“CONIFA: Inclusive Football” paper presentation at the Sport&EU Conference in Angers, France, on 25 June 2024.
Erasmus Mundus International Master in the Governance and Administration of Leisure and Sport - Events Management (GOALS, 2022-2024) | Play the Game | CONIFA Asia & Oceania President | WomenSport International Member
The inclusion of #refugees at the #Paris2024 Olympic and Paralympic Games presents a timely opportunity to discuss how to include #athletes from refugee, #diaspora, and #stateless nations in established international #sports competitions. Much as we say that sport promotes #diversity, #equality, and #inclusion in society, the reality is that the traditional global sports model excludes certain people groups who cannot represent their countries due to repressive governments and ethnic exclusion. "If we want sports to be 'truly global and inclusive,' isn't it time to reevaluate our traditional sports structure?" This question was central to my short paper, "CONIFA: Inclusive Football—European Integration of Asian Diaspora Communities through Football," which I presented at the Sport&EU Conference hosted by ESSCA EU-Asia Institute in Angers, France, on June 25-26 this year. I based my short paper presentation on my experience as the Asia and Oceania Continental President of the Confederation of Independent Football Associations (CONIFA), a global sport governing body that celebrates the diversity of ethnicities through football. A year ago, I organized the inaugural CONIFA Asia Cup, which saw the men’s teams of Tamil Eelam Football Association, Hmong Futbol Federation, and Tibetan National Sports Association compete in #Montijo, Portugal from 4-8 August 2023. Their players flew in from Asia, Europe, North America, and Oceania. Tamil Eelam FA emerged as the historic first CONIFA Asia Cup Champions. We live-streamed the tournament, with tens of thousands of viewers watching us on the four continents. The numbers and market size of the nations and people groups not served by the traditional sports structure are undoubtedly significant. By 2023, CONIFA Asia represented over half a billion people, sixty percent of the people groups and sport-isolated nations to which CONIFA has given a voice through football. I also presented my full paper, “Barriers to Southeast Asian Women's Rise in Sport Governance,” based on my Master's thesis for the GOALS - Erasmus Mundus Master in Sport Management and internship research at Play the Game. This qualitative research sought to answer the question, "Why can't women lead in Asia?" and unraveled the structural and cultural barriers #womenandgirls face in the sports ecosystems of the #Philippines, #Malaysia, and #Singapore. I am thankful to our distinguished keynote speakers—award-winning Professor Dikaia Chatziefstathiou of Canterbury Christ Church University, Samardzic Markovic Snezana, and Silvija Mitevska, for inspiring us. The Sport&EU Conference 2024 was my breakthrough as a new researcher. I deeply thank ESSCA’s Albrecht Sonntag, Thomas Hoerber, and Silke Leukefeld, Loughborough University’s Borja García García, Edge Hill University’s Richard Parrish and Andrea Cattaneo, and German Sport University’s Juergen Mittag and Maximilian Seltmann for believing in my potential to deliver relevant new knowledge.