Blaschke. Until now he is one of the only openly gay (former) Football players in Europe. Also Ulrike Lunacek, well known Member of European Parliament and LGBT activist, is invited.
Bridging the gap
Saturday afternoon three workshops will enable an open space to share the participant’s views, experiences and examples of good practice and start an exchange, especially between grass roots initiatives from Central and Eastern European countries. The workshops are led by experienced activists, who work for equality and diversity in the field of sports, mainly football. Also the facilitators are representing a wide range of human rights NGOs from different contexts. The workshops will focus on three issues: European wide networking among stakeholders – facilitators: Enikö Várhely (Hungary) and Nikola Staritz (Austria) – sport as a tool for inclusion – facilitators: Des Tomlinson (Republic of Ireland), Tracy Litterick (UK) and Maurizio Pratesi (Finland) – and campaigning and educational work – facilitators: Sergej Danilov (Slovakia), Francesca D’Ercole (Italy) and Megan Worthington-Davies (UK).
LGBTIQ rights in Slovakia
Before the official opening on Saturday morning by Zuzana Palosova, who will welcome the participants and speakers on behalf of L’udia proti Rasizmu and the Football for Equality-partner organizations and Armelle Maze, Co-President of the European Gay and Lesbian Sport Federation (EGLSF), the conference is pre-launched Friday night by an exhibition visit: for the first time ever the exhibition "Against the Rules - Lesbians and Gays in sports" will be shown in Slovakian language. Andrei Kuruc from the Slovakian LGBTIQ-initiative Iniciatíva Inakos? together with ?ubomír Lábaj and Roman Samotný from Slovakians oldest and most famous LGBT sport club Lotosové Kvety (Lotus Flowers) will give us insights about the situation of LGBTI people in Slovakia and homophobia in sports.
As a result of the conference, an Action Plan will be developed jointly to gain an outlook on the next steps fighting racism and homophobia in sports. The conference also aims at bringing together initiatives and grass roots activists. During the whole conference there will be an open space to present the different initiatives that take part in the conference. With this conference a first step shall be made to build up a network between grass roots initiatives and other stakeholders to seriously challenge homophobia, racism and other forms of discriminations in the future!
Conference Programme
- Watch out the
detailed conference programme here
[updated 19 April 2013]
Facts: Free Kick for Equality! Moving to the next step in combating racism and homophobia together in sports
European networking conference in the framework of the project "Football for Equality - Tackling racism and homophobia with a focus on Central and Eastern Europe", co-funded by the European Commission (DG Justice) under the Fundamental Rights and Citizenship Programme
CONFERENCE DATE: Friday, 26 April (start at 18:30 hrs) to Sunday, 28 April 2013 (closing at 13:30 hrs)
VENUE: Bratislava, Slovak Republic, Austria Trend Hotel
ORGANISERS: L’Udia Proti Rasizmu (Slovakia) and FairPlay – VIDC (Austria) in cooperation with the Football for Equality-Partners
LANGUAGE: English and Slovak
Registration:
The conference is free to attend, but as places are limited, registration is required.
Please note, that as formal registration is over, free places can’t be guaranteed and costs for accommodation, dinner and travel have to be covered by the participants!
If you want to visit the conference spontaneously, please contact:
zalesak.michal[at]gmail.com
Contact
Local organiser: Michal Zalesak, L’Udia Proti Rasizmu (Slovakia), zalesak.michal[at]gmail.com
Football for Equality project coordination: Nikola Staritz, FairPlay-VIDC (Austria), staritz[at]vidc.org
About: the Football for Equality Project
Since 2009 the Football for Equality project acts up against and raises awareness for the diverse and manifest problems of discrimination in football. The project has focused in 2012 on two major sport events, which have taken place for the first time in Eastern Europe: the UEFA EURO 2012 in Poland and Ukraine and the EuroGames, the Lesbian and Gay Championships in Budapest, Hungary. In addition, the project partners are implementing a range of measures on a national level, such as campaigning and educational activities as well as the publication of fanzines.
The aim is to promote a football free of homophobia and racism, to make inequalities and exclusions visible and enable a save and welcoming environment for all football fans and players.
PARTNERS: European Gay and Lesbian Sport Federation (EGLSF, Netherlands), Football Supporters Europe (FSE, Germany), Institute for Sport and Development (SPOLINT, Slovenia), Unione Italiana Sport Per Tutti (UISP, Italy), People Against Racism (L’Udia, Slovakia), and FairPlay-VIDC (Austria) as the project lead organisation.
(CO-)FUNDERS: The project is partly funded by the European Commission (DG Justice) under the Fundamental Rights and Citizenship Programme.
zalesak.michal[at]gmail.com and Roman Samotný from Slovakians oldest and mmost famous LGBT sport club Lotosové Kvety/ Lotus Flowers will give us insights about the situation of LGBTI people in Slovakia and homophobia in sports. (Russia) will talk about Racism in Russian Football, Antidiscrimination Laws and the situation in Russia before Worldcup 2018. Stefan Heissenberger (Austria) will discuss his essay "Raw Fairplay" about football, masculinities and dimensions of Homophobia and examples how to overcome. Mariann Bardocz-Bencsik (Hungary) takes Honey Thaljiehs biography as a role model for minorities who have to cope with multiple discriminations. Last but not least Henri Erti (Croatia, Estonia) will analyse and questions current policies of punishment as reaction to racism in European stadiums.