Rugby 4 Peace

Based on the university’s Football 4 Peace, the university’s award-winning project to promote peaceful co-existence in troubled communities, the university is launching Rugby 4 Peace, a different sport but with the same aims.

Graham Spacey, project manager and visiting lecturer at the university, said: “Football and rugby have the power to bring people together because they are universal – they break through language barriers and bring out the humanity in people.

“Our experience with Football 4 Peace has shown that sport can heal wounds and bring together divided towns, villages and neighbourhoods.”

Throughout the 1990s, university researchers identified that sport could provide the catalyst to intervene where cultural conflict exists. It was from this research that Football 4 Peace (F4P) was launched in Israel in 2001 in partnership with the British Council and the Israel Sports Authority which grew over time to facilitate 15 cross community sports partnerships, bringing together 46 Jewish and Arab communities and approximately 1,500 children. Through training coaches and community leaders, the programme has since expanded and is active in three continents.

Graham Spacey (right) and Rugby 4 Peace members with Webb Ellis

Rugby 4 Peace team with Samoans

Mr Spacey said: “It’s been a great success and other countries have joined in to make it truly international. To celebrate the Rugby World Cup and with the university hosting two of the teams at our Eastbourne and Brighton campuses, a new curriculum using rugby will be launched.

“On 21 September, F4P International is holding its annual international training camp at the university’s Falmer campus with participants from partner organisations from The Gambia, South Korea, England and Northern Ireland who will work alongside university students.

“Using the same methodology of teaching values and life skills through sport and physical activity, the new curriculum will enable schools and communities in the UK and beyond to teach citizenship, promote peaceful co-existence and help build resilience and capacity in developing countries.”

At the end of the training week at Falmer there will be a ‘Festival of Sport’ for 250 secondary school children across Sussex. Each participating school has strong ties with the initiative either by running schemes of work based on the values based methodology or with Brighton alumni trained in the methodology and now implementing it within their work.

Schools involved are: Bishop Bell Church of England School, Eastbourne; Brighton Aldridge Community Academy; Cavendish School, Eastbourne; Dorothy Stringer High School, Brighton; Downlands School, Hassocks; Hove Park School; Longhill School, Rottingdean; St Richard’s Catholic College, Bexhill; and Willingdon Community School, Eastbourne.

For more information contact Graham Spacey, International Partnership Manager for F4P International gbs@brighton.ac.uk.