Duchess of Cambridge's old school and sport

The University of St Andrews in Scotland is more well known these days for being the back-drop to a right royal romance. You may have seen the wedding photos. But it's also home to the Umutima 2015 International Development Youth Summit which takes place next week.

One of the partners in this is Friend of Edusport, a British charity who see sport and education as ways to combat poverty. The spiel on their site says that in much nicer language and also that they "advocate for female empowerment towards more equal and equitable societies."

Of course to do that, you need money. They appear to fundraise through a mixture of  inspiring sports women (and 1 lonely man!) as ambassadors, and running events around the UK,  New Zealand, America and Norway. All for their work in Lusaka, capital of Zambia.Some of those projects are giving sport or education support to children with HIV/ AIDS, and delivering 17,000 books (so far) to school and community libraries.

It's easy to be skeptical of small charities - especially when you read the Three Cups of Tea story as re-told by CBS - but in this case, when people are genuine and determined to make that difference, it reminds you that charity doesn't always have to be on a large scale.

Do you know of any other sports charities? 

Brazilian Women's Soccer Guerreiras!

Did you know women's football was banned in Brazil by the milatary dictatorship until the early 80s? Neither did I. Seems a strange thing to ban until you think about the advantages playing sport brings to anyone, male or female. But that's all changing now. The Brazilian national team played their first game in 1986 and have been in the top finishers at the World Cup and Olympics ever since, ranked the top team over-all in South America. 

And of course have produced one of the world's most famous women players; Marta Viera da Silva, four times FIFA Player of the Year.

This is a trailer for a doco following 40 female soccer players from the Santos FC club in Brazil. Adrianne Grunwald uploaded it on Vimeo recently, saying "we began to explore how these women were navigating new tensions and contradictions, while questioning Brazil’s seemingly progressive move towards gender equality."

Guerreiras (Female Warriors) from Adrienne Grunwald on Vimeo.

They raise similar questions to those being faced by other women in sport - what to wear, how sexy is too sexy, how far to go for sponsorship and what does it really mean to play sport for an audience. Look forward to seeing the full doco.

Sweat-free Olympics Play Fair 2012

"The legal minimum wage in Sri Lanka is Rs7,900 (£45 per month). Although workers making goods for Adidas, Nike and Speedo tend to get paid Rs10,000 (£55 per month) this is still below the official UN global poverty line of $2 a day. People can't meet their basic needs with this meagre wage. A recent survey by the Sri Lankan government found that 67 per cent of women working in the garment sector are suffering from anaemia because of poor diet." 

This is an extract from a disturbing report on the Trade Unions Cogress (TUC) site on working conditions for the (mostly) women making sports-clothing for Adidas, Nike and Speedo in Sri Lanka.  Trade unionist Nirosha Priyadarshini Manankanda Dewage recently came to the UK to give a series of speeches on the factories and let us know what we can do to help her improve life for these workers. 

You can read this full TUC report here

It's disheartening how little things have changed. Have you read No Logo? You could think with all the attention given to sweat-shops they might disappear but it seems the bottom-line still rules.

What can we do?

Women athletes on the Magic Roundabout

Too high, too short, too sexy, too long, against my religious  beliefs ... the Miss Universe contestants? Nope, women athletes thinking about or being told what to think about their game-clothes. Now it's the turn of women badminton players to see what's its like to have your concentration disrupted and focused on something completely irrelevant.

But the thing is, it's not irrelevant. What you wear when playing sports can make the difference between winning and losing, getting that ball or dropping it, punching accurately or not. The decision should be based on what works for you as an athlete, not what works for the TV ratings. And yes, I know women's sports have to sell ourselves to get the ratings, to get the sponsors but why does it always come back to revealing more flesh? I feel like Dougal on The Magic Roundabout,  going round in circles without ever getting off or making any changes.

Gaza marathon

Marathon in Gaza pic Al-Jazeera

There's an unexpected headline. Over 1,000 runners took part in the first marathon held there a few days ago; a 10km, a half and a full marathon. Most did the shorter races, the marathon was run by Palestinian athletes training for the London Olympics.

The course says a lot - run from the border with Israel to the border with Egypt, exactly 42 km. Aside from hundreds of school children, the only woman running was one of the UN workers who organised the tournament. The race was run to raise funds for summer schools held every year for school children in Gaza. You can read more about how it all works here on the UNRWA site.

Apologies for the break in transmission the last few days. Can I just say two words: In-design project. I think I have established I am a words person, not design! Too much stress.

So, what is new this weekend in sport? I read about an interesting iPhone app from the Irish Sports Council. You can use it to check your medication against the WADA list of illegal medication. Very useful, as we all know how easy it is for asthma meds or cold meds to slip over that edge. I was involved with writing doping codes for a sports org a few years ago, it's very comprehensive but complicated to keep in mind when you're stuck in the middle of a nasty winter-illness.

And heard about a new photography project running in Ireland - focused on women in sport. You can see some of the photographs here on Laurence J Photography and if you're interested in taking part, or know someone who is interested, then contact Laurence through that blog. Some great shots up already and big plans for developing the idea.

Have a great weekend!

Sports Blog Karma

I haven't given a shout-out to some great blogs for a while. So, these are some of the new and not-so new blogs I've come across recently:

Element 22

This blog has great photographs of people hanging off mountains, skiiing down mountains, camping in mountains and even some rather large bear paw-prints. Definitely worth a read.

Snowcatcher

An unusual mix of cycle-races, mountain photos and needlework! Have to say I probably don't appreciate the patterns as much as some readers but the bike descriptions are inspiring.

Muslim women in sports

With all the talk of war, it would be easy to forget that life goes on as normal for the majority of Muslim people in the world. Great collection here of sports women from many countries and a wide range of sports.

Women's Views on News

Not just about sport, this website reports on women's roles in mainstream news stories. Some you might have heard of already but others were new to me. Great read.

Do you know any other sites or blogs I should mention in the next round-up? 

Winter Olympics joins 21st century

A Norwegian reader (thanks Marte) sent me a link about the IOC's decision to allow women ski jumpers in the tournament. I'm a bit late to the party on this one but bloggers' prerogative and all that ...

So it seems ski-jumpers have Canadian Katie Willis and her friends to thank for this. They took a rights case to a Canadian court, claiming they were being discriminated against by not being allowed to take part. Can you imagine having to take a human rights case to be allowed compete in a sports tournament? Well, not just any tournament but still. Really Jacques Rogge, this is what you want happening on your watch? Can we all please pack up and join the 21st century? (hard to do in Europe at the moment with royal weddings and beatified popes everywhere but let's try)

Katie Willis, Canada

I'm pleased for the new generation of ski-jumpers, and sure there will be more of them now with the Olympic gold as a lure. But was saddened to read that Katie Willis herself is near the end of her career so may not compete in Sochi 2014. In the story, she said: "I've been off for a bit so that does make it hard to get back and get into the rhythm of it. But it's definitely possible, there's still a few years."

I'm sure we missed out many great boxing fights too. Looking forward to seeing all of these women compete in the next few years.

Stop gender violence with sport

Dr. Auma Obama (sister of that Obama) talks on a World Health Organisation (WHO) project to help girls find self-respect and help against violence through the confidence of sport.

UPDATE: Shea Morrissey from Women Win has been in touch to say that grassroots organisation is behind this project not the WHO.  Full post on WW to follow.



How effective do you think sport can be in these situations?

Ukrainian Women in Sport: Video

Today is the 25th anniversary of the tragic events in Chernobyl, Ukraine. There was an interesting article in an Irish paper here on how people are coping with the aftereffects: Chernobyl the fallout

These are some of the Ukrainian sports stars I found this morning. If you know of anyone else, please leave a comment!

Women's European 60m final Oleysa Povh in 7.13
 




Best-ever celebration - Gold Medal in Wrestling Athens Olympics 2004


 Valentina Semerenko (Ukraine) comes 3rd in 2011 Biathlon


Amateur Muay Thai world championships 2010 Diana Yakovlev (Ukraine) - Kunones Chantelle (USA) 


 Gymastics - one of most popular women's sports in Ukraine

Boost for Egyptian sport?

I was casting around for a positive story to put up today. And found this article online from the Egyptian IOC. 

Council member Rania El-Wani did an interview with Around the Rings yesterday, and said she thinks the revolution will be positive for sport in the country.  El-Wani competed for Egypt in three Olympics, 1992, 1996 and 2000 in swimming. And won numerous medals at the World, African and Mediterrean games.

Rania El-Wani pic Al-Ahram

Optimistically (?) she says she doesn't see any further disturbances, pointing to the resumption of the country's football league as a sign of normality returning. And no, it's not clear if she means male or female but at a punt I'd say male. 

And in an interesting sign of how politics can ripple out and effect sport, the article says: "El-Wani expects Tripoli in Libya to drop out of the bid race for Mediterraean games due to unrest in the country, leaving the Egyptian bid facing competition from Rijeka in Croatia and Tarragona, Spain." 

Women's sport and the media

"As newsroom staffs shrink and eyeballs measure interest, women’s sports coverage is losing ground it once seemed to be gaining."

So, there you have it. We're not just imagining mainstream news outlets don't have room for women's sports,  The Nieman Foundation at Harvard and Marie Hardin from Penn State think so too.  She's written a thought-provoking article on the reasons why newspapers are cutting back on women's sports.

And she draws attention to Women Talk Sports (I'm a proud part of this) as a viable online alternative to the print medium when it comes to building athletes' profiles. Unfortunately she does also say their traffic is still less than say SBNation but it is also newer and building so over the next few years those numbers could change.

Personally I find it irritating that national women's teams can compete, represent their country and not even get two lines on a news bulletin or a few paragraphs in the paper the next day. A few weeks ago the Irish men and the women's rugby teams played on the same weekend; one team was barely mentioned.  Of course, every sport can't be covered all of the time. There is huge pressure on news, often so many things happening abroad and at home that you can imagine editors tearing their hair out trying to fit everything in.

But maybe this is what the online editions of papers should be for - all the news, plus the extra events which costs prevent them from running in print? 


You can read the full report on the Nieman Reports site at A shrinking sports beat:women's teams athletes

African International Sports Convention

Caster Semenya pic blackpower.com

This annual sports convention opened yesterday in Marrakech, Morroco with women's boxing one of the central discussion topics. Sports adminstrators from around the world gather here to look at how sport can be developed in some of the world's poorest countries, and indeed how sport can help alleviate the daily grind of poverty.

Lofty ambitions; one of today's talks is on 'The Africa Union’s new direction for sport; What does it mean to sport development and governance in Africa?' but tomorrow's schedule is dedicated to the practicalites of life for new talent  - how to help people, guide them and help them access the best trainers. This along with Sri Lanka's bid to host the 2018 Commonwealth Games are likely to be the highlights.

It all sounds very impressive, but unfortunately there doesn't seem to any links back to the results of previous conference decisions. 

How effective do you think these conferences are? 

Accounts of Japan's earthquake (link)

As it looks more and more likely that some level of radiation is seeping from the reactors at the nuclear plant in Fukushim, Japan I thought the post below from Women Talk Sports gives a good insight into the fear people are feeling. It's sometimes hard when something this huge happens to remember that it happens to individual people not just "the population of ..."

MMA fighters give firsthand accounts on Japan's earthquake. 

Can sport overcome political problems?

Palestinian soccer team pic Reuters

Reading about the men's soccer game between Palestine and Thailand this week, reminded me of all the coverage the women's team got a few months back when the first ever female soccer league was launched there in February. 

It's been less than two years since the Palestinian women played their first home international game - against Jordan in October 2009. In so many ways sport is so superficial, but when it comes to recognition for national teams - and so recognition for nation-states, then FIFA plays a bigger role than most. The stadium itself was mainly built thanks to money donated by FIFA. 

Watching the Palestinian women's league

Bizarrely the women owe the existence of their team to former head of the Preventive Security team in the West Bank. Once one of the most feared men in the area, Jibril Rajoub has been on a mission to promote women and women in sport since he took charge of the football federation in 2008. He is also a firm believer in the power of sport to overcome political barriers. I've read a few interviews with Rajoub and Shimon Peres, the Israeli president where both of them say football can rise above racism and political problems. 

Maybe one day ...What do you think, how powerful is our love of sport?

Egyptian rower Heba Ahmed

Heba Ahmed pic

France24 reported this week that Egyptian women are "out in force" at the Tahrir Square this week. And as today could be the most significant day in modern Egyptian history, it seems a good moment to post again about another inspiring woman from Egypt.

Heba Ahmed made it to the quarter- finals in the single-scull in Beijing - getting a raft of coverage for her clothing and her political stance in competing at all - but had earlier taken bronze at the All Africa Games.She was one of the first athletes to compete at an Olympics wearing a hijab.

Heba Ahmed, Beijing

Looking for recent reports of her competition didn't bring up much, the coverage is really dominated by the clothing issue once again. Fair enough, she didn't win gold but surely getting to the last 24 in any world competition deserves a small mention somewhere?

I posted here and here on some other Egyptian athletes.

Are violent females in movies a good thing?

Have you seen Hanna? I saw the trailer here in Ireland at the weekend - and I'll be going. Yes, I know it's violent but isn't it about time we recognised that violence isn't a gendered thing, that everyone is capable of inflicting pain?

And more than a tad refreshing to see two main characters played by women who stay dressed for the duration (what I saw) of the film. What do think - violent female characters as a step forward or a regression?

Wordless Wednesday

Egyptian swim team pic from LIFE magazine

Wordless Wednesday is a group of bloggers who give words a break once a week.

Egyptian athlete Jihan El Midnay

Jihan El Midnay

In 2010 Jihan El Midany became the first woman to carry the Egyptian national flag into an Olympic cermony - the Youth Olympics in August. She competed in the pentathlete event (fencing, swimming, riding, shooting and running) coming 12th. 

In an interview at the time, she said: "I was sick and dizzy. After fencing, I felt like collapsing, and after the swim I was really tired.I never really thought of eating, but I thought of drinking because I’ve been perspiring a lot. While training I was fasting but when I was sick, I had to take medication so I did not fast.”

The games took place last year during the Muslim month of Ramadan hence the references to fasting.

The sixteen year old had to make some tough clothing decisions - confronting her own traditional views of women's dress.  
She has said in interviews that she was initially reluctant to wear the revealing swimwear but her family persuaded her that it would be alright as she couldn't compete without conforming to the competition dress rules. 

I came across El Midany's story reading Egyptian blogger Egyptian Chronicles, you can read more over at this post on the blog Muslim Women in Sport. 

What do you think about the sportswear some athletes have to wear - swimming and beach volley-ball spring to mind? 

Sky Sports right to fire sexist presenters?

A well-known male presenter on Sky Sports UK was fired today for comments he  made about a female soccer referee. He questioned her ability to ref the game solely based on her gender ... on air! Well, accidentally "live" but still.

Yes, fired, gone, out the door. Andy Gray is a former player and beloved by soccer fans. I was talking about this with my soccer-mad flatmate yesterday and she thought he was too high-profile to be fired but she was hoping. Me? I was being cynical. But it really seems that things are changing.  Richard Keys was suspended with him.  Sky Sports released this statement: "Richard Keys and Andy Gray have been stood down from duty for tonight’s televised match between Bolton and Chelsea, Sky Sports have confirmed in a statement. The Presenters have been removed from ’Monday Night Football’ after making comments off-air about Premier League official Sian Massey. Barney Francis, managing director of Sky Sports, said: “It has been made clear to each of them that their comments were totally unacceptable.”

So what do we think - is it right to fire someone for this kind of comment? Should they be "re-educated"  - is it possible to re-design old white sportsmen for the new era of women and blokes from other countries?