The French “Active and Sporting city” label
Created in 2016 by the Sport ministry, the national association of elected politicians in charge of sport (ANDES) and the Sport & Cycling UNION, this label aims to recognise initiatives, measures and policies concerning sport and to promote physical activity and sport in a local area.
For the second consecutive year, the 2018 ceremony awarded labels to 120 out of the 151 towns and cities that submitted applications. For the first time, one of these towns obtained the highest possible label level of 4 laurels. The towns obtaining labels were spread over the country, with 113 towns in mainland France and 7 in overseas departments.
For this second year, the spirit of the label was well respected: the fact that any town, no matter how big or small it is, can obtain the label if it develops and implements policies making sport available to the maximum number of people.
This second edition of the “active and sporting city” label reinforces the Sport Minister’s objective in developing sporting practice: life-long sport for all.
The Minister’s ambition is to create a culture of doing sport that will contribute to people living well together and to constructing a more neighbourly society, that will be for everyone, whatever kind of sport they want to do – for fun or in competition – and however they want to do it – on their own or in a structure.
The President of the Republic set the objective: to increase the number of people doing sport to 3 million by 2024. To reach this target, new people need to be encouraged to take up sport and people who have stopped doing sport need to get back to it. Obstacles to doing sport and physical activity need to be understood and removed, and responses need to be found that will get through to everyone of all ages and in all places.
Apart from dedicated sports facilities such as at school or university, businesses and all kinds of sites generally, indoors or outdoors, should be used to help meet this objective of developing the practice of sport and physical activity. It is not about developing doing sport or a physical activity for its own sake, but because of its individual and societal benefits.
One of the keys to the success of this venture is getting everyone involved – institutional bodies, teachers, instructors and people doing sport – for universal sport.
This is the context for the action plan being worked out with the Ministry for cohesion in the regions (CGET) to diversify the range of sport available in urban priority districts (QPV). The plan will have the target of offering a range of sports to those sectors of the population that until now have been the furthest removed from doing sport in districts with very little available sport.
The 2019 « Ville active et sportive » label will be the opportunity to get towns involved with the theme of the 2024 Olympics. The label, like hosting the Olympics, should be seized as a chance to develop sporting activities for the maximum number of people all over the country.
All of us have the role of supporting tomorrow’s young athletes and those who will take part in the 2024 Olympics, whether they are top level athletes, volunteers, sport instructors and trainers or simply fellow-citizens. It is by getting everybody involved that we will be best placed to encourage a sporting and civic 2024 generation so that when we hold the 8th award ceremony, 2024 active, sporting towns and cities receive the label.
