The UN encourages people everywhere to observe an International Day of Sport for Development and Peace each April.  Ban Ki Moon, the UN Secretary General, has said: “sport has become a world language, a common denominator that breaks down all the walls, all the barriers.”  He has appealed to sportsmen and women to be advocates for building a better world for all.
 
On the first UN International Day of Sport last year Ellan Vannin football team played its first international game against the Principality of Monaco in the Bowl, Douglas. Money was raised to bring Darfur United, a refugee-camp team from the Chad-Sudan border in Africa, to the CONIFA World Cup in Sweden where our Island was losing finalist.  That day the Isle of Man United Nations Association congratulated all involved for creating opportunities for people here and elsewhere to develop as sportsman and as ambassadors.
 
This year the UNA has organised a panel discussion on the role of sport in achieving these aims.
 
This will take place on Thursday 23 April in the Studio Theatre, Ballakermeen High School, Douglas, starting at 7.00pm. 
 
The event is free and the public are welcome.
 
The panel includes:

•         Geoff Karran MBE, Island Games Association Life Member and Chairman of the Commonwealth Youth Games held on the Island in 2011;
•         Dot Tilbury MBE, inductee in the British Cycling Hall of Fame in 2012 and recipient of the Isle of Man Newspapers Lifetime Excellence Award for her role in the sport of cycling; and
•         Malcolm Blackburn, Vice President of the Confederation of Independent Football Associations, ConIFA.
 
Chair of the UNA, Chris Thomas MHK says: “The UNA has existed since 1985 to encourage awareness and dialogue about international issues as they affect the Island. Sport is one such issue. Only good can come from providing opportunities from sport for all of us”.
 
For further information please contact UNA Secretary Andrew Newton on 427925 or ecoperatives@hotmail.com or Chris Thomas, 415820 or iomuna@manx.net.