“RIGHTS - Respect is the goal, hate speech threatens sport integrity”

"The earth is the mother of all people, and all people should have equal rights upon it."-Chief Joseph.

Friday found us part of a very significant activity, part of the project "Respect is the goal, hate speech threatens sport integrity”, under Erasmus + program "RIGHTS - organized by Amateur Sport Leagues.

Its aim was to promote the culture of respect and develop intercultural skills to counteract hate speech, intolerance, and extremism in sport.

The participants there played a football game, but not like the ones we are used to watching normally.

They were two teams in this game, one of which was more privileged.

In the field they had placed two gates of different sizes, one very small and one normal. Also the arbiter favored one of the teams more.

These differences were made to give the participants the opportunity to experience what it was like to play in different conditions. At the end of the game, a reflective discussion was held to see how one or the other felt

and to emphasize that equal rights are important and we must respect them.

For me personally it was a very valuable experience as I had the opportunity to talk with the organizers of the event who told me about their approaches. I also had the possibility to take a closer look on the thoughts of others about this important topic. Definitely this event helped me to be more aware of the importance of equality, and also I met people with disabilities and understood better their situations.