EU local authorities urged to promote inclusion through sport

Uefa president Michel Platini has called on Europe's local and regional politicians to play their part in helping football promote social integration.

Speaking at the Committee of the Regions plenary session in Brussels on Wednesday, Platini said that local communities had a key role in developing Europe's "sporting model".

"In the world of football, being picked for your national team or playing in a European tournament is seen as the pinnacle, but in the end you play in your local team, the one you grew up with," he said.

He added that football could help immigrant communities to adapt to life in their new countries, saying, "Football is about integration, inclusion, giving support and offering a welcome.

"In many cases, football is a far more effective driver of integration than school or social services, and it is football which gives young people their identities."

The CoR published an opinion on equality in sport in 2007, which emphasised how sport could be used to address discrimination.

Rapporteur Peter Moore, the UK ALDE member for Sheffield, said, "In these current economic times, the huge sums of money in football seem hard to justify, and there is a risk that the sport could one day become totally divorced from the communities in which it operates.

"That is why I think many football clubs are keen to be seen to be doing something for their local communities."

One area where the social benefits of sport are likely to be felt is in London, which will be host to the 2012 Olympic games.

According to London MEP Mary Honeyball, who also sits on parliament's culture and education committee, the games provide a "fantastic opportunity" for the capital.

The Olympics, to be held in one of London's most deprived areas, will receive billions of euros of investment and are expected to create up to 250,000 jobs.

"I think the whole regeneration of the area will make a huge difference," she said. The Olympic facilities will remain in place after 2012, and Honeyball is confident that "there will be a legacy" which "will help social integration".

"I think sport can be really helpful on a number of levels," she said. "If you encourage sport at local level it can provide things for young people to do and get them interested."

The Lisbon treaty has given the EU a 'soft competence' in the area of sport, with Brussels given a budget to develop a sports programme that could look at issues such as how to tackle racism.

Honeyball said the new powers will help MEPs "do things in a way that we couldn't before", although she calls on fellow deputies to be careful to avoid too much focus on the governance on football.

"We need to think creatively about how we can develop sports in member states and help young people," she added.