The Importance of Football in Egypt
Discuss about the CSR Programs For Football in Egypt.
Football has been the most popular sport of Egypt. The residents of the country gather around the various clubs to view the sport .The Egyptians national football team plays almost daily in the clubs. The famous football club of Egypt El Gouna FC has been conducting the Corporate Social Responsibility Program for the welfare of the people throughout the country. So, this essay is focused to create a CSR program for enabling the stakeholders to participate in the football league. It is also targeted to involve all the sections of the society.
The main components of the Plan include launching initiatives by the Football Club to help the communities by promoting “The National Football Leagues” to spread the importance of exercise among the kids. It shall also comprise of organizing charity events to help the family of the deceased and handicapped military personnel. The blue print of the event shall also comprise of the “Go Green “ program which will help in promoting the environmental awareness among the youth and the green behaviors such as the use of recycled footballs and other sport accessories would be used in the matches (Perry, Wood and Fernie 737).
The next activity of the plan will be related to health and fitness of the families. As a part of the health promotion strategies, the league has also partnered with the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics to create a fitness challenge for families. Several NGOs, sports authorities and clubs have sponsored this program. The aim is to provide health education, counseling on personal fitness and dietary consultation to the participants.
The CSR program can also include the unauthorized players to show their talent in their favorite sport. The event will also be organized for banning the evil of racism from the sports and society as well. It will comprise of the campaign known as “Football against Racism “and the players from different backgrounds will play together to send a message of harmony, peace and brotherhood in the society (Scheinbaum, Close and Lacey 1982).
Apart from this, the charity collected from the event would be donated to various NGOs which are helping the homeless people and orphans to fins their own home. The philanthropy programs in football are termed as ‘Football for Hope’. Thus the various programs specified in the CSR initiative would comprise of the educational programs for kids, conducting sports programs for teenagers and college students, Social inclusion programs, family programs, cultural integration programs, health and charity programs. Some of the activities can be classified with other programs as well such as gender equality and poverty elimination programs and programs for people with special needs (Trendafilova, Babiak and Heinze 298).
Components of the CSR Program
The CSR principles must lay emphasis upon the reality the football clubs must realize that they can also create an impact on the society and they must be accountable for it. The CSR explains the relationship with the people residing in the society and with the various stakeholders. The football club reinforces the bond between the various classes of the society with the stakeholders so that sustainable development is received in the community. The development in this context may occur in three aspects viz. economy, society and environment (Chelladurai 4).
The implementation of the CSR program shall be effective and will create a positive impact on the society. The football fans come from the community in which the club is active. So, the club is attempting to win the support of the fans through demonstrating them that the club cares about the audiences and the various stakeholders. One of the techniques to make it successful is enabling social involvement in the society. The corporate social responsibility is an integral part of the business ethics of the football club. In the context of football, the aim of the club is to enhance its activities of welfare through organizing the CSR programs (Kihl 324).
Hence doing good business and increasing the fan following is crucial for most of the clubs but the Football Club aims to be socially responsible along with being adopting ethical, social and moral values for the implementation of the CSR program. Because of the unique capability of the sports to create an impact on the society, the club has increased its CSR activities to improve its reputation and increasing sustainable development in the society (Pharr and Lough 91).
The aim of the corporate social responsibility is to guide the various clubs to act morally and ethically in their decision making processes. Their aim should be maximizing the wealth of their stakeholders along with their own profit maximization. Since the sports club and institutions have the obligation to the society which is beyond their goal of profit maximization. So, the concept of CSR includes the commitment of the club to remove or mitigate the harmful effects and maximize the beneficial impact on the society as a whole.
Moreover, it also involves the integration of various resources comprising of human resources as well for organizing and conducting various sports events .So, it encourages unity, brotherhood and trust amongst them. CSR extends social good which is beyond the monetary interest of the firm. It is not required by the law rather it is self-initiated by the club (Agudo et al 13).
Promoting Exercise and Health Among Kids
This effort of self-initiation for the wellbeing of the society has enhanced the goodwill of the club. CSR acts as a vehicle for change. Football is the most popular sport in Egypt so it can be used to promote sustainable development and harmony in the society. It can be used to solve the various social problems faced by the society.
The efforts of CSR become more effective if they are aligned with the mission and vision of the club. The health and fitness programs are a prerequisite for sports and it is integrated with the aims and goal of the club (Brown and Knudsen 181).
The CSR program which is conducted by the Football Club is named as the;’ National Football League’. It is sponsored by various NGO and local business operating in the area. The various football clubs and the government is also sponsoring the program. Various local football clubs would be participating in the event. The general public and educational institutions are also invited to participate in the program.
The CSR programs organized by the club use the power of football to change the lives of people. The club has planned to organize charitable event consisting of various programs which will held for a week. The football clubs of the local area as well as the sports institutions operating in the area are invited to take part. The football clubs of the schools and colleges are also invited to take part in the event. The funds would be procured by the entry tickets which are kept at nominal amount. Also the people with special needs and those suffering from disabilities would be given free entry to the event. Anybody can participate in the event. There is no age limit. The sitting arrangements for the audience would be done as per their age group. Special arrangements would be done for the handicapped and people with special needs (Dowling, Robinson and Washington 269).
The facilities for drinking water would be free of cost whereas snacks would be sold at nominal prices. The snacks would be procured from the local vendors and the small scale industries operating at homes in order to promote their brand and sales. All the sports equipment and accessories used by the players would be made of recyclable materials (Pérez and Bosque 155).
The first event which would be organized to increase the awareness of exercise for the kids. It would promote the participation of kids from the age of 5-12 years. The football clubs of the schools would be encouraged to send their participants to play in the event. The school authorities and the parents and guardians of the kids would also be invited to view the performance of their children. They would also be awarded for their performance. Cash prices and the products of their utility would be given to them as gifts (Inoue and Kent 417).
Charity Events for Handicapped Military Personnel
The second event pertains to organizing charity programs for helping the family of the deceased and disabled military personnel. Their family and children would be encouraged to participate in the event. They would also be invited to enjoy the matches. The money collected by the event would be used to help their families and children.
The third event would be the GO Green Campaign in which the uniforms of the participants would be of green color to promote the theme. The NGO, industrialists and environmentalists of the local areas would be invited to participate and enjoy the matches. The sport accessories, uniforms and everything used in the match would be made of recyclable material The awards for the best performance would be ecofriendly in nature and shall be given to promote the protection of environment. The oath will be taken to plant trees in the gardens, parks, schools, colleges and on the road side (Kolyperas, Morrow, and Sparks 177).
The fourth event is associated with creating health and awareness amongst the families residing in the local area. The Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics will also be invited for providing health checkup, health campaigns, personal assistance to the families and dietary consultation to all the members of family . The members of all the age groups shall be invited to participate and enjoy the event. The matches would be arranged according to the age group of the participants. This will help in promoting health and awareness amongst them. It will also encourage them to spend time with each other. The prizes of this event are designed in such a manner that they promote the awareness of health amongst them (Anagnostopoulos, Byers and Shilbury 259).
The last event is known as ‘Football against Racism’ It is organized to promote the participation of various players coming from different backgrounds of the society. The players who are not allowed to play in the leagues of national level would be encouraged to participate in the program. It would increase harmony, peace and brotherhood amongst them. A pledge would be taken at the end of the program to eliminate racism form the country. The awards designed for the best players would be inspiring books written by great authors which will encourage the players to remove racism form the society.
The whole CSR program which is aimed at assisting the underprivileged is termed as ‘Football for Hope’. An additional program would be conducted to encourage the disabled participate and play the game. Special arrangements would be done for this. The wheel chairs and other equipment as per their convenience shall be arranged for them. The prizes would be awarded to all the players (Burnett 385).
The ‘Go Green’ Program
The whole CSR program is termed as Football for Hope’ and it justifies its theme. The various events included in the whole program are intended to create hope and happiness amongst the various stakeholders. The stakeholders involved in the event are the Football Club, the local business and small scale industries , the participants coming from various backgrounds, the disabled people ,environmentalists , industrialists , the investors , the families, school authorities, the beneficiaries to whom the monetary assistance would be given, the kids, their parents and guardians and the families .
The program is designed in such a way that it fulfills the expectations of every stakeholder involved in the event. It would promote happiness, enjoyment, sense of responsibility and health awareness amongst the participants-the elements which are crucial for overall sustainability of the society. It involves every section of the society and hence it enhances the feeling of unity, compassion, brotherhood and harmony amongst the various stakeholders.
So, this essay can be concluded by focusing on the benefits of the CSR program which is intended to enable the participation of all the stakeholders involved in the event. It attracts the attention of all the members of the society towards the problems faced by the underprivileged and downtrodden. It is also focused on creating the feeling of unity, harmony, brotherhood and peace and spreading the message of ‘one nation’ in the society.
Agudo?Valiente, José M., Concepción Garcés?Ayerbe, and Manuel Salvador?Figueras. “Corporate social performance and stakeholder dialogue management.” Corporate Social Responsibility and Environmental Management 22.1 (2015): 13-31.
Anagnostopoulos, Christos, Terri Byers, and David Shilbury. “Corporate social responsibility in professional team sport organisations: towards a theory of decision-making.” European Sport Management Quarterly 14.3 (2014): 259-281.
Brown, Dana, and Jette Steen Knudsen. “Domestic institutions and market pressures as drivers of corporate social responsibility: Company initiatives in Denmark and the UK.” Political studies 63.1 (2015): 181-201.
Burnett, Cora. “Assessing the sociology of sport: On sport for development and peace.” International Review for the Sociology of Sport 50.4-5 (2015): 385-390.
Chelladurai, Packianathan. “Corporate social responsibility and discretionary social initiatives in sport: A position paper.” Journal of Global Sport Management 1.1-2 (2016): 4-18.
Dowling, Mathew, Leigh Robinson, and Marvin Washington. “Taking advantage of the London 2012 Olympic Games: corporate social responsibility through sport partnerships.” European Sport Management Quarterly 13.3 (2013): 269-292.
Inoue, Yuhei, and Aubrey Kent. “Sport teams as promoters of pro-environmental behavior: An empirical study.” Journal of Sport Management 26.5 (2012): 417-432.
Kihl, Lisa, Kathy Babiak, and Scott Tainsky. “Evaluating the implementation of a professional sport team’s corporate community involvement initiative.” Journal of Sport Management 28.3 (2014): 324-337.
Kolyperas, Dimitrios, Stephen Morrow, and Leigh Sparks. “Developing CSR in professional football clubs: drivers and phases.” Corporate Governance 15.2 (2015): 177-195.
Pérez, Andrea, and Ignacio Rodríguez Bosque. “How customer support for corporate social responsibility influences the image of companies: Evidence from the banking industry.” Corporate Social Responsibility and Environmental Management 22.3 (2015): 155-168.
Perry, Patsy, Steve Wood, and John Fernie. “Corporate social responsibility in garment sourcing networks: Factory management perspectives on ethical trade in Sri Lanka.” Journal of Business Ethics 130.3 (2015): 737-752.
Pharr, Jennifer R., and Nancy L. Lough. “Differentiation of social marketing and cause-related marketing in US professional sport.” Sport Marketing Quarterly 21.2 (2012): 91.
Scheinbaum, Angeline Close, and Russell Lacey. “Event social responsibility: A note to improve outcomes for sponsors and events.” Journal of business research 68.9 (2015): 1982-1986.
Trendafilova, Sylvia, Kathy Babiak, and Kathryn Heinze. “Corporate social responsibility and environmental sustainability: Why professional sport is greening the playing field.” Sport Management Review 16.3 (2013): 298-313.