UEFA EURO 2008™ Football & Social Responsibility Evaluation Report
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UEFA EURO 2008™ Football & Social Responsibility Evaluation Report Biel/Bienne, October 2008 0 An Evaluation of the UEFA EURO 2008™ Football and Social Responsibility Projects 0 Impressum Layout: Monika Hägle Printing: media perret, Aarberg Print run: 30 copies © Copyright 2008 I SCHWERY CONSULTING ExecutIvE SUmmary This study was commissioned to evaluate the Results from the Fan Embassies project impact of the five football and social responsi- showed that 97% of the fans that used the ser- bility projects of the UEFA EURO 2008™ tourna- vice had their questions answered; 95% rated ment (the “Tournament”). Impact was measured the service as ‘fast and uncomplicated’; and against the expectations of project organisers 20% did not think their questions could have and UEFA, with special attention to unintended been answered at a tourist office. However, outcomes. The approach of this study was focu- many fans (86% around the host cities) were sed on the promotion of institutional learning unaware of what Fan Embassies were. Results in providing recommendations for UEFA and highlight that Fan Embassies’ focal point needs its project partners. Triangulation was used to to be on fan work (coordinating work with cross-check data collection among the five pro- UEFA and the local authorities, answering jects. Questionnaires, surveys, checklists, es- tournament-based questions, etc.) rather than says, interviews and observations were among touristic advice. This is especially the case in the methods used by the evaluation team. countries with a well established tourism in- frastructure. Research on the EUROSCHOOLS 2008 project found that there was a significant improvement The Score for the Red Cross project was unique in each of the six scales (attitude towards fo- in its approach of fundraising at a major spor- reigners; evaluation of the positive social cha- ting event and succeeded in integrating lessons racteristics of sport; understanding of foreign learned from four years ago at the UEFA EURO culture; respect; affinity to the ambassador 2004™ tournament. It fell short of raising the country; and valuation of the project) among funds that were expected but had an impres- participants that had the lowest 33% of scores sive ground strategy that gave a clear message in the pre-survey. However, the lower third of to fans and added value to ICRC institutional the control group also improved significantly donors. More support would have been needed in three of the four scales it was tested on, cas- by the National Societies of the Red Cross to ting a shadow over the aforementioned results. support the video clip that aired in some Euro- Interviews with participating school teachers pean countries during the matches. highlighted the positive impact that children could freely express their creativity by working The Football for All project was well received in different school subjects on a single topic. by fans that were present in the stadiums du- There was also a deeper reflection on the term ring the build up to the quarter-final matches. ‘fairness’ which extended beyond its sporting The project was not well covered in the media definition. and stood out as being less integrated into the Football and Social Responsibility campaign Awareness of the Unite Against Racism project than the other projects. It did have an uninten- was shown to be high among journalists and ded output of strengthening a network of fans in the stadiums during the Tournament. disabled sport organisations in Switzerland A Swiss national survey revealed that more and Austria. than half of the population (54%) recognised the campaign. There was, however, some scep- ticism towards UEFA’s motives for supporting this project in a tournament where it appeared to have little relevancy. Where incidents did oc- cur there was no reference made to the project in press releases published by UEFA. An Evaluation of the UEFA EURO 2008™ Football and Social Responsibility Projects i COntEntS ExECUtIvE SUmmARY.............................................................................i Preface................................................................................................. iv 1. Swiss Representative Survey...........................................................5 2. EUROSCHOOLS 2008.........................................................................6 3. Unite Against Racism...................................................................... 10 4. Fan Embassies................................................................................. 11 5. Score for the Red Cross.................................................................. 13 6. Football for All................................................................................. 14 7. Recommendations for UEFA........................................................... 15 8. Observations and remarks on the Respect campaign................. 16 An Evaluation of the UEFA EURO 2008™ Football and Social Responsibility Projects iii PREFACE This report has adopted a critical approach This short version of the report includes the with a focus on institutional learning. While conclusions and recommendations made for this approach necessitates acknowledgment of each project. Please contact the authors if you good practice, it only contributes to a small wish to obtain the full report. part of the overall content of the report. The We would like to thank UEFA, for providing main focus is on identifying aspects that did not us with the access that made the evalua- work as expected and suggesting ways in which tion possible, and the project organisers for they can be improved. This method is purely in- giving us their time and honest opinions for the tended to maximise the learning effect and sake of improvement. should not undermine the merits of individual projects, all of which delivered on their com- mitments. iv An Evaluation of the UEFA EURO 2008™ Football and Social Responsibility Projects 1. Swiss Representative Survey An external agency was engaged to carry out a Dates: The survey was carried out during June survey among residents of Switzerland’s four 30 – July 24, 2008. host cities, and Lausanne, to give an overview of awareness for the five FSR campaigns. Results: These figures indicate the percentage of respondents that answered “Yes” to the Question: “UEFA supported many projects and question. campaigns during the EURO 2008 tournament. Which of the following projects have you heard about?” EUROSCHOOLS 2008 9.9 % methodology: Respondents in each of the diffe- Unite Against Racism 54.1 % rent cities were contacted at random via tele- phone and asked the aforementioned ques- Fan Embassies 10.3 % tion. Score for the Red Cross 19.9 % Sample size: 1,003 people in Switzerland (from Football for All 28.0 % Basel, Bern, Geneva, Zurich and Lausanne) Diagrammatical representation Figure 2: Percentage of respondents (N=1003) indicating awareness of each FSR campaign Key Findings: It must be concluded that the name. Although the same could be said for general population were not aware of the Unite Against Racism, this project has gained different FSR projects, with the exception of recognition through being part of an ongoing Unite Against Racism, where over half of the campaign. Recognition of the EUROSCHOOLS respondents recognised the name. Relatively 2008 and Fan Embassies project were more in- high awareness of the Football for All project line with the results from this evaluation. The was unexpected and did not concur with results results act as a good benchmark for the former from this evaluation. It can be assumed that but for the latter – in the context of the public some results from this survey are anomalous service it offers – it underlines a more proble- due to this project having a familiar-sounding matic issue. An Evaluation of the UEFA EURO 2008™ Football and Social Responsibility Projects 5 2. EUROSCHOOLS (ES) 2.1. Conclusions Triangulation, of quantitative and qualitative (Respect). For this reason, the positive results assessment techniques, was used as a way of of ES should not be overrated. assuring the accuracy of results. However, the Feedback to the project organisers and re- interpretation of both sets of these results search team was very positive, despite initial seems to suggest that quantitatively, the re- pessimism from the schools on their perceived sults have underestimated the impact of the scale of the project. Most highly praised was project, and qualitatively, they may have overe- the impact that Fair Play tournaments had on stimated it. integration and tolerance within schools and Looking at the quantitative analysis, the first classes. data collection showed that the students taking Organisers developed a practical curriculum part in the project already had high scores (po- considering the different variables involved sitive attitudes) across the six scales (Foreig- (participation, time, resources, etc.). It provided ners, Sport, Culture, Respect, Country and Pro- the flexibility to allow schools (importantly ject). These high scores could explain why no here, the children more so than the teachers) improvement could be ascertained from the to be creative and invent their own projects. post-survey, and why, in some cases, lower scores were also observed. The cultural dimension of the project enriched the students’ everyday life but as an isolated Importantly, the 33% of students who scored project it is not sustainable to fight discrimina- lowest for each scale reported