Supporters Directs Ben Shave om projektet
Malmö FF kommer under 2016 och 2017 att delta i det EU-finansierade projektet ”Clubs and Supporters for Better Governance in Football”. Projektet har initierats av den internationella organisationen Supporters Direct Europe. Här beskriver Ben Shave från Supporters Direct Europe i korta ordalag organisationen och projektet.
What is Supporters Direct Europe?
SD Europe is an organization that works with supporters, clubs, governing bodies and political institutions across Europe. Our goals are to promote the member-owned structure for clubs, advocate for increased transparency and democracy in football, and encourage a better dialogue between clubs, their members, and supporters; especially through the Supporter Liaison Officer (SLO) project, which we implement on behalf of UEFA across their member associations. We were established in 2000, initially working in the UK, and since 2007 we have also been active in the rest of Europe.
What is this EU project about?
The aim of the project is to promote better governance in football, and the building of links between like-minded organizations. It will do this through a training, exchange and education programme involving member-run clubs and national supporters’ organizations from seven countries: France, Germany, Ireland, Italy, Spain, Sweden and the UK. The programe will address three core areas: good governance, financial sustainability, and member/volunteer engagement and democratic participation.
Why did you choose Malmö FF as one of the partner clubs for the project?
We wanted to have a variety of clubs involved in the project, covering the full range of the football pyramid but at the same time united by their democratic structure, and commitment to being run in the right way – as community institutions. As a successful, top-division club that is fully owned by its members, and at the same time one that puts its community obligations at the heart of its activities, Malmö FF was a target for us from day one. We are proud to have the club on board with this project.
What do you expect the benefits will be for the clubs involved?
We hope that the clubs involved will have the chance to share experiences, build relationships and collectively ’raise the bar’ for the democratic model of club structure across Europe. On a more practical level, we expect that the exchange programme in particular will allow members of club administrations to see first-hand how other clubs operate in a range of situations (e.g. at Annual General Meetings, developing community projects or on a match day), and apply the lessons learned at their own clubs.