For Hillsborough, read Abidjan

As football commemorates 20 years since the terrible events at Hillsborough in 1989, when 96 people lost their lives in stadium accident, it is worth remembering that less than a month ago 19 people lost their lives in a stadium accident in Abidjan, Ivory Coast. There have clearly been major developments in European stadium design and safety since 1989, but whether such developments have reached other parts of the world is debatable. We therefore have to ask, how can what happens in some parts of the world inform and help what happens in other parts of the world? And this doesn't just hold for stadium design and safety; given developments in sport in places like the UK, the US, Germany, Australia etc, how do we ensure that there is equity, fairness and sharing across the world? If we want to prevent the parallel development of sporting worlds, where the richer nations prosper and grow while other nations fall behind, is there a need for a global sporting body that can work towards developing and implementing a global sport strategy?