On Monday against Millwall, Fleetwood Town Football Club will show their continued support for Kick it Out, footballs inclusion campaign.
At Monday's game at Millwall all the players will be wearing their Kick it Out t-shirts as they warm up prior to the game. The campaign is supported and funded by the game's governing bodies, including founding body the Professional Footballers Association (PFA), the Premier League and The Football Association.
Since 1993, Kick It Out has worked throughout the football, educational and community sectors to challenge discrimination, encourage inclusive practices and campaign for positive change.
Throughout the 2016/17 season, Kick It Out is running an initiative – Call Full Time On Hate – which aims to utilise and engage the collective force of football to tackle discrimination and hate incidents at every level of the game. The initiative also seeks to highlight the positive messages of inclusion echoed by the football authorities, clubs, players, managers and supporters’ groups.
and in addition to its support in the programme today, the club will be supporting the initiative on social media, as well as through Kick It Out resources such as posters and t-shirts around Highbury Stadium.#CallFullTimeOnHateFleetwood Town are fully behind
The message that the campaign aims to deliver is particularly important, and this last week the Community Trust along with Fleetwood Town players Alex Cairns and Ashley Eastham have been into Baines Endowed Primary school talking to pupils about the Kick it Out message, the different forms of racism and what should we do if we hear it. Pupils had the opportunity to speak with Alex and Ashley and ask questions about the subject and the pupils were very engaged in the lesson and discussed some very important points.
Alex and his team mates are looking forward to recognising the work of Kick It Out today and he commented: “No form of discrimination should be tolerated and in order to combat this issue we all need to work together. The players, fans, supporters, governing bodies, everybody. We need to help educate people to understand that we are all different and those differences should be embraced.”
Over the last year, Lord Herman Ouseley, Chair of Kick It Out, has reiterated with all of the football authorities his concerns on behalf of the organisation around rising levels of hate in society and believes support from professional clubs is an important step in tackling the issue.
“Our anti-hate initiative aims to build on existing positive education and awareness-raising projects supported by clubs and their Foundations in their local communities.
“Football is at the forefront of helping its fans, players and young people in their local communities to understand the damaging effects of prejudice and discriminatory abuse.
“Call Full Time On Hate aims to ensure the game remains as inclusive and welcoming as possible and that it reiterates a zero tolerance approach to discrimination.”
If you want to find out more about the Kick it Out campaign visit their website www.kickitout.org.