Mar 10, 2015
Over the last 11 months EU Athletes has successfully conducted a 2nd project, under the EU budget line” preparatory actions in the field of sport”. The PDM guide is the result of a fruitful collaboration between EU Athletes members.
Dual career of athletes has always been a high priority on the agenda of EU Athletes. The importance and the quality of the work of his members in this field, has always been highlighted on various occasions (EU Sport Forum, EU Expert Group).
The Budget lines available under the “Preparatory actions in the field of sport” helped EU athletes to take a step further in this direction by allowing his members to engage in a job shadowing experience at the EU level to improve their governance and the quality of services provided to their members.
This project gave them a unique opportunity to learn from other and to gain new knowledge in a field continuously changing.
Based on the experience of his members, EU Athletes is publishing today the 1st ever PDM guide, to help small associations to improve their support of players on dual career. This booklet is presenting innovative ideas and a different approach on elite athletes transition.
PDF – eu-dual_carrer-bat_-_copie
Feb 11, 2015
Tomorrow 12th February the AJFSF will start a campaign on social medias to raise awareness on gender equality and respect for Futsal players. Use the #WomenPlayFutsalFIFA hashtag.
Futsal players have started this movement on January 15th and it became a TT on Twitter and received a lot of attention from Spanish traditional medias.
FIFA board and FIFA president M. Blatter have received letters of different international federations, videos of players with their national teams and notifications of the movement over the Interne
Gender equality, equality of treatment between men and women should be a high priority on the agenda of international federations such as FIFA. EU athletes calls for respect of a respect of the fondamental rights of women futsal players.
February 12th at 12.00 pm #WomenPlayFutsalFIFA Join us!
Jan 4, 2015
UNI Sport PRO is the global platform of democratically elected and accountable Athlete Associations, representing between them, over 100 000 professional and elite athletes worldwide. A key issue that unites all top athletes is WADA reform and, as the WADA Code Review reaches its final stages and against the background of recent doping scandals, UNI Sport Pro wishes to make a number of important points:
- The Lance Armstrong doping scandal and the Australian Crime Commission investigations demonstrate the ineffectiveness of the current WADA Testing regime.
- Armstrong was not caught through testing, despite being frequently tested.
- Current rules and structures are inadequate to deal with corrupt cultures within sport organizations and the involvement of organized crime in doping.
- Clean athletes want and need the anti-doping rules to be effective and proportionate.
- Regrettably, the World Anti Doping Agency and its stakeholders are failing in their mission to protect clean athletes.
- Anti-doping rules are not based on adequate evidence and research. Harmonization has become an excuse for mediocrity and a lack of accountability. The lack of a legitimate and independent athlete stakeholder within WADA is a fundamental governance deficit. Athletes have no effective say in WADA.
- Anti-doping rules are based on the contractual relationship between athletes and sport organizations. Sport organizations are abusing their dominant position by excluding an independent athlete voice.
- Athlete Commissions, held out as representative by WADA and the IOC, are internal structures within sport organizations and cannot independently represent athletes’ collective interests.
- Democratically elected and accountable Athlete Associations are an important part of the solution and can help WADA increase its effectiveness.
UNI Sport Pro calls on WADA stakeholders – governments and sport organizations –to support reforms during the World Anti Doping Code revision process that will increase the effectiveness and proportionality of the fight against doping:
- Prohibited List Criteria – Performance enhancement should be a mandatory property for all substances on the prohibited list.
- ·No increase to a Four-year minimum sanction – Increasing the minimum sanction for a first offense will not increase the effectiveness of the system and open it up to legal challenge. The sanction is not proportionate and does not deter cheaters.
- Independent Arbitration and procedural guarantees – Athletes must at least be protected by the procedural guarantees in Article 6 of the ECHR. When Independent arbitration is given legitimate consent by athletes, both parties in a dispute must beequally represented on the tribunal.
- Data protection –Athlete associations are dismayed that WADA is lobbying for an exemption for athletes from new data protection rules in the E.U. The current system is not effective enough to justify the sacrifice of these fundamental rights.
Yves Kummer, President of EU Athletes, www.euathletes.org:“Athletes need this next version of the Code to deliver an effective and proportionate system. It is so tempting for politicians and administrators to look tough on doping by implementing ever more invasive and burdensome rules on athletes. But we now all see that doping cheats are being protected and groomed by corrupt sporting cultures, organized crime and even team doctors. It’s time for a new approach. Unfortunately, we are quite pessimistic that the current code revision will produce any dramatic change from the ineffective, testing based system already in place. For example, all athlete associations believe that it should be mandatory that a substance be performance enhancing for it to be on the prohibited list. Will they listen to the athletes? We doubt it.”
Ian Smith, Federation of International Cricketers’ Associations (FICA),www.thefica.com : “WADA has failed in its information clearinghouse role by not enforcing proper reporting by anti-doping organizations. It doesn’t even know the total number of violations worldwide. Without proper reporting, the monitoring of policies is impossible, as is the search for solutions. Much of what we hear coming out of the revision process appears to be based on sheer guesswork. We need the enforcement of reporting, proper impact assessments, research, evidence and monitoring before anybody starts talking about stricter sanctions. Also, research shows that the certainty of being caught and punished is what deters people, not the severity of the sanction. Let’s get it right and not just try to look tough for publicity’s sake.”
Damian Hopley, Chairman of the International Rugby Players’ Association (IRPA), www.irpa-rugby.com: “It’s intolerable that clean athletes can be fully compliant with a very invasive and burdensome system and still have their performances routinely questioned. The system just isn’t working. Even WADA has recognized there is a problem but the WADA working group on the ineffectiveness of testing, led by Dick Pound, will not report until May (well after the code revision process is completed) minimizing the value of any results. If we had a legitimate and equal athlete stakeholder voice within WADA we could make a difference. As it is now, Athlete Commissions are internal bodies of sport organizations and inherently conflicted. How can a true representative of athletes speak out against their own data protection rights? Incredible. It’s unethical, unfair and needs to change.”
Wil van Megen, World Football Players’ Union (FIFPro),www.fifpro.org: “The recent developments illustrate the dismantling of the current system. WADA and the other organizations involved in doping should have recognized in a much earlier stage that a system couldn’t work without the full consent and cooperation of the athletes involved. Proportionality is key and integrity must come from both sides”.
Paul Marsh, the Chairman of the Australian Athletes’ Alliance (AAA),www.athletesalliance.org.au, the peak body for Australia’s eight elite players’ associations representing 3,000 professional athletes: “It is clear that corruption and cheating does not begin with the athlete. Mr. John Lawler, the CEO of ACC, was right to describe the athletes as being “exploited,” especially where the corrupting process has begun through organized crime. Australia’s players’ associations have a strong track record in dealing with any threat to the integrity of sport and will not hesitate to build on this in a sensible and balanced way based on the principles of partnership, education, strong codes of conduct, complementary legislation and a deep commitment to protecting athletes whose careers and safety are placed at risk and into the hands of corrupting elements.”
Media Contact: Walter Palmer at walter.palmer@uniglobalunion.orgor +41 22 365 21 58 or mobile: +41 79 486 5731
Under the UNI Sport PRO umbrella, the following organizations have endorsed this statement: FIFPro (World Football Players’ Union,www.fifpro.org), IRPA (International Rugby Players’ Association,www.irpa-rugby.org), FICA (Federation of International Cricketers’ Associations, www.thefica.com), WAIPU (World Federation of Ice Hockey Players’ Unions, www.waipu.org ), EU Athletes (European Federation of Player Unions, www.euathletes.org ), NFLPA (National Football League Players Association, www.nflplayers.com ), AAA (Australian Athletes Alliance, www.athletesalliance.org.au )
Dec 22, 2014
An historic coming together of the world’s leading athletes and their unions in Cape Town this week has resulted in the establishment of UNI World Athletes, a global trade nion that brings together over 85,000 athletes across the world’s major professional sports.
Established at its inaugural world assembly under the auspices of UNI Global Union, UNI World Athletes unites champions from sports including football, cricket, rugby union, ice hockey, baseball, American football, basketball, rugby league, netball, skiing, cycling and Australian football.
The phalanx boasts the leadership of the world’s most influential athletes’ unions, with a ten member Executive Committee being unanimously elected under the Presidency of National Hockey League Players Association Executive Director Don Fehr.
Fehr is joined on the Executive Committee by:
First Vice President Brendan Schwab, who is also a Vice President of FIFPro, the world footballers’ association, which is also represented by FIFPro Board member Dejan Stefanovic and FIFPro Director International Relations, Frederique Winia.
Second Vice President Jean François Reymond, the Director of EU Athletes
Rob Nichol, the CEO of the International Rugby Players’ Association
Ian Smith, the COO of the Federation of International Cricketers’ Associations
DeMaurice Smith, the Executive Director of the National Football League Players’ Association
Paul Marsh, the CEO of the Australian Football League Players’ Association and a Board member of the Australian Athletes’ Alliance
Toru Matsubara, the Executive Director of the Japanese Professional Baseball Players’ Association.
The establishment of UNI World Athletes follows three years of close collaboration of athletes unions, a period which has seen increased concerns on the part of athletes over the poor governance of sport coinciding with an increased attack on their basic economic and legal rights.
UNI World Athletes has dedicated itself to advancing six immediate goals:
1. The good governance of world sport
2. The development of effective and proportionate measures to protect the integrity of sport from threats such as doping and match manipulation
3. Athlete health and safety
4. Athlete development and wellbeing, including preparing athletes for life beyond a career which is dangerous, short-term and precarious
5. The protection of the intellectual property rights of athletes
6. Organising athletes throughout the world, to ensure that athletes are intimately involved in the decision-making of their sports.
Dec 1, 2014
The last visits are taking place now, job shadowing, exchange of good practices are on the programme of the associations.
Last week, the spillerforeningen visited UNFP in their office in Paris, as part of the exchanges taking place under the PDM Project launched by EU Athletes in 2014.
During the 2 days of the exchange they have learned about each other best practice in order to help professional athletes to transition after their professional career.
For the other associations the exchanges are continuing until mid December.
