Teaching Awareness of Ethical Governance in Sport (TAGS): ERASMUS+ project launched
6th December 2019
In the last few years there has been a veritable conveyor belt of sporting governance scandals; bribery and corruption at the heart of FIFA, serious safeguarding omissions and failure to protect vulnerable children (US Gymnastics, English Football clubs), the effects of increasing demands for success on the mental health of elite athletes (medals for funding) and, of course, the state sponsored doping of athletes, to name but a few.
At the heart of these scandals are concerns about sports organisations (from clubs to international federations) and their ability to deal with the many ethical issues that arise in modern sport, particularly in light of ever increasing commercialization and politicization.
Over the last two years the University of Gloucestershire has been leading a collaborative ERASMUS+ project aimed at creating resources and teaching materials to increase awareness of the extent and importance of ethical issues in the governance of sport, both in Higher Education and, ultimately, in those who work in sports governance. The collaborative partners included three other European Universities (the University of Thessaly (Greece), Palacky University, Olomouc (Czech Republic) and the University of Transylvania (Romania)) and Sports Resolutions (a UK based sports dispute resolution service that provides mediation and arbitration for UK and international sporting organisations and athletes).
Teaching Awareness of Ethical Governance in Sport (TAGS) Project Achievements
The project provided three outputs; a needs analysis, which provided some fascinating data about the relative importance of key ethical issues in sport across different cultures and across the sexes; a case compendium providing overviews and transcripts of important legal cases heard by Sports Resolutions over recent years that touch on these ethical issues; and a set of teaching and learning materials as a starting point for educational courses on the topics.
Last Tuesday marked the official launch of the project’s outputs in the UK, which took place at Sports Resolutions offices in London. Similar launch events have taken place (or will be in the upcoming months) in Romania, the Czech Republic and Greece.
If you are interested in the project or any of the outputs, then please click on the logo to the right or follow this link to the TAGS website.
Featured picture – Image by 3D Animation Production Company from Pixabay