Sport: safeguarding current structures, maintening social function. Helsinki report

PURPOSE : To present a report on safeguarding current sports structures and suggesting ways in which the social function of sport may be maintained. CONTENT : The social function of sport has been affected by the emergence of new phenomena which sometimes call into question the ethics of sport and the principles on which it is organised. This report gives pointers for reconciling the economic dimension of sport with its popular educational and social dimensions. It makes the following points: - the European approach to sport has been affected by several phenomena. These include the rise in popularity of sport, its internationalisation, and the unprecedented development of its economic dimension. One of the first signs of these developments is the overloading of sporting calenders, which is linked to the expansion in doping. The others include the temptation for some sporting operators and certain large clubs to leave the federations in order to derive the maximum benefit from the economic potential of sport for themselves alone, and the hazardous future facing young people who are being led into top level sport increasingly young, with no other vocational training. - the Community, its Member States and the sporting movement need to reaffirm and stregthen the educational and social function of sport. With regard to he educational aspects, the Community could, amongst other things, promote the subsequent switch to other employment and future integration of sportspersons into the labour market. All institutions must join forces to combat doping. The integrity and autonomy of sport must be preserved. The purchase of sporting clubs by commercial bodies, such as communication groups, must, if permitted, be governed by clear rules, out of a concern for the preservaion of ethics.�