Child Protection in Sport in South Africa

This week two reports were published detailing the alarming extent of child abuse in South Africa. Helping Hand Fund, an organisation for social care that was founded by the trade union Solidarity, reported that one child is raped in South Africa every three minutes.  SAPSAC, a professional body investigating child abuse in South Africa claimed that there are about 10 000 child prostitutes in Johannesburg alone and that the situation in Cape Town, Durban and Port Elizabeth are “equally grave” writes Norman Brook.

Dee Moskoff, Manager of Connect Network, a coalition of 82 NGOs in the Western Cape wrote earlier this month about the extent of child abuse on the occasion of Child Protection Week in the Cape Argus “….as a nation, we’re failing to protect our children from abuse, neglect and extreme poverty.”  To demostrate her message she pointed out that:

• a child is assaulted every 15 mins in South Africa;
• a child is raped every 30 minutes in South Africa;
• the number of orphans increases by approximately 250,000 a year (77% AIDS related);
• 66% of children in South Africa live in poor households;
• only 25% of South African children have access to registered early childhood development facilities;
• 75% of children in South Africa are without the stimulation necessary for mental, physical and social development.

That last statistic begs the question what role sport has to play in engaging with young people in poor communities.  Sport was withdrawn from the school curriculum denying many children the opportunity of developing fundamental movement skills.  However, President Zuma in his first State of the Nation speech has pledged to return sport to the curriculum.

The NSPCC and Sports Councils in the UK operate a support organisation for sports organisations in child protection.

In the UK child protection is high on the agenda of all sports organisations.  The four national sports councils lead on this work with the NSPCC’s Child Protection in Sport Unit.  This work has most sports organisations:

• recognise their responsibility to protect children and young people left in their care;
• develop strategies and standards to protect children and young people;
• identify and respond to adults who are a threat to children and young people;
• develop child protection knowledge and skills among all staff and volunteers.

If you search for ”child protection in sport policies” using the Google UK website up will pop links to hundreds of sports organisation and clubs published child protection policies.  When a similiar search is performed using the Google South Africa website up pops a solitary link to an article by Professor Paul Singh on Child Protection in Sport on the Department of Sport and Recreation’s website.

It is clear that the sport in South Africa has not yet recognised the role that it can play in helping to protect young people from physical, sexual, emotional abuse and neglect.  Experience in other countries has shown that those who wish to abuse children often access them through sport and sports organisations need to be aware of this and know how to deal with such incidents.  Sports coaches like school teachers get unique access to young people and often observe symptoms of abuse or as trusted adults hear discloures of abuse.  They therefore play an important role in protecting children and need to know what to do when they suspect abuse.

The South African constitution states that “every child has the right to be protected from maltreatment, neglect, abuse or degradation.”  All though sports clubs provide partial care for children attending sports training and competitions they are exempted from being a partial care organisation and are not required to be registered.  Nor do the coaches and other volunteers who work with the children require to be vetted or qualified.  Whilst the standard set in the Children’s Act Regulations for partial care organisations might be too onerous for voluntary sports, a requirement for all organisations working with children to adopt child protection protocols might be a reasonable expectation.

The Childen’s Act in South Africa makes provision for “any person who on reasonable grounds believes that a child is in need of care and protection may report that belief to the provincial department of social development, a designated child protection organisation or a police official.”  They will have to “substantiate that conclusion or belief to the provincial department of social development, a designated child protection organisation or police official;” but have the comfort of knowing that someone who ”makes a report in good faith is not liable to civil action on the basis of the report.”  This is different from the UK where a person who believes that a child needs protection has a common law duty of care to that child.

Whilst teachers and other professions must report concerns, those who work in sport may, but are not required by law to do so.

Childline South Africa believes that all organisations that provide partial care for children should have Child Protection Policies as an essential requirement for registration or funding. ”Few organisations in South Africa that have children in their care have written child protection policies; therefore when children report abuse, either in the home or partial care facility, by either caretakers or other children, this tends to be dealt with in an ad hoc and inconsistent manner. ”

They recommend that organisations working with children have policies that provide:

• a brief statement of legal obligations when abuse is reported or witnessed;
• procedures to be followed when abuse is observed;
• procedures to be followed when a staff member or volunteer is alleged to have abused and/or neglected a Child;
• procedures to be followed when a child reports/alleges abuse and/or by a parent or caretaker;
• procedures to be followed when child on child abuse is observed or reported by either an employee/volunteer in the facility, reported by a parent or caretaker, or by a child;
• how records of such incidents should be kept;
• who has access to such records.

Sports organisations in South Africa that work with children should consider placing child protection protocols on their agendas.  They should put in place appropriate policies and increase awareness of child protection issues amongst their coaches and volunteers.  The reported high levels of child abuse in South Africa would leave one to conclude that sport should be playing its part to protect young people. South African sport should followfrom other leading sporting nations by introducing a national child protection policy. 

Norman Brook has contributed to the development of child protection in sport through his work with Sportscoach UK helping to deliver training to a wide range of sports organisation in the UK and training tutors to deliver child protection training.

Grass Roots Sport Critical to Effective Sports Sponsorship

New research from Eurosport, ZenithOptimedia & Synovate indicates that investment in the grass roots of sport is of critical importance to sponsorship effectiveness during a time of recession according to the Sports Business Group.

Sports Business Group are the world’s leading supplier of information, media and B2B marketing services to the sports industry.

With corporate social responsibility (CSR) now rapidly becoming a central aspect to the sponsorship of the biggest brands, companies, sporting federations and governing bodies will be taking note of the findings at a time when marketing strategies are coming under serious scrutiny.

The report, taken out in October 2008, interviewed 1,600 upmarket consumers and 10 leading sports marketers whose responses created a sports marketing code of conduct for companies during the difficult economic climate. 
 
It found that 81 per cent of consumers believe “what companies do over what they say” and that 74 per cent believed CSR sports investment both helps sport to develop, and was essential as part of the marketing strategy for large brands.
 
The survey also revealed grass roots investment was considered an imperative and necessary component of a successful sports marketing campaign. Although expensive, it is valued by consumers who appreciate organisations which make a real contribution to sports development.
 
The report’s findings were showcased at  a summit organised by the SportBusiness  Group.  For further details visit the website of  Sports Business International

International Inspiration in Zambia

I was especialy pleased to be invited by UK Sport earlier this month to travel back to Lusaka, Zambia, to undertake some consultancy work with Ken Black in connection with the London 2012 legacy programme titled International Inspiration writes Norman Brook.

Edusport Activity

The reason being that this was my fourth engagement with the Zambian sporting community, the other three dating back to 1995/1996 and I was keen to learn what had changed in the last 13-14 years. My first trip to Lusaka was with Andy Hansen, then of UK Sport and now the British Council’s lead officer for sport.  UK Sport had a small budget for international development that had been allocated for use in Zambia and the purpose of our visit was to meet with various Zambian stakeholders from sport, government and education to learn how the UK could best spend its resource in helping Zambia develop sport and physical education.

It was on this first trip that I met Mary Nicholls a UK volunteer from the Voluntary Servce Overseas (VSO) organisation who had a placement at the National Sports Council of Zambia (NSCZ).  Mary had arrived in Lusaka expecting to take up an advisory development role at the Sports Council, but soon found herself being parachuted into the role of General Secretary by the then Director General at the Ministry of Sport.  I was to learn on my return trip that 14 years on a similiar situation existed at the Sports Council.  Mary now works for the London Development Agency (LDA) and is very much involved in preparations for the London 2012 Olympics.

My other two previous engagements with Zambian sport arose from our first trip.  We had discovered that the Minister of Sport had appointed a number of provincial sports development officers but that they had only been given limited resources and had received no training in their new roles.  My return visit was to conduct a training course for these sports development practioners.  The third engagement took place in the UK when a small group of sport and physical education specialists from Zambia flew to the UK for a study tour.  My role being to manage their interaction with UK stakeholders and to conduct a workshop that allowed them to prepare a report on what they had learned and how this could be applied in the Zambian context.

When I flew into Lusaka Airport earlier this month, I was expecting to see change as I knew the economy had improved since the early 1990s and that there was more political stability.  Arriving at the airport, I began to wonder if I would find things had changed, as it was exactly how I had remembered it in 1995/1996.  The journey to my hotel though was more encouraging. I got chatting to some business men who worked for a broadband service provider who were active in Zambia and saw it as an emerging market.  We passed new shopping malls where there were well known South African multi-nationals trading such as Shoprite and Mr Price.  People on the street looked smart and purposeful.  New buildings were under construction. All in all things seemed better.

Major Makupa, Major Bwalya, Captain Nasilele of the NSCZ meet with Elias Banda and Norman Brook

The purpose of my visit was to meet up with a fellow Scot, Ken Black,  whom I have known for many years and had worked with before on training courses. We had even worked from the same building at Loughborough University and passed often on the stairs of the Beckwith Building.  Despite this we had not spent a lot of time together and I was keen to learn from him as he has become one a world leaders in making sport inclusive for people with a disability.  This particular trip was part of a consultation exercise on a sport for development training and accreditation project and would involve meetings with a range of Zambian stakeholders including many organisations that myself and Andy Hansen had met with during our first visit to Lusaka.

Our programme of meetings were arranged by Elias Banda who is UK Sport’s Zambian manager for the International Inspiration project.  I was really impressed with Elias and many of the other Zambian sports professionals I met on this visit.  Their level of knowledge of sport, sport development, sport for development and sports management was of the highest standard, They certainly knew what needed to be done to advance sport and sport for development in Zambia even though they lack the resources needed to deliver that development.  This for me was one of the biggest changes I noticed from my previous visits. On the previous trips we were the experts imparting knowledge to our Zambian colleagues.  On this trip they were our equals eagerly contributing to the discussion and debate on sport and sports development.

During this visit we met were a number of NGOs using sport as a development tool to deliver lifeskills training to young people including Edusport, Sport in Action, SCORE, Right to Play and NOWSPAR.  It was really pleasing to learn that these organisations are predominantly staffed by Zambians and that they are recruiting local volunteers, many of them peer leaders, to deliver sport and lifeskills training in the field.  They have been very successful at delivering community based sport assisted by external funding from their international organisations and donor partners.  It was also good to see UNICEF working in partnership with these organisations.

Elias Banda, Ken Black and Norman Brook meet with Joe Makano, Right to Play Zambia Director

Our visit to the Sports Council was reminiscent of that in 1995/1996.  The Board of NSCZ had not met for a number of years and the organisation was being held together by three officers led by Major Margaret Mukupa who had been seconded from the Zambian Army.  Governance issues had led to the removal of the CEO and suspension of the Board with the seconded staff ensuring that the organisations basic functions continued.  On the positive side though the Minister of Sport, Hon. Kenneth Chipungu, held a launch of a new Sports Policy for Zambia, which we were privileged to attend, at which he announced that the NSCZ Board was being re-constituted and that the names of his nominees would be made public shortly.  

Ambassador Susan Sikaneta, Permanent Secretary at the Ministry of Sport, Youth & Child Development and Bessie Chelemu, Sports Development Officer, Ministry of Sport, Youth & Child Development spoke at the launch and presented a comprehensive sports policy that properly resourced could see major strides being made in sports development in the country.  The Director General of Sport, Bernard Nakachinda, ably acted as the Master of Ceremonies. 

With the FIFA World Cup 2010 taking part in neighbouring South Africa, Zambia is hoping to qualify for the finals.  If they do they will propel sport to the top of the Zamian public agenda and may well provide the motivation needed to persuade government to invest in the Minister’s comprehensive national sports policy.

International Inspiration, which is led by UK Sport in partnership with the British Council and UNICEF, aims to use the power of sport to transform the lives of millions of children and young people of all abilities, in schools and communities across the world, particularly in developing countries, through the power of high quality and inclusive physical education, sport and play.

Engaging Communities in Sports Development

Sport and Development

Sports Development is a widely used term that can mean the development of sport for sport’s sake or the use of sport as tool for community development addressing social issues such as community regeneration, health, crime and  inclusion, writes Norman Brook.

The use of sport as a tool that can be used to address social issues is also evident in international development where Sport and Development has become an important tool in helping to achieve development objectives in particular the Millenium Goals.

Ban Ki-Moon, United Nations Secretary General, has stated “Sport is increasingly recognized as an important tool in helping the United Nations achieve its objectives, in particular the Millennium Development Goals. By including sport in development and peace programmes in a more systematic way, the United nations can make full use of this cost-efficient tool to help us create a better world.”

Simon Kirkland is a fomer CEO of a National Governing Body of Sport in the UK who has been running a successful sports consultancy business for several years.  In the Sports Structures newsletter, Simon raises an important question for those using  sport as a development tool . “I have a growing concern that in the need to drive for targets we disregard the most vulnerable in society.  In a number of areas as organisations strive for an increase in the number participating I think it will lead to those that are already taking part just taking part more often and those that are hard to engage with will be left with limited options.”

The question Simon raised was also asked of me today by Debbie Lye, Head of International Development at UK Sport, who was enquiring how a proposed sport and development initiative would increase opportunities for young people to participate in and learn through sport as opposed to simply providing for those already engaged.

Simon points out that “programmes designed for disadvantaged communities should be about engaging the whole of that community and not focused on people coming in and working within those communities. The effective use of resources is critical to meeting the needs of disadvantaged communities – they are not hard to reach – however sport continues to be reluctant to work in a sustainable way with communities. Sport is a very powerful tool for community regeneration and should be used to good effect.”

This issue about engaging with the local community and creating real and sustainable development is an issue that has been of concern to me as I come ino contact with more sport and development programmes here in Africa.  My experience suggests that a great many initiatives are focused around a “delivery team” and that a key driver of programmes is the number of young people engaged. When a programme is sponsored by commercial company it is understandable that numbers engaged would be a key metric. 

Many of the sport and development initiatives are really good at engaging young people from disadvantaged communities but often that engagement is for a limited period of time.  Whilst it is great to see young people enjoying sports activities and proudly wearing their event tee-shirts, it can also be  frustrating nothing sustainable is left in place as a result of an intervention.  Often there is limited local community development, no local sports leaders or coaches trained , no one empowered to continue the activity when the initiative moves on to its next destination.

The issue identified by Simon Kirkland is applicable all community based sports development initiatives both in developed and developing nations.

As the Chinese proverb says ….

Give a man a fish and you feed him for a day. Teach a man to fish and you feed him for a lifetime.

Many organisations involved in sport fail to understand the concept of sports development.  Sports development officers and teams are often  involved in delivering activity rather than facilitating sustainable development.  Activity that only exists because it is being delivered by the sports development team.  Activity that would cease if the team was withdrawn or moved on.  If activities adnd programmes can not be sustained by local communities there quite simply has not been any development of sport.

Where sport is used as a tool to pursue a wider social development agenda the question of sustainability also needs to be raised.  If sport can be a successful vehicle to deliver community development it needs to become part of that community’s social fabric.

Whether sports development, or community development, we need to ask whether an initiative will lead to sustainable sports development?  When the initiative is complete will some new and sustainable sports activity exist.  Will we have provided added value and empowered a local community to engage in sport? Will there be new people playing, organising, administering and coaching sport in that community?

Towards Competence Based Anti-Doping Education

There is an abundance of information on anti-doping published by WADA, International Sports Federations, and National Anti-Doping Organisations.  Anti-doping cases are also constantly being reported in both the popular and sports media.  It is therefore somewhat surprising that athletes continue to fall foul of anti-doping regulations, apparently, because they did not understand their responsibilities under the World Anti-Doping Code (the Code).

A recent example is the case of a female Irish kick boxer whom had previously won a number of World and European titles. This athlete was found on in January 2009 to have committed an anti-doping violation by refusing without justification to submit to sample collection after notification.

The statutory penalty under the Code for such a violation is a suspension of two years.  The Irish Sport Anti-Doping Disciplinary Panel imposed a reduced period of ineligibility after they found that the athlete had no significant fault or negligence in refusing the test.  The Irish media reporting that the panel “accepted that the athlete did not understand the national anti-doping rules and the serious implications of a refusal to be tested.”

How could it be that a multiple World and European Champion in sport could rise to this level without understanding her responsibilities under the Code?

This is in fact only one case in many where athletes have in their defence intimated that they did not understand their responsibilities under the Code and it begs the question do we need to increase efforts around athlete education and is it now the time to be assessing our athlete’s competence when it comes to their responsibilities.

The World Anti-Doping Code is the document that harmonizes regulations regarding anti-doping in sport across all sports and all countries of the world. It also provides a framework for anti-doping policies, rules, and regulations for sport organisations and public authorities.

The Code has been recently reviewed and an updated version came into effect on the 1^st January 2009.  Article 18 of the Code deals with education stating that the primary goal is “to prevent the intentional or unintentional use by athletes of Prohibited Substances and Prohibited Methods.”

The requirement “to promote anti-doping education” is clearly set out in the roles and responsibilities of all signatories. Each is expected to deliver an anti-doping education programme in order to create “an environment that is strongly conducive to doping-free sport and will have a positive and long-term influence on the choices made by Athletes or other Persons.”

The focus of education for athletes in the Code is on the provision of accurate and updated information on at least the following issues:

• Substances and methods on the Prohibited List;
• Anti-doping rule violations;
• Health Consequences of doping, including sanctions, health and social consequences of doping;
• Doping Control procedures;
• Athletes’ and Athlete Support Personnel’s rights and responsibilities;
• Therapeutic use exemptions;
• Managing the risks of nutritional supplements;
• Harm of doping to the spirit of sport.

This is an inputs based approach that does not necessarily lead to the development of athletes that have the knowledge, understanding, skills and attitudes required to meet their Code responsibilities.

What is needed is an outcome based approach that provides the opportunity for an athlete’s competence in their anti-doping responsibilities to be assessed and confirmed.

Such an approach would lead to knowledgeable athletes who understood their responsibilities, ensured they attended to these and demonstrated a commitment to drug free sport.

Ensuring that all athletes were competent in meeting their anti-doping responsibilities would in effect remove the defence or mitigating circumstances of “not understanding”.

Adopting a competence based training approach rather than just providing “accurate and updated information” are competent to meet their responsibilities or for those not yet competent, that more training and support is required.

The current favoured input based model is not a sufficient approach to the education and training of our athletes in their anti-doping responsibilities.  Input based training may develop athletes who know about and can talk about anti-doping but it doesn’t confirm that athletes are competent to meet all their responsibilities under the Code.

To achieve this we need outcome based training that assesses that learning has occurred and that the athletes can demonstrate competence against agreed standards.

One of the advantages of adopting a competence based approach to training would be the assessment of each athlete’s competency in terms of their anti-doping responsibilities.  This would determine whether the athlete had demonstrated that they were a) competent or b) not yet competent.  If they were not yet competent they would require to undertake further training until such times as they could demonstrate competence.

The requirement to demonstrate competence against a set of internationally recognised standards could become an athlete licence.  This could become a key component of the athletes’ WADA passport and could become a requirement to compete at international level.

The principles of outcome based or competence based training and education is well understood in sports organisations.  Most coach education and an increasing amount of technical officials training is based on these principles.  Different levels of award having agreed standards around which coaches and technical officials must demonstrate competence to ensure successful completion.

There is a need to stop athletes accidently incurring anti-doping violations as a consequence of a lack of understanding of their responsibilities.  There is also a need to stop athletes being able to rely on a lack of understanding as a defence or a set of mitigating circumstances.  This issue can be addressed by the signatories to the Code adopting a competence based approach to athlete education rather than relying on the current input based approach.

ENDS

The Lord Lieutenant of Belfast

I was delighted to learn this week that Dame Mary Peters, the 1972 Olympic pentathlon champion, has been appointed as the Lord Lieutenant of Belfast by the Queen writes Norman Brook.

I got to know Mary when I was based in Belfast as the National Athletics Coach for Northern Ireland.  Having an Olympic Champion on our doorstep was great for Northern Ireland Athletics and Mary did a lot to support the sport locally including running a trust fund to support talented young athletes. 

My relationship with Mary moved from that of being colleagues to being friends shortly after I stepped down as Northern Ireland National Coach.  In 1992, I joined the Sports Council for Northern Ireland and was asked to work closely with Mary on the Ulster Games Foundation.  Mary chaired the Foundation’s Board whilst I was Company Secretary.  The Ulster Games Foundation using a mix of public and private funding supported international sports events to come to Northern Ireland.  Mary and I shared a passion for sport and enjoyed being able to support international sports competitions in Northern Ireland.

I later had the pleasure of working with Mary on an initiative supported by the British Council that saw us bring a group of young sportsmen and women from Northern Ireland to South Africa in an execise designed to show how sport could promote mutual understanding amongst people from different back grounds.  We took young people from both Protestant and Roman Catholic backgrounds in Northern Ireland to work with young people from Black, Coloured and White communities in South Africa.

This initiative was held as part of Britain Means Business week and Mary joined us as an ambassador for the British Council.  During the week she tirelessly took part in visits to schools, universities, informal settlements, and a series of formal Britain Means Business week events.  One of the highlights was a lunch in Parliament with MPs with a particular interest in sport.  It was at this lunch that Danny Jordan, Chief Executive Officer of the 2010 FIFA World Cup, announced that he was resigning as a Member of Parliament to take up the post of CEO at the Sout African Football Association. 

Mary was such a great success during this initiative that the British Council invited her to continue working with them in an ambassadorial role. 

I was delighted to learn that Mary has been honoured in being invited by the Queen to take up the ceremonial role of Lord Lieutenant of Belfast for the County Borough of the city.   She will replace the current incumbent Lady Romayne Carswell when she retires in August.  The title Lord Lieutenant is given to the British monarch’s personal representatives and usually a retired local notable, senior military officer, peer or business person is given the post honorarily.

 Dame Mary will be only the ninth Lord Lieutenant of Belfast since the role was created in 1900.

 Mary is reported to have said: “I just find it quite amazing that I should be put in this position. A wee girl from a very average background to be the Queen’s representative in Belfast is just extraordinary.  I feel very humbled by it.  I would say a lot of former Lord Lieutenants have been from the aristocracy and I just think that maybe the time is right for somebody with a different background to take on the role.”

There is no doubt that this is a fantastic honour for Mary, but is is also a fantastic honour for sport.

Companies should include Sport in their CSR Programmes

When I was CEO at the British Triathlon Federation, we successfully secured Corus Steel as our Premier Sponsor writes Norman Brook.  That sponsorship included a strong Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) element that attracted match funding from the National Sports Foundation.

The CSR element of this sponsorship allowed British Triathlon to launch a series of children’s events, the Corus Kids of Steel,  aimed at introducing increased numbers of young people to the sport of Triathlon especially children from under-represented groups and from socially disadvantaged areas.

The sponsorship also enabled the employment of an equity officer and introduced initiatives to promote triathlon amongst diverse and under-represented groups.  Big advances were made in respect of triathlon for people with a disability, known as Paratriathlon and other initiatives addressed women, black and ethnic minorities and the gay and lesbian community.

This week a major report was released titled “Corporate Social Responsibility and Sports Sponsorship”.  The report includes a number of case studies including the Corus sponsorship of British Triathlon and one of its conclusions is that companies delivering CSR programmes need to include sport in their strategies.

The report suggests that companies have tended to spend their CSR budgets on supporting environmental or arts-based projects but the report concludes that sport is now an ideal way for companies to be seen fulfilling their social and community obligations.

Steven Hemsley, the report’s author, suggests that sport is now an effective CSR medium because: “It boasts values that all socially-responsible businesses should be striving for. These include fair play to everyone involved including employees, customers and suppliers, transparency and opportunities for all to succeed, as well as good community relations.”  He adds: “During difficult financial times it becomes even more important for businesses to strengthen relationships with their key stakeholders and linking CSR to sport allows organisations to do this.”

The study also outlines the struggle that many organisations face in overcoming media, public and employee cynicism when associating their CSR strategy with sport. It explains that there are pitfalls to avoid if a CSR programme is to work and how organisations must ensure that the activity is run with integrity.

Whilst pure sports sponsorship is often based on hard-nosed marketing and business decisions, CSR investment is based more on how a business can improve the communities in which it operates. The report emphasises how important it is that companies chose a cause and sport which has a synergy with its own mission statement and values as well as its products and services.

The report includes a number of case studies examining how major companies link their CSR agendas to their support of sport. In addition to Corus supporting British Triathlon there are case studies looking at companies such as Nike, Standard Chartered Bank, McCain, Aviva and Ricoh.  The report looks at sports such as  athletics; soccer including the Premier League and the Homeless World Cup; tennis; hockey; volleyball; yachting, F1 motor racing; cycling; table tennis; Major League Baseball; and the NFL.

Corporate Social Responsibility and Sports Sponsorship is published by the marketing intelligence company International Marketing Reports.  Full details can be found here.

Planning a Sporting Legacy

Legacy has become an important factor for the stakeholders of major sporting events.  It is no longer enough for event organisers to promote a successful event. To attract support and investment from national and local authorities and even sponsors, events now have to demonstrate clear legacy plans that address economic, social, environmental and sporting benefits.

It is often assumed that sport will be the biggest beneficiary of hosting a major sporting event.  Reviews of sporting legacy from the hosting of major events dispute that this is the case where the legacy benefits are left to chance.  Major investments in sporting events and facilities need to be accompanied by a sports legacy strategy that takes a proactive approach to legacy benefits and ensures these are not left to chance.

More People Cycling - An important environmental, social and sporting legacy for London Mayor, Boris Johnston, from the 2012 Olympic Games

Brook Sport and Leisure are committed to promoting “thought leadership” in the sports sector through the publication of open resource white papers. Planning a Sporting Legacy is the second of our white papers and is now available to read or download from the resource section of our website.

Cape Town Voted Best City

Readers of the Daily Telegraph have voted Cape Town the Best World City in its 2008 travel awards. South Africa itself also secured a place in the top three best non-European country categories.

The Telegraph, one of the UK’s leading daily newspapers, polled 40 000 of its readers in the 10th awards of its kind. Cape Town beat both San Francisco and Sydney to be named as the world’s best city.

V&A Waterfront by Night – Table Mountain in Background

Cape Town Tourism chief executive, Mariëtte du-Toit Helmbold said: “We are thrilled with the news. Cape Town is well placed to receive visitors looking for value for money and an authentic experience. Cape Town has so much to offer that visitors generally end up coming back to see and do more.” 

UK country manager at South African Tourism Lebohang Mokhesi also congratulated Cape Town on its award. She said: “Cape Town is one of the world’s most beautiful cities and to receive such an accolade from consumers themselves is great recognition of the wonderful tourism offering it has developed. Value for money and the strength of the pound compared with other world currencies appears to have been a deciding factor for readers when voting.

Cape Town was also recently voted one of ten cities in the world that are most likely to become a global sustainability centre by 2020. It has already won a long list of other awards including Africa’s Best City (US Travel and Leisure Best in the World Awards, July); Best Travel Destination in Africa and Middle East (US Travel and Leisure magazine, 2004 through 2007); and one of the world’s five Bluest Sky Destinations (expedia.co.uk).

In addition to being a world class tourist and business destination, Cape Town is a great destination for sports travellers.  Brook Sport and Leisure have been working with sports travel operators to develop travel packages to the Western Cape.   Packages catering for individuals, groups or teams for warm weather training, team tours or sporting holidays in sports including golf, soccer, rugby, cricket, netball, cycling, running, and adventure sports.

For further information on opportunities either contact us directly or through our UK travel partners www.amsportstours.com or www.nirvanaeurope.com

AM Sportstours Launch South African Soccer Tours

AM Sportstours are now promoting soccer tours to South Africa thanks to a partnership with Brook Sport and Leisure.  Soccer tours to Cape Town, one of the host cities of the 2010 FIFA World Cup, have been added to AM Sportstours extensive portfolio of soccer tour destinations that include Argentina, Brazil, China, Czech Republic, Germany, Italy, Japan and Korea.

Brook Sport and Leisure is working with AM Sportstours to develop and support tour packages to South Africa.

In addition to matches against local teams, coaching sessions, attendance at PSL matches, soccer tours to Cape Town will also be able to enjoy the extensive tourist attractions offered in the Western Cape.  Tour groups will be able to visit Table Mountain, Robben Island, the V&A Waterfront, and Cape Point.  They will also be able to tour the 2010 World Cup Greenpoint Stadium and spend a day on a game reserve featuring the big five – lion, leopard, buffallo, elephant and rhino.

For full details of AM Sportstours soccer tours to South Africa and their other packages, visit www.amsportstours.com or call then on +44 – (0)1592 771 666.