World Sports Journalists Day
Next: July 2, 2027
For the people who tell the game.
The story
Where it comes from
World Sports Journalists Day marks the founding of AIPS, the International Sports Press Association, in Paris in July 1924, just before the opening of the Olympic Games. Some 80 sports journalists from more than 25 countries met to form a world body for their trade, and elected the French journalist Frantz Reichel as its first president. AIPS gives the founding date as 1 July and other accounts as 2 July; in 1994, at its 70th anniversary, AIPS chose 2 July as the day to honour sports journalists everywhere.
How it's celebrated
Press associations and sports clubs use the day to thank the reporters, photographers, commentators and broadcasters who bring sport to everyone who cannot be in the stadium. For fans it is a good day to read a great match report, listen back to a favourite piece of commentary, or send a card to the sports writer, local or famous, whose words made you love the game.
Did you know
- AIPS was founded at a meeting held in a boxing ring at the Sporting Club de France in Paris.
- Frantz Reichel, its first president, had helped with the press arrangements for the 1894 congress at the Sorbonne that agreed to revive the Olympic Games.
- AIPS is now the world body for sports media, with more than 9,500 members.
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