Ferencvárosi TC is joining World Fair Play Day
Ferencvárosi Torna Club has for many years considered the fight against exclusion and the education of young people to be sporty as a priority. They are promoting this even further by joining the World Fair Play Day (WFPD).
World Fair Play Day is a sports initiative aimed at promoting fair play and ethical values in sport. It intends to promote fair play initiatives, projects, and successes every year. The first global World Fair Play Day will be held on September 7, 2021. The date of 7 September was chosen on purpose by the four founding organisations. On the initiative of Jean Borotra, French Tennis Champion, the founding members of the Fair Play International Commission (CIFP) met on this day in 1963. The tennis legend, who died in 1994 at the age of 95, was one of the “Four Musketeers” who were the greatest male tennis players of the late 1920s and early 1930s.
The four organisations (Penathlon International, the World and European Fair play Organizations CIFP and EFPM, and Penathlon Wallonia-Brussels PWB) uphold the values of tolerance, brotherhood, respect, and fair play and reject all forms of violence. The day represents values that are fundamental to all sporting activities and the education of young people, whether it is about personal development or building fraternal communities. The association, which is now widely recognised in Belgium as a leading forum in the field of sports ethics, makes all the pedagogical competencies and tools at its disposal available to all those who deal with this issue and who want to promote these values in a new way. The WFPD shows that fair play can be promoted with big national initiatives and small simple gestures, so the founders have invited all athletes, coaches, referees, parents, supporters, and professionals around them to join the campaign and set an example in all circumstances and to declare that this day should be a real celebration of fair play in sport.
Initiatives of Ferencvárosi Torna Club regarding Fair Play
Hungarian Olympic Committee’s Fair Play Award
In September 2012, Ferencvárosi Torna Club made its first campaign video, thus becoming the first Hungarian football club to stand up for the fight against exclusion. The initiative was also recognised by the Hungarian Olympic Committee – Ferencváros was awarded the Fair Play Award in March 2013. Four years later, the Hungarian Olympic Committee’s Fair Play Committee, led by Jenő Kamuti on June 28, 2017, awarded the Fair Play Award again to Ferencvárosi Torna Club in the “Promotion of Fair Play” category.
Fradi Fair Play Award
In the spirit of the club’s motto (Morality, Strength, Unity), FTC established the Fradi Fair Play Committee in 2017 within the club. In the following years, the nine-member committee has awarded the Fradi Fair Play Awards in two categories: The True Green-White Hero award can be given to a Fradi athlete who has shown greatness in his sportsmanship in a given year. The Fradi Heart category honors an individual, company, or organisation supporting an important social issue.
In 2017, the year the committee was founded, the young swimmer, Oliver Patlók, received the True Green-White Hero Award, who raised hundreds of thousands of forints to treat his seriously ill friend, Csabi. The winner of the Fradi Heart category was József Kékesi (Józsi Postás), who supported the club at the sporting events of almost all sections.
In 2018, the junior triathlete, Fanni Mándli, became the Real Green-White Hero. She completed the team competition in Veresegyháza of the Aquathlon National Championship after suffering a serious injury in the very beginning. However, Fanni did not give up, fighting for her companions both in the swimming and running part of the competition. And thanks to the fact that she performed well, despite the pain, she helped her team to third place. In the Fradi Heart category, the CEO of Provident Zrt., Botond Szirmák, was recognized by the committee. It was thanks to his assistance that the new community space of the FTC-MVM Népliget Sports Center, Provident Park, could be created, which is used by thousands of young people visiting our sports center. But he also played a huge role in the completion of Groupama Arena’s parking lot for the disabled.
In 2019, Anna Goschi won the True Green-White Hero Award. In the triple jump competition of the national championship, the machine measured one meter more during one of the jumps of the club’s athlete. Anna and her coach, Tibor Kiss, and the head of our department, Mária Vágóné Solti, immediately indicated that the result was incorrect, but according to the rules, it was no longer possible to cancel the jump. Anna had to take the bronze medal, but immediately after the award ceremony, she approached the girl from Kaposvár, who finished third based on the real results, and handed her the medal. In the Fradi Heart category, the technical leader of FTC-Telekom Waterpolo’s women’s water polo team and the youth coach, Vazul Karácsonyi received the recognition after giving a quick and professional first aid to a little girl who swallowed her earplugs during an afternoon training, saving the little athlete’s life.
In 2020, the retired icon of our football team, Leandro de Almeida, became the True Green-White Hero, who earned the recognition by giving his gold medal for the 31st championship title, which was also the last medal of his career, to the club’s goalkeeper, Gergő Szécsi, as he did not receive the medal from the Hungarian Football Federation. In the Fradi Heart category, László Bázsa-Mosó, who took an active part in the Fradi SuLiga programme, the Hungarian Community Champions League, received the honorable award.
Fradi School Programme
One of the most important pillars of educating about the spirit of Fair Play is the Fradi School Programme, launched almost two years ago. As part of the program, 31,000 students from more than 100 schools have been visited by professional Fradi athletes. With the help of the Fradi School Programme, young people can get advice from credible individuals, Fradi’s well-known champions, for effective competing, sports, and life. In addition, the participating children can get acquainted with the rich past of Ferencváros, as well as take part in interactive and fun games, The Fradi School Programme has also reached Transylvania and the Highlands.
International Fair Play Diploma
In addition, on October 22, 2020, the International Fair Play Committee (CIFP) awarded the International Fair Play Diploma to the U8-U10 hockey team of Ferencvárosi Torna Club. The award was given to the team in the “Jacques Rogge – Youth” category because of their program integrating deaf children. Prior to that, the team received an award for the program in 2019 at the Fair Play Awards Gala of the Hungarian Olympic Committee
