ABSTRACT
This chapter focuses on NSSA. It further substantiates the argument that a broad range of sporting actors exhibit functions once reserved for Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MFA) and their officially accredited diplomats. Promoting universal human rights, ethics and principles through sport is one of the core messages that sporting NGOs communicate. Many sporting NGOs embody, advance and amplify the message that everyone has a fundamental, inalienable and universal right to sport. Arguably, and in a sports diplomacy context, it is the athletes that are the most effective communicators of the 'new', human security agenda. Most of the athletes would balk at the 'celebrity' label, certainly when they are, or were, competing. Moreover, sport is a great leveller, and even superstars know that it has a unique way of dealing with hubris, celebrity and over-confidence. In the face of falling profits, rising public ire and many high-profile athletes leaving the brand, Nike introduced a series of radical reforms in 1998.
