Gamechanger

The World Health Organization (WHO) hit a significant goal with FIFA last Friday (no pun intended), which, once it works, could mean a major advance in its anti-tobacco battle. This is in reference, of course, to the four-year memorandum of understanding the WHO signed with FIFA at its Headquarters in Geneva, Switzerland, which will see the two international bodies working to ensure that all stadiums where FIFA matches are being played are tobacco free. In addition, they both agreed to promote healthy lifestyles through football.

According to the terms of the agreement, a healthy lifestyle would encompass “healthy diets, food safety, mass gatherings and the risks associated with alcohol.” It is already well known that typically, footballers, and particularly professional players, eat healthily more so during the season and on game days. They must because if they do not consume quality carbohydrates, lean protein and healthy fats, along with adequate quantities of water and exercise every day, then they would not have the stamina to run around for the 90+ minutes that a game lasts. Furthermore, if players got into smoking tobacco or anything else, or heavy alcohol drinking, then their days on the football field would begin to count down so fast, their heads would spin. Professional football is an exceptionally good paymaster and players who manage to get in on that, tend not to want to lose it.

Given all of that, it is clear that the WHO and FIFA agreement refers to the others who surround the players and those they influence (with the exception of trainers and coaches, who by necessity must also inculcate healthy habits), like managers, agents, and of course the fans and audience. After all, a football match, like in any other sport, is a family affair and no one should be smoking or overindulging in alcohol in such a setting.

At the signing of the memorandum of understanding, according to Reuters, FIFA President Gianni Infantino said, “We finally realized that actually we have also a social mission in FIFA, a social mission that we have to take seriously, that we have to take on responsibly.” Mr Infantino, it might be recalled, was elected to lead FIFA during an extraordinary congress in 2016, following the suspension and subsequent banning of longtime president Sepp Blatter. Mr Infantino, who has been battling to pull FIFA out of the corruption quagmire into which it had sunk during the tenure of Mr Blatter, won re-election this year.

A no-tobacco approach is an excellent way for Mr Infantino to show that he is determined to continue to polish FIFA’s image until it shines. Of course, this should also mean FIFA and its affiliates not accepting sponsorship or advertisement deals from Philip Morris International, British American Tobacco, Imperial Brands or any of the tobacco manufacturers. And in today’s climate it would also mean divorcing

companies like Juul, PAX and others, which produce and sell e-cigarettes and vaping products. While no comprehensive study has yet been done on e-cigarettes and vaping products, there have been over 1,000 cases of lung illness and 18 deaths in 15 states of the United States. It is not known at this time whether the illness exists in other parts of the world or if there have been any deaths, but bearing in mind the old clichéd adage: ‘when the US sneezes, the rest of the world catches a cold’, it might be more prudent to act than to wait. In America, the US Centers for Disease Control has publicly called for people to stop vaping and the Food and Drug Administration has begun testing samples of vaping products in a bid to discover what is causing the illness.

Then there are the other big corporations that produce and sell alcohol or push sugary, fatty foods of empty, high-caloric content, also through sponsorships, advertisements and franchises at sports matches, including football. None of these could fit under the healthy diet banner, though Mr Infantino was quick to tell the press at the signing ceremony

that some of FIFA’s co-sponsors like Coca Cola and McDonald’s were taking steps with healthier offerings. We can safely assume that he does not intend to or cannot afford to lose these sponsors, at least not at this point.

Meanwhile, one hopes that the WHO will build on this momentum and also target other sport organisations such as the International Olympic Committee, FIBA, FINA, the International Cricket Council, and even offshoots like the IPL and of course the CPL as it is relevant to us in this part of the world. Playing sports is part of a healthy lifestyle and getting more organisations to effect changes that will redound not only to the benefit of the players, but everyone else, could really prove to be a gamechanger in the truest sense.