Reading were one of the most proactive clubs throughout the 2011 One Game, One Community weeks of action
Key events in the Kick It Out calendar and valuable feedback forums, the focus centres around the One Game, One Community weeks of action as well as the ongoing contributions to the Equality Standard.
The sessions, hosted at the Premier League and Football League offices in London, and Liverpool FC's Anfield Stadium, were attended by a range of contacts including community and press officers as well as HR representatives and club secretaries from clubs across all four divisions. Keeley Temple, Kick It Out’s Professional Clubs Development Officer coordinates the forums each year:
“Clubs play an intrinsic role in the success of the weeks of action in particular. It helps convey to the One Game, One Community message to the fan both in the stands and at home. This year we were able to arrange 92 day of action fixtures at professional clubs, attended by a total of 1,380,529 football fans across England and Wales.
“The professional clubs seminars help us evaluate what we did well, what we can improve on and to learn from aclub’s perspective how we can work more collaboratively in future, both in the weeks of action, and during the year on initiatives such as the Equality Standard.”
Here Mark Bradley from Reading FC gives his thoughts on the seminar he attended, providing an insight into how and crucially why clubs adopt the social inclusion initiatives like the weeks of action to help better educate fans and players alike:
“Rarely, in recent years, has racism in football been a more pertinent issue. But the club seminar held at the Premier and Football League headquarters this Wednesday was not a reaction to the high profile cases that have recently hit the sporting headlines, but one of a number of regular conferences clubs have with Kick It Out to discuss how the weeks of action back in October went and how best to improve our work with Kick It Out in the future.
“And of course, one of the main points that was discussed, was the difference between a continued attack on racism within the sport and the all-encompassing equality messages that Kick It Out ask clubs to promote.
“Kick It Out is still very much seen as an anti-racism campaign - but besides that very important message they also look to tackle issues such as disability football, anti-Semitism, homophobia and sexism within the game. As Kick It Out's focus has expanded and evolved, their motto - 'One Game, One Community' - strikes a more relevant chord with the work they do within the sport.
“Flanked by Fulham to my left and Spurs to my right, I smiled at being surrounded by Premier League colleagues and said that I hoped this was an omen for next season, and that Reading would be rubbing shoulders with the top tier teams once more. In terms of our Community Trust work, I believe we already are.
“We first discussed the 'weeks of action' activities that had been conducted at clubs across the south and there had been some innovative ideas; MK Dons had run a competition seeing how many pupils could fit into their club mascot's shirt when he made Kick It Out visits to local schools, Millwall delivered coaching courses offered in languages such as Arabic and Portuguese, Aston Villa were very active in using their ambassador Emile Heskey to deliver the anti-racist message, and of course at Reading we hosted a Kickz football match followed by a Kick It Out seminar for the group before our clash with Southampton last year.
“It was interesting to note the different representatives sat around the room. Club secretaries, Community coaches, press officers, HR and Customer Service managers - it takes input from all corners of a football club to really help promote the 'Kick It Out' campaign effectively to supporters.
“After lunch, we heard a presentation from Arsenal, on their 'Arsenal For Everyone' campaign, and becoming the first club to reach the Advanced Level of Kick It Out's Equality Standard - and, as Fulham's representative pointed out in a discussion around the table, it became very clear that the Gunners' success had been gained by actively promoting the positive work their club do to break down these prejudices and encourage equality within all areas of their community work.
“We discussed how to communicate the Kick It Out message better in the future - football clubs' approach to 'Kick It Out' should be less about encouraging their staff, players and supporters not to say this, and not to think that - but instead, clubs should lead by example, in demonstrating how equal opportunities for all are available in football at Reading.
“We already do that all year round. At Reading we are blessed with a society not as divided by religion or race as in other parts of the country and with a relatively open-minded community when it comes to equality. But we are also very lucky to have a Community Trust department at Reading Football Club, dedicated to daily far-reaching and wide-ranged programmes that only serve to promote equality in football. We hope to promote as much of that good work we do as possible in 2012.”
