Boston and Basque Country sports-diplomacy leaders to headline Cork Sport 2040 event

Cork Sport 2040 will bring the city's sporting community together on Tuesday, December 1st for a Sports Industry Networking Event headlined by two international leaders in sports diplomacy.

They are Cody Damon, Sports Diplomacy Envoy at WorldBoston, and Gavin Price, Co-Founder of Sports Diplomacy Unwrapped, who will join from abroad by video link. 

Held under the theme “Advancing Cork's future through sport,” the event is the latest initiative of Cork Sport 2040. 

The event is hosted by Cork County Council, an important partner in the initiative.

Cork Sport 2040 is a voluntary alliance of the people who run sport in Cork — the Cork Local Sports Partnership, Cork GAA, University College Cork, Munster Technological University, Sanctuary Runners and Leading Sport and a widening group of governing bodies, clubs, community and business partners. 

Its ambition is to position Cork as a leading centre for sport nationally and internationally, and to harness sport as a driver of economic development, tourism, health and inclusion. 

The group recently made a submission to the Cork City Futures Group, setting out priority recommendations for sport — including a dedicated coordinating role, investment, shared facilities and inclusive participation — to feed into its report to Government.

The December session is built around international shared learning. 

Cody Damon will outline how WorldBoston is building a sports-diplomacy strategy and the traction achieved to date, while Gavin Price will draw on the Basque Country's journey and how it is using sport to develop San Sebastian and the region. 

A closing contribution will set out how Cork's priorities are being carried forward nationally.

“Cork has everything it needs to be one of the great sporting cities — the clubs, the colleges, the coastline and the community," Maeve Buckley, Cork Sport 2040 said. 

"What we've been missing is the coordination to pull it together and the ambition to compete internationally. 

"Bringing leaders like Cody and Gavin to Cork shows the calibre of partner we want to learn from and work with, and sets out our stall: sport can be a real driver of Cork's economic and social development.”