I am delighted that I have been selected to speak at the bi-annual Play the Game Conference which in 2011 promises to be the biggest and most global in the history of the organisation with more than 100 contributors examining how to bring change to the heart of sport.

Five days densely packed with lectures, workshops, debates and networking are waiting to be consumed by expectedly 400 sports officials, journalists, academics, athletes, students and other stakeholders when Play the Game holds its 7th international conference at the German Sport University Cologne in early October.



“Our aim is not only to keep people busy for the week with issues that matters a lot to them. The recent turmoil in FIFA has shown once again that we need to take the debate about how international sport is governed one step further,” says Jens Sejer Andersen, International Director of Play the Game. To highlight this ambition Play the Game has decided to name the last day of the conference Change in sport day and target the day’s two plenary sessions at creating a set of ideas and guidelines for improving governance in sport.

The conference gathers a number of high-profile international sports leaders and experts that who will be able to lay out evidence, provide inspiration and shape the debates towards a new approach to the understanding, openness, operation and value of international sport.

For my part I will be focusing on the issue of ethnic minority representation in British sport with particular reference on how to reignite Afro-Caribbean interest in cricket. As a consequence it is hoped that a new generation of Afro-Caribbean players can emerge as has been, and continues to be the case with the South Asian community during the past decade despite similar economic pressures felt in both communities.