Sustaining Sport
Benjamin Mole
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About This Podcast
Sport is one of the great joys of the human condition for athletes and spectators alike. It can bring happiness, livelihood, physical health, and mental well-being, and it provides an education in teamwork, discipline, maturity, and humility. If that is to continue, sport must face up to serious structural challenges, both within and around it. It doesn’t simply inherit society’s problems; it can reinforce and broadcast them, or, handled differently, help to dismantle them. But what are the challenges, and what steps can be taken?
Here I seek to address exactly that. Along with accomplished guests, I look at planetary boundaries, sexism, racism, sponsorship ethics, mental and physical health, social justice, and more. We’ll talk about potential remedies and how each of us can make a difference. Change starts with conversation, can build into awareness and mobilisation, and, with luck and persistence, can lead to something more like meaningful change.
Please remember that the views expressed in this podcast may no longer be current when you hear them. My views are my own, as are those of my guests, who, while valued here for their insights, do not necessarily reflect the values of Sustaining Sport and do not speak on behalf of the show. Contact: [email protected]
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Recent Episodes
S1E38 The Case for the External Reform of FIFA - with FairSquare
Nicholas McGeehan is a founding co-director of FairSquare and co-author of the damning report Substitute: The Case for External Reform of FIFA. He joins me today to unpack the long history of…
S1E37 Playing within the (planetary) boundaries: Cricket and Climate Change with The Next Test
Chris Britt-Searle is a passionate volunteer with The Next Test. This UK-based nonprofit is becoming a vital hub for players, clubs, and fans committed to addressing the environmental challenges…
S1E36 Fantasy Sports in India: Gambling or Gaming?
Alaukik Shrivastava is a legal scholar and Assistant Professor at Nirma University in Gujarat, India. He joins us here to discuss the fascinating and fast-growing industry of fantasy sports. India…
S1E35 Warming Up - How Climate Change is Changing Sport
Madeleine Orr is an Assistant Professor of Sport Ecology at the University of Toronto. She is also a co-founder of the Sport Ecology group, and in early May she will be releasing a brand-new book…
S1E34 Ecological imperialism through sport? The Dakar Rally and other stories
Today we are speaking with Chen Chen. He is an Assistant Professor at the University of Connecticut and writes prolifically about how sport intersects with many troubling trends across the globe…
S1E33 Uganda's Sporting Crossroads: Navigating Fairness and Practicality in a Changing Climate
Ugandan sports currently grapples with a complex network of interconnected challenges, including severe financial constraints, persistent mismanagement issues, a significant talent drain, and the…
S1E32 Bad advertising – How dirty businesses are buying their social license operate through sports
Advertising is supposed to be a way for businesses and entrepreneurs to show you how good their products are. But what if many of the products in adverts are actually bad? They could be bad for you…
S1E31 Colonial echoes in sport and the environment – time to decolonise and degrow?
The convergence of sport, decoloniality, and the environment presents a labyrinth of intricate ideas, and as we delve into their interconnectedness, the complexity deepens.Joining us on this…
S1E30 A Sponsorship Game Changer - Taking Sport Beyond High-Carbon, Gambling, and Alcohol
The relationship between money and sport is complex…This show has often discussed the issues that arise when the biggest carbon emitters buy or sponsor a sports club, often with the objective of…
S1E29 Sport is not industry: bringing sport back to sport management
“Sport is not industry: bringing sport back to sport management.”That is the title of a wonderful paper by Hallgeir Gammelsæter, of Molde University College in Norway. The paper argues that sport…
S1E28 “Don’t lecture us” - mobilising football fans on climate change
Football fan culture is a highly coveted commodity to many businesses who look to use the spectacle of the game and the love for teams to promote the consumption of their products. But what if this…
S1E27 The power of nature: why an elite canoeist turned to environmental activism - with Etienne Stott
How does winning an Olympic gold medal in canoeing inform a career in environmental activism?Etienne Stott, and his partner Tim Baillie, won the Men's slalom canoeing C-2 Event at the London 2012…
S1E26 Tackling the root cause - the challenges for Sport for Development in Haiti
The Republic of Haiti is arguably the unluckiest country in recent history. It sits on a fault line and is regularly barraged by hurricanes. Additionally, it still struggles for social and economic…
S1E25 What is motorsport’s state of play regarding sustainability and inclusivity?
To try to answer this complicated question we have Tristan Niesslein of Niesslein Sustainability Partners on the show. We discuss (1) the contradictions facing motorsport’s efforts to reduce its…
S1E24 Is sportswashing a systemic problem at FIFA and the IOC? – with Jules Boykoff
The relationship between the leaders of nation-states and the gatekeepers of sporting mega-events is both powerful and complex. Organisations, such as FIFA and the International Olympic Committee…
Sustaining Sport Podcast Trailer
Sport is one of the great joys of the human condition for athletes and spectators alike. It can bring happiness, livelihood, physical health, and mental well-being, and provides an education in…
S1E23 The Sports Betting Series: Part 5 – How to improve gambling regulation
Are regulators doing enough to safeguard people against betting companies and their aggressive customer acquisition strategies?Problem gamblers account for 46% of betting company revenue while making…
S1E22 Is the sports industry getting the best out of blockchain?
While there is undoubtedly some potential for the sports industry to embrace blockchain technology, thus far it’s been marred by controversy and even criminality.To find out how things can improve, I…
S1E21 Why do athletes struggle to transition into retirement?
Up to 20% of all athletes experience a crisis transitioning after retiring from competitive sport, meaning they face severe mental, physical, social, or financial difficulties and are often unable to…
S1E20 What are the social consequences of the commercialisation of football?
Is your local club ground half empty because everyone is watching the Premier League on TV? Or perhaps you are a local Liverpool FC fan, but cannot ever get a ticket? Dr David Webber has been…
Frequently Asked Questions
Sustaining Sport has published 39 episodes since March 2021, covering topics in Business, Documentary.
Sustaining Sport is currently dormant with new episodes every 2 weeks. Average episode length is 45m.
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