Olympian Jessica Inchude starred in one of the moments of fair play this year. During the Portuguese Track Championships, held in Pombal, in February, the 28-year-old athlete threw the weight 19.18 meters and won first place, defeating her teammate and former European and world champion, Auriol Dongmo. When she got on the podium, Jessica offered the champion’s medal to Auriol, who had suffered a very serious injury in 2024, which even ruled her out of the Paris2024 Olympic Games, and had experienced difficulties returning to the competition.
“I am a great admirer of Auriol, for her willpower, for her perseverance in overcoming any obstacle. I was very concentrated on my race, but I noticed that after the first throw she was lying down, trying hard, but she still continued throwing. She achieved what she wanted, which was the minimum for the Europeans, and in a symbolic gesture I offered her my medal because she is a great fighter and I admire that a lot”, said the Sporting thrower at the time.
The gesture earned him a White Card, a pioneering pedagogical resource in Portugal implemented in 2015, by the Portuguese Youth Institute (IPDJ). Jessica Inchude’s card is one of the 1,362 shown this year, according to figures provided by José Lima, from the National Plan for Ethics in Sports (PNED), at the awards ceremony, which promotes the fair play and mutual respect, which took place on Thursday, November 6th, in the Lisbon Youth Center Auditorium, in Lisbon, and was attended by the Secretary of State for Sports, Pedro Dias
Another gesture of enormous sportsmanship this year took place on September 7th, in a duathlon event (running and cycling). Young Guilherme Costa e Silva, from the Batalha Escola de Triatlo Association – BEST, surprised everyone present by giving up the victory. Usually the winner in his category (Children), Guilherme led the race from start to finish, but in the final stretch, he decided to slow down and allow Javier Gómez Rilo, from Sociedade de Instrução e Recreio Os Pimpões, to cross the finish line in first place. The gesture was a “gift” for the birthday boy Javier. The gesture was applauded by all participants, coach and public and led referee Liliana Sares to award him a white card.
Professional football has not yet adopted measures, but…
On Saturday, November 8th, it was a year ago that Portuguese football witnessed one of the greatest and unexpected gestures of fair playwhen Pepê gave up a shot, after isolating himself towards the Estoril goal and being in a good position to score a goal, when he saw that his opponent was injured and fell to the pitch. The FC Porto player’s gesture of sportsmanship took place in the 23rd minute of the game of the 10th round of the I League 2024/25. Pepê chose to stop the play so the opponent could be assisted. “If it were me, I would also like them to do the same. It makes me sad to see a co-worker like that, so I stopped the game so it could be watched”, said the Porto player, who saw the play go around the world and saw Liga Portugal award him the Neno Award – Fair Play.
The player’s attitude would certainly deserve a white card, but professional football is still not among the 34 sports (and 94 entities) that have adopted it. Something that could change soon. The President of the Arbitration Council of the Portuguese Football Federation, Luciano Gonçalves, will be committed to exporting the idea and taking the initiative to the IFAB – The International Football Association Board – the body that regulates football rules.
“We will always look for the negative things, and devalue the positive ones. Let us value less and less what brings nothing beneficial. We do not contribute to toxic environments in sport in Portugal”, said the person responsible for arbitration, without wanting to comment on the controversy with FC Porto’s alleged pressure on referee Fábio Veríssimo, in last Sunday’s game, with Sp. Braga.
From lending skates to an opponent to asking fans not to offend the refereeing team
These awards reward those who, in the exercise of their role, promoted the fair playwhich is why referees are a major partner in the National Sports Ethics Plan initiative. The partnership with the Confederation of Associations of Judges and Referees of Portugal aims to promote values in sporting practice, through the recognition of ethically relevant behaviors.
This year, referee Mariana Fontes, from the Leiria Basketball Association, stood out by showing 17 white cards. Furthermore, as president of the district Arbitration Council, he promoted training and awareness-raising activities, promoting the adoption of ethical behavior among young referees. And for that reason, she was awarded an honorable mention.
Referee André Gordo, from the Évora Football Association, also received an honorable mention, for having displayed a white card to the FC Serpa footballer, Pedro Seixas, who went to the stands to ask the fans to stop the offensive comments directed at the refereeing team. Youth and amateur football is indeed the biggest hotbed of sportsmanship in Portugal, with 733 white cards shown, almost twice as many as all the federations combined (494).
The winner of the category was José Costa (figure skating), who recognized the attitude of the Aveiro Skating Association selector, who gave skates from an athlete on his team to another athlete from the Porto Association, allowing him to continue competing in the Inter-Regions Figure Skating competition “100 years of FPP”.
White Card Winners
Winners in the Entities category
Portuguese Tennis Federation
Portuguese Volleyball Federation
Honorable mentions
Portuguese Korfball Federation
Leiria Basketball Association
Revelation Award Winner
Network Association of Universities for the Third Age (RUTIS)
Honorable mention
Military College
Winner in the Referees and Judges category
José Costa – Figure Skating
Honorable mentions
David Machado – Football
Mariana Fontes – Basketball
Nuno Pinto – Futsal
André Gordo – Football
Gustavo Fonseca – Corfebol
José Louro – Badminton
Sílvia Coelho – Roller Hockey
In the category-Journalism that transforms
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