Cultural differences sport. Proceedings of the XV Congress of Panathlon International (Parma, 2-4 giugno 2005)

150 millions are the immigrants that today according to UN definitions and estimates of experts, are currently migrating between the different countries of the world. For this reason, this problem is a priority in the political agendas of governments and international institutions, above all in Europe and Italy, where migration flows rather than being an effect, in turn, become the driving force of globalisation processes. Sport, on the other hand, has been one of the most powerful factors of internationalisation when, at the end of the 19th century, the world was still ‘local’. The Anglo-Saxons who went to the remotest areas of the world promulgated, as soldiers, settlers and entrepreneurs their sporting habits.
Yet never before, the two phenomena ignored each other so much as in modern times. Migrant policies adopted by the different governments, hardly ever turn to sport as a means for social integration, despite the fact that it is recognised by everybody as a lingua franca favouring dialogue more than any other and promoting meetings between different people.
This research carried out by Panathlon International, a non-governmental organisation recognised by IOC, whose aim is to promote ethics and fair play in world sport, tries to bridge this gap. Carried out by experts in some of the numerous countries where Panathlon is present, including Italy, without expecting to be exhaustive and systematic, the research provides a first method and some food for our thoughts on policy making not only for social planners, but also for scholars and all those who for different reasons deal with both problems.