Having just returned from an intensive four days of plenary sessions and panel discussions at the Bi-annual Play the Game Conference (Bringing Changes to the Heart of Sport) at the German Sport University in Cologne, it is heartening to find so many like minded individuals concerned by many of the ills that that riddle international sport. Interestingly these figures straddle academia, sport governing bodies as well as investigative journalists who are seeking more than story, but burn with a desire to clean sport up wherever possible.

In addition to receiving feedback on my own research relating to the decline of the Afro Caribbean cricketer in contemporary English and Welsh cricket it was a privilege to be part of an increasingly rare critical discussion on international sport. Sessions focused on issues of corruption, discrimination, spornification and the sexualisation of sport, lack of transparency within sport governing bodies, doping and the problems associated with the staging of sporting mega-events,' most notably the issue of stadium construction and their respective future usage with Brazil receiving special attention.

Ultimately the delegates managed to secure an agreed position entitled the Cologne Declaration which calls on the International Olympic Committee to drsft a Code of Good Governance in Sport, which if the IOC respond to constructively will start to alter the nature of international sport and its administration. For more detail visit http://www.playthegame.org/news