While many countries have made the decision to either cancel their current season or postpone it for at least the next couple of months, here in Poland there are already plans in place to resume the season which stopped on the 9th of March. The last Ekstraklasa (top tier) game before the lockdown was Korona’s 1-0 win over relegation rivals ŁKS Łódź. The season is now set to resume on Friday 29th May and as things stand this will be one of only a handful of European countries to have their professional leagues back up and running. The most notable re-start will be the German Bundesliga which is set to play again this Saturday (16th May), but without any fans. The Polish league (top 3 tiers to resume) and the German league (top 2 to resume) have put precautionary health and safety measures in place to ensure the players and staff working at the game are best protected. The precautionary measures for Polish football include: no spectators, a limit to 50 people in a stadium (players, staff, doctors media), two additional subs during the first 5 games for each team, two additional 5 minute breaks in the 30th and 70th minute for disinfection, and referees to have electronic whistles. So why do I believe that Polish football, specifically the Ekstraklasa, can thrive in these times? Well sport broadcasters have been forced to show repeats of past seasons over the last two months. Some broadcasters even got professional footballers from their respective leagues to play each other at FIFA in order to give the paying subscribers some of their money’s worth. Similarly, with the opportunity to broadcast live football again, broadcasters from around the world will be looking to snap up the rights for the remaining season. While the Bundesliga already has extensive broadcasting deals across the globe set in stone (€1.24bn for 2019/20 shared with Bundesliga2), this is not the case for the likes of the Ekstraklasa. Currently the Ekstraklasa receives €115m over two seasons domestically, making it the 8th most valued league in this sense. However, the Polish league has already received expressions of intent to show the remaining games of the season from broadcasters in Italy, Israel, and Portugal according to sport.pl. The league could attract further attention from higher profile broadcasters such as Sky Sports in the UK who put all their eggs in one basket with Premier League coverage. With the huge uncertainty over when and if the Premier League will resume then if Sky decided to snap up the rights for the remaining matchdays of the Ekstraklasa it would be a major coup for Poland, especially as it gives the players an increased platform to showcase their skills. That Polish football could garner increased worldwide media exposure is shown by the K-League in South Korea which resumed within the last week. Ahead of the restart of the K-League it was revealed that the league had agreed deals in 17 international markets with Australia, Germany, Austria, and Switzerland being amongst them. The K-League also broadcast one game last weekend on Twitter, which was clearly a tactic to boost interest further. This is why I think that the Ekstraklasa can gain a new fanbase in the current pandemic. While the quality might not match the likes of the Premier League, the broadcasters will be desperate to show some live sport. Also, as we have previously seen with British fans showing an interest in the Belarusian league which has continued (as apparently there you can treat the virus by visiting saunas and drinking alcohol), the fans will be less concerned about quality, they just want some live football to watch!
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Purpose
This policy supports the national programme for integration of refugees into the community. It is aligned with the Football Association’s Equality policy. The Association is committed to supporting social inclusion through football by bringing people together to overcome discrimination. The national sports sanctions entities have asked all member organisations to develop policies for integrating refugees into their sport. As the governing body for English football the Association recognises the value of sport and the role of football in supporting the development of an inclusive environment for participation to the greater benefit of society. The United Kingdom has committed to taking 20,000 refugees in 2016, with England taking the most. Coming to a new country is not easy when you do not know anyone or speak the language. Refugees may further be affected by trauma. The Association’s integration strategies aim to help in the best way we can and support the ambitions of government and national sporting bodies. This policy and its supporting strategy and guidance will set out a vision for integrating refugees across all levels of our organisation from recreational to the highest professional level. Scope This policy applies to Football Association and all local associations, organisations and clubs affiliated to it. Policy Statement The Football Association is committed to promoting the integration of refugees into UK society through inclusion in its football development programmes and in accordance with the Equality Policy. The Association will engage with member associations, clubs and other stakeholders to develop strategies and allocate responsibilities and resources to achieve this. The Association will monitor performance of the programme and review the effectiveness of the strategy. The policy is fully supported, and will be implemented by the Association’s Main Board. Objectives: · To provide opportunities for refugees of all ages through football which will enhance their quality of life and enable them to achieve to their highest potential. · To promote integration through developing the language skills of refugees and cross-cultural appreciation in a neutral environment though the shared common interest of football. · To work collaboratively with other sports bodies to ensure strategic alignment and complementary programmes. · To identify new opportunities for funding at local, national and international level to support and develop the programme of activities. · To use existing relationships and build new ones with schools, youth centres and retirement homes to benefit the full age range of refugees. · To offer a wide range of opportunities within football to all refugees for all levels of ability and interest. · To encourage and support all parties involved and promote success. Implementation · The FA’s Inclusion Advisory Board, reporting to the Main Board, will oversee the development, implementation, monitoring and review of the refugee inclusion strategy. · The Association will allocate funding for refugee inclusion as part of the overall inclusion budget which will be administered by the Inclusion Advisory Board. · Refugee inclusion will be included in the annual report and action plan on inclusion and anti-discrimination. · A National Refugee Inclusion Co-ordinator will be appointed who will report to the Director of Inclusion. This role will engage with stakeholders, regional associations, national sports bodies and funding agencies to develop, resource, promote and monitor the strategy. · Regional coordinators will be appointed to work closely with local associations and clubs and local government. The roles will identify local needs and opportunities and support applications for resources to provide suitable programmes. · The Regional Coordinators will organise and promote local events and activities and arrange events cascaded down in support of the Association’s national initiatives and programmes. · A budget will be allocated to each region per the number and distribution of refugees. This will be managed by the Regional Coordinators and monitored by the National Refugee Inclusion Coordinator. · Staff and coaches will be appointed to work under the Regional Coordinator on geographic basis per the number and distribution of refugees. Training programmes will be developed and provided to support existing coaches and staff in this aspect. · The staff and coaches will offer support and guidance to the refugees where required. Strategic Plan The Association’s policy for integration of refugees sets out a single vision to enable all refugees to integrate fully into society by 2022. It aspires to make all refugees feel welcome as well as raising health, education and community outcomes. Our strategy sets out our ambition and how we will achieve it, the actions needed to be successful, the role that the Association will play and how we will work with different parties to achieve our shared vision of integrating refugees into our multicultural society. How we will act to deliver the strategic plan: The Association envisages that the whole process for integration could take between 3-5 years and it will be built on these important principles; · Working together: The FA will work with all stakeholders on a national and local level to achieve the utmost success of the integration of refugees into the society. · Being inclusive: The FA will recognise all the cultural preferences of each refugee, considering the range of diversity. · Maximising resources: The FA will ensure that maximum impact is derived from all allocated resources and that everyone involved in the process will get the best value from them. · Reviewing progress: The FA will review progress of the strategy against the annual action plan to monitor that all targets are being met. Football In The Community The Football in the Community programme will be at the forefront of refugee integration. Football in the Community (FITC) is operated under the auspices of the EFL Trust and is therefore Football League related. It is run individually by each of the clubs within the Football League and below. This programme will be used for the initiative since the FITC scheme is well established and respected. It works effectively with local communities and helps improve the lives of many in need through coaching and socialising with others. The FITC scheme would give refugees the opportunity to be associated to the local professional football team and would enable them to play football with people from different backgrounds or to coach others if they would like to. This would then help form a pathway to integrate refugees into the game and the community. To support FITC and to make all refugees feel welcome we would introduce liaison officers and hold regular language sessions to make the transition of integration smoother. The liaison officer would be each refugee’s first port of call should an issue arise or they need someone to talk to. Whilst we envisage that FITC will have a positive impact on integrating refugees, the Association also acknowledges that some refugees arriving will be high calibre athletes. Consequently, the Association would support refugees seeking a professional career in applying for work permits and enable them to look forward to a more stable future. Inclusion through qualification This is a new initiative to be introduced by the FA which offers coaching and refereeing training courses to refugees of all genders and all ages with the primary focus being on social inclusion for refugees living in the region. The course will be free of charge and will be split into theoretical and practical lessons and like the FITC scheme include lessons in English. The ‘inclusion through qualification’ course will act as a fast track into the football world. Refugees will be assisted by language teachers and qualified referees with the assistance of a course guide that includes rich visual media. Refugee Action Board A refugee action board will also be established to help promote engagement and listen to ideas and concerns of all ages. How we will fund the strategic plan: The Association has lead responsibility for delivering and resourcing this initiative. Some initiatives set out in the policy are already underway and have funding allocated. However, funding for new initiatives introduced will come from a redirection of current funding for the game or from identifying new sources. The funding of the strategy will be phased. Each project will receive an initial allocation with further funding subject to performance targets being achieved. · The FITC scheme will be given an initial 1 million GBP in January 2017. Whilst FITC is currently active and funded the scheme will require additional resources to enable expansion into different areas to cope with the influx of refugees. · ‘Inclusion through qualification’ will be allocated 2.5 million GBP at the launch in January 2017. This larger amount reflects that this scheme is new and the cost structure is different. This will cover the appointment of language teachers, liaison officers, coaches and allow support from qualified referees. The initiative will be subject to annual review and the following performance indicators: · Increase in volunteers in the schemes mentioned. · Increase in qualified coaches and referees from ethnic backgrounds. · Increase in participation in football amongst ethnic backgrounds. This initiative will form the basis of the ‘Refugees: World at your Feet’ campaign which sets out a positive vision for integrating the new influx of refugees into society through football . The Association will officially launch this initiative at a presentation evening for all stakeholders. The following table summarises the implementation programme. |
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