Let’s Cheer Positively

The passion involved in sport is a uniquely powerful force. But while it has the potential to motivate and inspire fans and athletes, the high emotions experienced on the field and in the stadiums can sometimes result in other, less positive behaviours. Increasingly, a culture of violent rivalry undermines what is meant to be a pure and unifying activity – breeding an environment of aggression, hostility and negativity.

To highlight the need to combat these negative behaviours, we started a unique campaign to re-establish sport as the fun, social activity it should be. TifiAMO Positivo or ‘Let’s Cheer Positively’ was launched throughout Italy in 2014. This exciting creative competition aimed to get young people thinking about all of the valuable elements of sports culture – moving it away from being just about beating opponents. With schools getting involved nationwide, we received an incredible number of entries, all telling the story of cheering and the joy of sport.

Winners Samuele Zandron and Matteo Sabato were awarded with plane tickets to the World Cup Finals in Brazil, where they had the chance to work alongside Save the Dream and UNICEF to continue spreading their positive message. But while two youngsters got to go on the trip of a lifetime, the TifiAMO Positivo message reached an audience of thousands. Through healthy competition, the youth of a nation came together to make some noise for the love of sport.

With your support, we can make sure this message continues to reach children around the world. By cheering positively, we can ensure that sport is an activity that paves the way for their integration into a more tolerant society – teaching skills and values that allow kids to become active, honest and responsible citizens in the future.