A few days before the first round of the Presidential, we have the feeling that sport keeps a very secondary place. Little quoted and little commented on by politicians, it seems for too long misguided and sidelined, even though it represents a very important sector with strong multiplier potential.
During his first outing as an official candidate for his re-election, in the town of Poissy, President Emmanuel Macron announced that he wanted to impose, from the start of the next school year, half an hour of daily sport for all schoolgirls and all French schoolchildren. . This was a strong first step taken by the president-candidate. This made some say that the leader of the Republic En Marche gave pride of place to sport and highlighted this very important sector in terms of economic weight and job creation.
Moreover, when we look at the evolution of the budget of the Ministry of Sports, under the five-year term of Emmanuel Macron, we can only see the continuous increase, going from a very low 481 million euros in 2018 to 987 million euros in 2022. Yes, sport seems to interest the party, it is pulled up and supported. Really ? Because on closer inspection, we could only specify that it is a matter of catching up linked to the next organization of the Olympic Games in Paris, scheduled for 2024, with the valuation of SOLIDEO, responsible for the construction future infrastructures linked to the event and the increase in the aid fund for high-level athletes and sports leisure companies, which were overdue during the covid19 crisis.
Otherwise, if we only look at aid for sport, in general, they do not seem to have changed for almost more than a decade. In fact, there is a lot of communication but not many effects or measures. We have the feeling, even more during an election campaign, that sport is only a foil, a communication tool, but that it has never been put forward and been put at the center of the game. Whether it is Emmanuel Macron or all the other candidates for the presidential election, no one, apart from rare exceptions, has drafted a real and concrete program for sport, has singled out amateur sport and professional sport, has developed concrete measures to support its economy or its sector.
When we look at the programmes, the only time sport is mentioned is to talk about the fight against communitarianism or a sedentary lifestyle, to support health and education, but never sport for sport’s sake. Regularly, however, the COSMOS, the Social Council of the Sports Movement, or the Union Sport & Cycle, bodies for the defense of the sports environment, have expressed their wishes to help and strengthen the market and the sports sector. Already in 2017, and again for 2022, they have enacted a significant number of proposals, ranging from the recognition of the status of sports volunteers or support for the training of sports club leaders to the creation of a tax niche for the sports patronage or exemption in sports sponsorship.
Everything is bet on the market and the economy of sport, seen as a sector in its own right, representing more than 400,000 jobs in France and 90 billion euros in economic benefits, according to figures from the ministry. Here, sport is no longer observed under the prism of everyday practice, of well-being, but rather as a tool contributing to growth.
Unfortunately, no one seems to have picked up these proposals and put them at the center of the debate. Why ? There is the idea of the culture valued in France in the face of sport, that the ruling and intellectual elites will always be more respected if they put forward such and such a book or such an exhibition rather than their favorite club or their favorite sport. But there is also a question of strategy, the sporting word is not audible politically.
That a candidate talks about the economy, the environment, society, security, it’s quite normal, that he doesn’t talk about sport, it doesn’t matter at all and no one will hold it against him. For Philippe Diallo, president of COSMOS, interviewed by the JDD, “sport is not perceived as electorally beneficial, even though it is taken into account by local elected officials.
It might be time to change these prejudices. A little late a few days before a presidential election…
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