Dr Shuaib Manjara, Chairman of Board Directors of South African Institute for Drug-Free Sport (SAIDS)
Mr Khalid Galant, Chief Executive Officer of SAIDS
Representatives of team I Play Fair & Sponsors
Officials of the Department of Sport and Recreation SA
Ladies and Gentlemen of the Media
Good morning and a warm welcome to you, our valued guests. We would like to extend our thanks to you all for attending this important event today.
This brief gathering is to announce and inform all the people of the Republic of South Africa and the sport people in particular that South African Institute for Drug-Free Sport (SAIDS) in collaboration with the Department of Sport & Recreation South Africa (SRSA), the Western Cape Premier and Cycling South Africa, will use the Cape Argus Cycle Tour in March 2012 as the platform to launch the ‘I Play Fair – Say NO! to Doping campaign to the cycling fraternity.
We are also very pleased to warmly welcome the announcement of the formation of the ‘I Play Fair’ cycling team.We are definitely convinced and sure that this team is composed of highly dedicated and regarded celebrities and dignitaries who have committed to race in the Institute’s team in order to contribute immensely in the noble fight against drugs in sport, especially cycling.
Our government and people fully trust that, with high respect and recognition our celebrities command, our celebrity cycling team will help as role models in spreading the message of fair play and ethics in sport and by participating as a team we are hoping to publicise the commitment of these high profile figures to the ideals of a drug-free sport environment.
Doping in cycling and SA sport is on the increase and is a cause of concern to the people of the Republic; and therefore any initiative that will help SRSA and Federations to push-back the frontiers of drug abuse, alcohol abuse and violence is welcome.
The events of this nature where sport, especially cycling is able to mobilise society in the range of a race where our team will join over 30,000 people in tackling the largest timed cycle event in the world will give the ‘I Play Fair’ initiative great visibility and an opportunity to use the race as an important platform to spread the ‘I Play Fair’ messages and increase awareness around the importance of fair play and anti-doping in sport.
As the Minister of Sport and Recreation, I am thrilled to be officially leading the ‘I Play Fair’ team and hope all South African sportsmen, women, coaches, the youth and fans of every sport take the pledge to Play Fair and Say No! To Doping!
Our team will include various public figures and celebrities from sport and other professions including the Western Cape Premier Helen Zille, former Springbok rugby champion Chester Williams, former Proteas cricket champion Mkahya Ntini, eight-time Iron Man champion Paula Newby-Fraser, Chief Director Department of Sport & Recreation Professor Paul Singh, and TV sport personality Owen Hannie.
We are convinced that this team, including the aforementioned people, is a team of outstanding personalities who will help our country and sport system rid itself of this scary tendency.
Ladies and Gentlemen, our entire team includes:
Kate Mittlestadt: Director of Anti-Doping: Ironman Corporation
Vanessa Haywood: TV personality and sportswoman
Yolande Pretorius: Bike Pure ambassador and cyclist
Paula Newby-Fraser: Eight-time Iron Man champion
Dr. Jeroen Swart: Sports Medicine Physician: SA Sports Science Institute
Ciska du Plessis: Secretary General, Cycling South Africa
Owen Hannie: TV Sport personality and Super Sport presenter
Khalid Galant: CEO, SA Institute for Drug-Free Sport
Dr. Shuaib Manjra: Sports Medicine Physician: SA Institute for Drug-Free Sport
Chris Hattingh: Pharmacist: SA Institute for Drug-Free Sport
Raymond Hack: Attorney: SA Institute for Drug-Free Sport
Fahmy Galant: Doping Control Manager: SA Institute for Drug-Free Sport
Dr Debby Alexander on a tandem bike: President of Triathlon SA
Team Garwood: Triathletes, Kevin, Cheryl and Nicholas Garwood.
The ‘I Play Fair’ team will participate in other mass based sports events during 2012 such as the Soweto Marathon and the BSG Energade triathlon series to bring prominence to the ‘I Play Fair’ drug-free sport messages.We will also utilise them in our Schools Sport programmes to spread the message because we believe that doping has become a huge challenge in schools today.
We would like to extend our salutations and congratulations to the South African Institute for Drug-Free Sport for launching this initiative and re-iterate our support of the Institute’s on-going efforts in aggressively tackling doping in sport as a whole.
I would also like to thank the sponsors who are supporting this initiative including; Cycle Lab for your technical support, KTM for providing our bicycles, New Balance for the branded kit that has been developed, Cycling South Africa as our partner and the Cape Argus Cycle Tour organisers for facilitating our team entries.
We are delighted that SAIDS chose this week to launch team ‘I Play Fair’, at a time when world leaders are in Cape Town for the Beyond Sport Summit, a global initiative that seeks to celebrate and support any organisation or individual with the goal to drive positive social change through sport.
The Department of Sport and Recreation have endorsed this campaign because we feel that this will tackle the very real challenges of doping in sport and provide a platform for the I Play Fair team to highlight through their participation the values of ethics in sport and the importance of camaraderie and the spirit of sportsmanship.
Thank you very much.
