“I play for human rights.” A leaked pep talk by Portugal’s national football manager becomes Amnesty International’s latest campaign for inclusion.
“Remember that we are all human beings.”
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In its latest campaign, Amnesty International chose to share a leaked pep talk given by Portuguese football team manager to his team during their last meetup of 2020. Fernando Santos highlights the importance of players’ actions on the pitch as role models.
Titled “I play for human rights”, the initiative takes place at a time when bigotry and racism are very prevalent in professional sport, making athletes, as well as everyone else involved on the sidelines, ever more important agents in the fight for these social movements, as has been seen with the Black Lives Matter protests.
Created by Havas Lisbon with the support of the Portuguese Football Federation, the campaign focuses on Fernando Santos’ pep talk, while we see scenes of people from different backgrounds listening to his moving speech. His words have had a huge impact on the public and have had a lot of traction in the Portuguese press.
“In the video, it becomes clear how sports can lead the fight for human rights in society because sports are inclusive and are multicultural. Teaching human rights goes beyond schools, and with the project “I play for human rights”, we are inviting everyone involved in sports – athletes, coaches, referees, supporters, and all stakeholders – to use their influence for the common good.” declared Paulo Fontes, communications manager for Amnesty Internacional Portugal.
According to Bernardo Tavares, one of the creators of the campaign, this pep talk was given to 11 players that form the Portuguese national team, but the message shouldn’t be restricted to just them. “Now it can have a positive impact on another number 11, because coincidently Portugal’s population is around 11 million people, and they can spread the word to the rest of the world so that more people can join the human rights’ team”.
Agency: Havas Lisbon