Rennes 2 University, which has been awarded the “Génération 2024” label, will be hosting the 3rd seminar of the European project SCORE.
Inclusive Initiatives in Several Cities
Funded by the European Commission, the project seeks to create a “coalition of European cities and local entities for the promotion of inclusive sports, as well as the prevention of and fight against racism and xenophobia” in sporting fields.
Despite the efforts of EU Member States to combat discrimination based on racism and xenophobia, official data show that - like homophobia or sexism - it is spreading in European societies. It is in this context that the EU anti-racism action plan for 2020-2025 was developed, facilitating the creation of a number of European-funded actions to combat this growing trend. As one of these such actions, SCORE, focuses on a network of cities that conceive grassroots sport as a tool to promote the social inclusion of people of migrant origin, asylum seekers and refugees, as well as those belonging to ethnic minorities. One of the aims of this project is to bring together the various sporting initiatives within an interactive map that can be consulted online with free access.
VIPS2 and SCORE
The VIPS2 (Valeurs Innovations Socialisations et Sport) research center is responsible for the scientific analysis of these various projects aimed at combating racism in sport. One of the center’s main areas of research is the analysis of the public policies that regulate and organize sport, in relation to innovative practices, particularly those aimed at vulnerable groups and designed to make sport more inclusive.
Last year, on March 21st, International Day for the Elimination of Racial Discrimination, a SCORE webinar was organized to present the preliminary results of the research and an interactive map of initiatives as a tool for identifying and sharing them at European level. This seminar is available online.
Later on May 31, a local seminar was held at the Villejean campus, with contributions from Adil EL OUADEHE, Deputy National Technical Director at UFOLEP (Pôle Sport et Société), Stéphane TOURNU-ROMAIN, Director of the theater company Le Trimaran and member of the Délégation Interministérielle à la Lutte Contre le Racisme, l'Antisémitisme et la Haine anti-LGBT and Hermann EBONGUE, Secretary General of SOS RACISME and President of SPORTITUDE. Local players such as the city of Rennes, the Brittany Football League and sports and cultural associations committed to fighting discrimination were also present (NGO Play International, Ex-Aequo, Fútbol Más France, PSL (Profession Sport et Loisirs)). During these seminars, researchers and representatives alike examined some of the mechanisms that can be used to change anti-racist attitudes and behavior over the long term through sports.
Thus, in 2024, SCORE continues its initiative to collect, analyze and share methodologies developed at the local level for the prevention, identification, monitoring and disciplining of acts of racism, xenophobia and related intolerance in sport. Under the coordination of OBERAXE, the Spanish Observatory of Racism and Xenophobia at the Ministry of Inclusion, Social Security and Migration, SCORE's objective in this phase is to design methodological tools that can be tested in each partner country. To this end, the project is planning to organize a face-to-face training session for various local sports agents (sports clubs, municipal sports schools, local sports associations, coaches, referees from different disciplines, etc.).
This new SCORE seminar, based on a practical and participative methodology, is aimed at public and sporting institutions (national, regional and local), civil society organizations, sports organizations and all students and researchers interested in the prevention of racism and discrimination in and through sport.
Open registration before May 30.
Cover image courtesy of Freepik
