After having received the Peace and Sport Award for the best April6 initiative of the year in 2017, Play 4 Peace again marked the International Day of Sport for Development and Peace by organizing a fourth sports day on Sunday 25 March in Brussels (Belgium).
Under the patronage of UNESCO and attended by many key figures from charitable, cultural and sporting life, this event offered participants of all ages free access to thirty different sports activities (basketball, taekwondo, golf, tennis, climbing, roller-skating, squash, etc.). The day attracted more than 7,000 people and enlightened participants about the ability of sport to work as a tool for peace, dialog and education.
All participants then posed for a symbolic group photo holding up #WhiteCards: waving a #WhiteCard like a referee is an action which symbolizes the positive capacity of sport. Contrary to a red card which signals a serious sporting offence, the #WhiteCard is a gesture for inclusion, equality and peace. The 2018 Brussels Play 4 Peace event was organized as part of the online #WhiteCard campaign, which Peace and Sport had launched a few days earlier.
Play 4 Peace aims to transcend social and cultural barriers through sport for all. Since winning the Peace and Sport Award for the best April6 initiative in 2017, Play 4 Peace has been placed under the High Patronage of His Majesty the King of the Belgians. Each year this Award given by Peace and Sport recompenses an organization or an individual who has significantly helped to celebrate April6 – the International Day of Sport for Development and Peace – through a #WhiteCard initiative or an event to inform a high number of people about the power of sport as a tool for development and peace.
