Montreal, 9 April 2020 – Today, the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) celebrates Play Safe on Play True Day 2020 with athletes, National and Regional Anti-Doping Organizations, Sports Federations, Major Event Organizers and other anti-doping stakeholders from the global Clean Sport community.
Since 2014, in April, WADA and the anti-doping community worldwide have celebrated ‘Play True Day’ -- a day that is dedicated to Clean Sport and is intended to raise awareness among athletes, the sporting public and others about the importance of protecting Clean Sport. The inspiration forPlay True Day stems from a WADA-hosted Education Conference in 2013, which was attended by 17 Latin American countries. While the celebration started as a small Latin American initiative, last year, the Agency’s digital and social media campaign reached over six million people with numerous individuals and organizations taking part from around the globe.
This year, given the impact that the COVID-19 pandemic is having around the globe, WADA seized the opportunity to engage the global anti-doping community – and all stakeholders in the fight to protect Clean Sport – in solidarity around the theme Play Safe on Play True Day 2020, asking them to participate in a digital and social media campaign by sharing what they are doing and why to curb the spread of the virus.
WADA President Witold Bańka said: “I wish to thank everyone who is taking part in raising awareness about the importance of Playing Safe for Play True Day 2020. This year’s campaign is once again reaching all corners of the globe, showing how we as the Clean Sport community are doing our part to fight COVID-19 and protect public health. WADA joins the world in navigating these uncertain times and in being grateful to the healthcare workers and all others who are working selflessly to help us navigate this difficult moment in history. We salute this global team effort on Play True Day and remain well prepared for the day when anti-doping efforts can return to full force.”
To participate
WADA encourages its stakeholders to share personalized photo and video messages using specially-created branded frames and a Play Safe Pledge to show what particular cause, person or group of people they are playing safe for. The Agency also encourages the use of the hashtags#PlayTrue #PlaySafe and #PlayTrueDay in order to maximize the impact of the event on social media. All materials are available in English, French and Spanish.
To find out more about the events being promoted as part of Play Safe on Play True Day 2020, please visit the official Play True Day website and follow the campaign in real-time via our dedicated Play True Day social media wall.