One year on…
19th June 2020
Promoting fairness and justice within the sport, the Equally Amazing Charter seeks to ensure that everyone at every level gets access to the same opportunities
On 19th June 2019 the European Hockey Federation launched the #EquallyAmazing campaign to support the launch of the Gender Balance Charter that was signed by the European Hockey Federation’s Member Associations at the 2019 General Assembly in Antwerp, 16th August.
Today, we celebrate the launch of the #EquallyAmazing campaign and take time to reflect on the ongoing work being done by the EHF and our Member Associations.
Marijke Fleuren, President of the European Hockey said “One year ago we launched the Equally Amazing campaign, ahead of the signing of the Gender Balance Charter during our General Assembly in Antwerp. This was an important moment in the history of the EHF to show others that EHF really tries to achieve equal opportunities for all within our Federation and hopefully inspires our NAs to do the same.
The core of the campaign was to raise awareness, to ask the right questions about how we could make equal opportunities a reality.
We were not promoting one person ahead of another, just the opposite: we were promoting working together, shoulder to shoulder, in order to make the best decisions for our sport.
We always have to be aware of the world around us and understand the wider remit of “Equally Amazing”. Especially at this moment. When you start this journey, you set the tone in your organisation to really ensure that we promote equal access to our sport. Everywhere and in every occasion. Full stop.
So today and over the course of the coming days we celebrate one year on, we celebrate the hard work done and acknowledge that we still have a lot to do. Probably it will never stop.
Through this campaign and the Gender Balance Charter, we want to inspire and show to others that equally amazing can be a reality.”
Over the course of the past year, we acknowledge the ongoing work being done in our Member Associations.
This is a difficult time for all sports organisations, however, it is also a time that future planning can be done, so we are encouraging our Member Associations to take time to think and plan ahead.
The launch of the Charter was supported by #EquallyAmazing and featured advocates from across the sport, and we were delighted to catch up with some of them to revisit and question where we are one year on…
Astrid Ventevogel, President Pinoke Hockey Club:
“I will take a gazillion baby steps to achieve your goals. But I am sure we are moving in the right direction”
Thomas Briels, Belgian International Hockey player:
Speaking about gender and umpiring “You just want to have good quality. Men or women should not matter. She or he just needs to have the quality that is necessary to umpire an international game and be at that level”
Breana Mc Coy, EHF Intern, now Research Manager for USA Football:
“The EHF is really is striving equality for every level. It matters that you keep going and that you take whatever steps you can at that moment. I think it is important in any conversation about diversity that the goal is to strive to get better.”
Jamie Hooper, Umpire:
“Equally amazing and all that that means should be something on all the federations agenda.”
Ends/…