Sport can also be a strong vector of human

RÉFLEXION sur LE SPORT, LE BÉNÉVOLAT et LA CITOYENNETÉ ACTIVE
InTerView
France
launched the « On parle tous football »
procedures in 2006.
© RICHARD DACOURY
Richard DACOURY
Richard DACOURY, Manager of Sport
Corporate Relationships
Coca-Cola France
Would you mind telling us
about Coca-Cola civic commitment in
sport?
RD : For more than 80 years, there has been a
real « love story » between Coca-Cola and
sport. From a purely sponsoring approach,
we have evolved towards a meaningful and
civic relationship. Thanks to the expertise of
our partners from the sport movement, we
are developing programms which aims to
fulfil the needs and core values of sport. Let’s
take the example of the « Collectif Foot »
programme (named « On parle tous football
» nowadays) initiated by the French Federation of Football after the victory in 1998. We
were wondering what could be done to help
in promoting football, especially for young
people. Thanks to an interview with Aimé
Jacquet we have focused our action on
grass-roots clubs by providing them with
nearly 500,000 kits. We are following the
same philosophy in the field of sport for the
disabled. We sincerely wish to be as close as
possible to sport and all sportsmen and
women.
Indeed, Coca-Cola is carrying
out several operations on the field to
promote commitment and sport
practice. This is the case with the « le
sport, ça me dit »
operation…
RD : It’s true that this program aims at
encouraging young people to be more
active. A study has recently proved that
young people are staying away from sport
more and more. 2 out of 3 do not do anysport
outside school. That’s a huge and alarming
statistics. It is of major importance to bring
young people back to sport and let them
rediscover the virtues of sport. This is the kind
of societal issue to which Coca-Cola can
make a positive contribution and we do this
on a daily basis as a responsible and committed company. That’s the reason why we
became involved in this matter in all humility
at local and national levels, together with
state and sport structures. The concept of this
operation relies on a simple cube (of 1m3)
which contains all the equipment needed for
fun and easily-accessible sport events for all,
whether boy or girl. The goal is to bring
adolescents back to an active way of life and
encourage them to join clubs or sport
associations. We work very closely with
municipalities which are the kingpins of the
programme. They are the ones to take it
forward thanks to their volunteers, coordinators or educators. For the second year, more
than 125 cities have joined us and we expect
to reach 150 in the very near future. Thanks to
these 2 years of experience we can say
that the operation is truly a success for it has
been welcomed and enjoyed by over 30,000
youngsters.
Can we imagine this action to
be transposed in other European
countries?
RD : Of course yes. To promote an active way
of life as well as sport participation for all is a
strong commitment of the company which
is being worked out in each country
according to local conditions. “Le sport, ça
me dit” is an action that can be easily
reproduced in Europe. In fact, Spain and
Greece are testing the program. There is no
doubt that this action is an example of good
practice that should be developed for it is a
simple and meaningful idea. What is crucial
in this project, beyond the values and
pedagogical virtues embedded in it, is the
social link generated. In fact, it brings
together sectors that would have probably
never meet and communicate together
otherwise.
Your actions are perfectly in
line with the political objectives of
European institutions in the field of
sport. Are you generally paying
attention
to
these
debates?
RD : Actions carried out by Coca-Cola France
are in line with the European policy of the
food industry, especially regarding the
development of an active way of life. We are
in constant relationship with our European
colleagues and keep informed of these
debates. We wish to stay among the leaders
in terms of reflection as well as actions in the
field of civic sport.
For my part, as an employee of Coca-Cola
but also as a former sportsman, I’m very
pleased to be developing corporate and
civic sport within Coca-Cola France.
www.coca-cola.fr
Is sport an effective tool to
promote commitment and active
citizenship?
RD : Undoubtedly yes. Personally, sport has
given me a lot. I learnt a lot from volunteers,
sport teachers, coaches… They passed their
values, their passion on to me and thus
helped me to become a Man. As well as
generating physical well-being which is one
of its core values, sport can also be a strong
vector of human fulfilment and social
inclusion. In this field, Coca-Cola has
www.sportetcitoyennete.org