The EUROPEAN FAIR PLAY CONGRESS AND EFPM General Assembly are knocking on the door

The Congress organising committee is delighted to announce the two distinguished keynote speakers for this year’s congress on the theme of “Fair Play in Education. The first speaker will be Kolë G whose address is entitled “ A strategic Overview of Fair Play in Education”. Kolë  is currently Deputy Chief Executive Officer at the International Schools Federation and has wide experience and knowledge of the subject. He will give an overview of the importance of fair play  in multisport education organisations.

 Kolë Gjeloshaj

Kolë Gjeloshaj: International School Sport Federation (ISF) – Deputy Secretary General/CEO

• Chair of the Consultative Committee of the Enlarged Partial Agreement on Sport of the Council of Europe(elected in September 2020)
• Member (Rapporteur) of the High-Level Group on Gender Equality of the European Commission (appointed in December 2020)
• Board Member of the Panathlon Wallonie-Bruxelles ( 2013-)
• Adviser to the President International Fair-Play Committee (2017-)
• Member of the Youth, Education and Culture Commission of Festival Internationale du Cinéma et Télévision
• Sportive (FICTS) - (appointed 2019 -)
• Since 1996, his career has expanded to include several positions in international multisport federations dealing with education, member relations, institutional affairs, and protocol within the International University Sports Federation (FISU) . He set up the educational and development departments and the related committees of FISU. He was the team leader of the Proclamation by UNESCO (2015) of the International Day of University Sport. He joined ISF in 2018 as strategic cooperation director then appointed in 2019, Deputy Secretary General/CEO.
• Alongside his professional career, he has developed an academic activity as Scientific Collaborator at the Institute of Sociology of ULB (2000 – currently associate member of Cevipol). He co-authored two books (1999;2004), contributed to two dictionaries and wrote more than forty articles translated in five languages. He is an alumni of ULB (M.A. Political sciences) and the University of Pisa (M.A. Anti mafia and corruption).

Our second Keynote speaker is respected and much published academic Otmar Weiss who will address congress participants on “Fair Play in Sport as a means to create a better world”

Otmar will propose that fair play in sport could serve as a model because here is one common language, and that is the language of sport, which impressively contributes to the process of learning culture, that is, learning values like fair play.

To describe fair play and trust as countermeasures to oppose negative activities e.g. doping in sport is not only a matter of punishing the perpetrator, but also a matter of trust. The opponents in sport have to trust each other not to use performance-enhancing drugs. The true fascination of sport lies in the fact that the principle of fair play is more important than victory at any price. A goal can never justify foul means. A clean defeat is always better than a dirty victory. 

History tells us how difficult it is to put the principle of fair play into practice. However, fair play has the potential for creating a peaceful and compassionate society. It is a value both society and sport desperately need. The key point of the presentation is that fair play is represented best in the body language of sport, which is a result of socialization/education and therefore culturally determined, and which can unfold the impressive potential of human beings for the greater good.

 Otmar Weiß

Dr, Professor Otmar WeißPh.D., is Professor at the Department of Sport Science at the University of Vienna. He has written six books, including Introduction to the Sociology of Sport (2021), edited seven, and published approximately 100 articles nationally and internationally, including the study report European Sport Index in European Journal for Sport and Society.

Otmar studied mathematics and sport science at Vienna University, graduating with an MA in 1982 and completed his PhD in mass communications and sport science in 1984.
 

He became assistant professor in the Department of Sport Science at the University of Vienna in 1984. In 1987-88 he secured a  research grant to attend Ohio State University, and San José State University, CA. He completed his post-doctoral thesis on sport and society: a socio-psychological perspective, at the University of Vienna in 1989. Since 1992 he has been professor at the Department of Sport Science at the University of Vienna and  served as President of the European Association for Sociology of Sport (2001-2008).

Main Academic Activities

• Chairman of the Austrian Society for Sociology of Sport since 1994
• Board member of the International Sociology of Sport Association (1995-1999 extended board, 1999-2003 executive board)
• Member of the editorial board of the International Review for the Sociology of Sport (1995-2003) and the editorial board of the European Journal for Sport and Society since 2004
• President of the European Association for Sociology of Sport (2001-2008)

After these two keynotes, there will be an open discussion panel with questions to experts from delegates. After this the participants will be sharing practical ideas for fair play education, focusing on how the “fair play card” initiative can be implemented in the nations, regions, departments and organisations represented after the event.

Further details of the congress and General Assembly with details of how to register can be found at

http://www.fairplayeur.com/news/news/second-announcement/

02.09.2021