The Match for Equality and Respect returns to Rome on 16 May

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Ass. Naz. Atlete, Amnesty International, AssoCalciatori, Sport4Society, Uisp and Usigrai take the field with the slogan #SportAgainstWar

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The Match of Equality and Respect 2023 will be held in Rome on Tuesday 16 May, on the World Day of Living Together in Peace, involving players, men and women committed to peace. At 11 a.m. at the ‘Fulvio Bernardini’ sports facility in Via dell’Acqua Marcia 51, Pietralata, the ‘One World’ representative team and the Circolo Sportivo Rai football team will take the field.

Sport is also an opportunity to say enough to all wars: #SportAgainstWar is the slogan that Amnesty International Italia, AIC-Associazione Italiana Calciatori, Assist, Sport4society, Uisp-Unione Italiana Sport Per tutti, Usigrai bring to the field. “We will have with us women and men who come from the territories of wars and conflicts,” say the promoters of the initiative, “to send a clear message: to live together in peace, dignity and rights.

There will be two 30-minute halves each and some Amnesty International Italia testimonials will take the field, such as the singer-songwriter and Radio Cusano Campus speaker Bussoletti, the singer-songwriter Arpino, the speaker Lorenzo Talani and the actresses Anna Favella and Federica Sabatini. Together with Raffaella Chiodo Karpinsky, Italian-Russian journalist and Avvenire columnist, Ilona Kovanseva, Ukrainian from Zaporizhzhia, and two activists from the Tunisian rights association Lcoll’Actif, Mohamed Amine Ben Debaieb and Chams Eddine Dharhi. With them will be Antonella Bellutti, president Assist; Umberto Calcagno, president Aic; Vittorio Di Trapani, president Fnsi, and Tiziano Pesce, president Uisp. In the role of coach there will be Ubaldo Righetti, former Roma player. The full list of One World players who will take the field will be released in the coming days.

“There are about 60 ongoing wars in the world,” explain the organisers, “as well as dozens of conflicts and zones of tension. They are often forgotten wars and conflicts that claim thousands of victims every day, create poverty, violence and force thousands of people, very often women and children, to flee and abandon their lands. We pledge our contribution to raise public awareness, starting with young people. We call on governments and national and international institutions to seek diplomatic solutions, to recognise the centrality of justice and reparations to those who have suffered unspeakable violence and suffering. To not forget the violence and to keep the light on rights burning: the first right is the right to life. To make our closeness and solidarity felt to those who suffer, to demand peace and justice against indifference and silence”.

The organisations promoting the Match for Equality and Respect, in collaboration with Fnsi and the Ordine dei Giornalisti del Lazio, are organising the course ‘Language, stereotypes and gender culture in sport’, which will be held on Wednesday 17 May from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. at the FNSI headquarters in Corso Vittorio Emanuele II, 349. The course will entitle members of the Order of Journalists to 6 deontological training credits. The aim of the course is to produce reflections and provide skills, such as to offer concrete tools in the field of journalism, and a qualified in-depth study of the subject. The panel will aim to give, through high-profile experts, elements of sharing and comparison from various points of view and areas of interest.

The course will be opened by the introductory greetings: by Guido D’Ubaldo, president of Odg Lazio, and Vittorio di Trapani, president of FNSI; Margherita Santicchia, Assist Italia General Management. Speakers: The gender issue in sport and tools to enhance events: the European Project EWSE (Antonella Bellutti – double Olympic gold medalist and Assist Ass. Naz. Athletes); The changing language of journalism: a common challenge (Luisa Betti Dakli – president CPO Odg Lazio; Language and gender equality (Silvia Garambois – Giulia Giornaliste); Journalistic language and deontological duties (Ivano Maiorella – director Giornale Radio Sociale and member CDT Odg Lazio; Women’s football in Italy, changes and growth of rights and protections for female athletes (Fabio Appetiti-AIC, Associazione Italiana Calciatori); The European Charter of Women’s Sporting Rights (Manuela Claysset – Uisp); The fight against sportwashing, a political and social issue (Tina Marinari – Amnesty International); The experience of motherhood for female athletes, between obstacles and stereotypes (Alice Pignagnoli – footballer). Moderator: Luisa Garribba Rizzitelli, president Assist.