As Malta rushes towards Valletta 2018, the upcoming conference Living Cities, Liveable Spaces is set to focus on the interplay between cultural diplomacy and city liveability.
FIFA representative Bjorn Vassallo, one of the speakers, is certainly best placed to explain the interplay between sport, culture and community building.
Starting out as a lover and player of football, he did not only previously occupy the posts of chief executive officer of the Malta Football Association and the post of general secretary of the same association, but he is now the director for Foreign Member Associations at FIFA.
Of course, like many lasting love affairs, Vassallo’s pull towards football is so greatthat he has spent his entire life working both on and off the field in the sphere of this great game.
“My love for football took root in the suburb of Floriana, at the local football club, from where I started to play football at grassroots level. But when I was appointed chief executive officer of the Malta Football Association in 2010, my life changed and football became my full-time profession. There was real team spirit but nothing came easy. Obviously, at FIFA level it became much more demanding, as it’s all about strategic management.”
Despite the fact that Mr Vassallo’s focus has always been largely football, his passion has helped him greatly with developing firm ethical ideas about the way in which sports should be both played as well as governed.
“Success in sport does not come instantly. It follows a pathway which starts from the grassroots and goes through many levels, till it finally ends at the highest of all levels: the elite. That said, professional development extends beyond the pitch, the track, the pool or the indoor hall. Ethics and good governance should also be regarded with the same fundamental importance as athlete development is. Creating strong sports institutions based on transparency, accountability and compliance standards helps show credibility.”
Mr Vassallo also believes that by creating stronger institutions, the power of sport to do good can further be bolstered and spread.
“Through sport we can raise awareness, and educate and inspire young athletes to be agents of change in their communities. Sport brings people together and breaks down physical and psychological barriers. Through engagement in sport we are stronger in sharing identities and goals, and it is natural that these aspects help in cultivating the bonds between people and in encouraging children to make friendships across racial, ethnic, class and cultural relations.”
It is these same bonds that help to build and strengthen communities.
“Sport can be a vehicle to strengthen identities and foster goodwill in the social sector. We live in a rapidly changing world in which profound shifts in society are shaping the way governments and institutions behave. Sports administrators need to satisfy the demands of fans, players, participants and commercial partners and, in turn, world legislators need to address social issues. Sports organisations and governmental authorities should play an active role in promoting social development, fighting racism and discrimination in all its forms. All this enables global advancement.”
Of course, global advancement cannot be achieved without having strong communities to begin with and Mr Vassallo believes that the key to all progress is, ultimately, children.
“I believe that if we help children today, we are shaping the society of tomorrow and this can be achieved very effectively if we give hope to the millions of children within our communities through access to sport and healthy living. We need legacy projects for the world to be able to foster social integration of vulnerable sectors of the populations so that communities are brought closer and closer.”
Despite the many benefits that sport offers, statistically speaking, Maltese people still seem to not have incorporated sport into their regimes. Why?
“In my opinion, Malta, like most of the old British colonies, regards sports more as a commodity than as a need for personal development in terms of well-being, physical fitness and strength. Although in recent years central governments have allocated bigger financial budgets towards sports ministries and pushed forward a positive sporting culture, Malta still remains the most obese nation in the European Union with 40 per cent of Maltese children being either overweight or obese. And, with most of the local clubs and sports associations still running on an amateur status, professionals tend to choose other forms of commitment.”
So, what does he feel is the key to this conundrum? “Open spaces and facilities allow people to communicate and to interact socially with each other and share their experiences. Although participation is very important and we must ensure that sport can be accessed by all, the world today is faced with much more important issues and I do believe that building communities should be given first priority. By creating spaces where all members of the community can meet and get to know one another as human beings, communities can fulfil their true meaning.”
The conference will take place between November 22 and 24. Registration closes on November 12. More information is available online.
http://valletta2018.org/cultural-programme/living-cities-liveable-spaces/