Star studded turnout
Football stars, dignitaries past and present, and representatives of community groups from across the country gathered at London's Great Eastern Hotel in January 2004 to celebrate the tenth anniversary of the Let's Kick Racism Out of Football campaign.
Lord Herman Ouseley, chair of Kick It Out, and Professional Footballers' Association (PFA) chief executive Gordon Taylor hosted the lunch, which was also attended by England Head Coach Sven Goran Eriksson, Sports Minister Richard Caborn, Premiership referee Uriah Rennie, Charlton manager Alan Curbishley and former England manager Graham Taylor.
The campaign was launched during the 1993-1994 season by founder members the PFA and the Commission for Racial Equality(CRE).
Current players such as Ashley Cole, Chris Powell, Jason Euell and Darren Moore were joined by past greats such as Cyrille Regis, Luther Blissett, Paul Elliott, Brendon Batson and many others, at the event which highlighted the achievements of the campaign in challenging racism, encouraging community engagement and setting out an agenda for policy development.
Proud occasion
The campaign, which since 1997 has been run by Kick It Out with the support of the FA, Premier League, PFA and the Football Foundation, is widely cited as being the catalyst for positive changes in the game. It was an occasion to make everyone involved in the campaign proud.
Not least Gordon Taylor who said: "I wanted it to be an occasion of celebration of one of the good things happening in our game and it was wonderful to see so many people, from all areas of the game, together to mark this anniversary. It was everything I hoped it would be.
"There is still a long way to go with this campaign, like getting Asian footballers into the professional game and getting black players into coaching and management. They are just two steps we are hoping to make in the next phase of the campaign."
Herman Ouseley gave an impassioned speech reflecting on his experiences of observing racism in the game and citing the negative influence of sections of the media encouraging hatred on the basis of ethnic origin or status.
He recalled that many people had told him he was 'mad' and would make no progress in advancing change through a campaign.
Awards
During the lunch Kick It Out took the opportunity to present awards to symbolically recognise the contributions made by key groups of people over the years. An award was presented to black pioneers to recognise their achievements in the face of adversity - Cyrille Regis, Luther Blissett and Paul Elliott picked up this award.
A second award was given to Chris Powell, Martin Keown and Darren Moore to acknowledge the continuing work of current players. Darren Moore's contribution in attending events on a weekly basis was singled out for particular comment.
A third award was offered to recognise community and club achievement. Taj Butt of Bradford, Joss Johnson from Highfield Rangers in Leicester, Howard Holmes from Football Unites, Racism Divides in Sheffieldand Martin Simons, Chairman of Charlton Athletic shared this award.
The afternoon was presented by Garth Crooks and Aasmah Mir.
