Football Against Racism in Europe is being marked at four levels in Ireland with the aim of a big impact through engaging with clubs, officials, supporters and players to support the anti racism message. The fortnight of action is part of FARE actions across Europe including in Champions League games as well as actions within national associations affliated with UEFA.Be sure to come back to this page for photographs and other reports during FARE fortnight 2013 InternationalSenior players will be presented with the new Show Racism the Red Card DVD Education pack. The pack features interviews with tops stars of Irish sport including Seamus Coleman, Simon Cox, David Meyler, James Mc Carty, Darren Randolph and Sean St Ledger as well as Ireland U19’s women’s player Rihanna Jarrett.
At the Ireland Vs Kazakhstan, children from diverse backgrounds will accompany players onto the pitch with anti-racism signs, while in the stands You Boys in Green supporters will unveil a giant anti-racism banner. Airtricity LeagueActions involving clubs and players will take place as Drogheda and Limerick, while fans groups at Cork City, Dundalk, Shelbourne and St Patricks Athletic will unveil giant anti-racism banners.Club & CommunityA grants scheme from the FAI Intercultural Programme was administered by SRTRC to support clubs and community groups to organise activities to promote the anti-racism message at 17clubs and groups. This scheme is expected to impact with up to 2,000 young people.
Pictured: Boys from Buncrana Hearts FC On Saturday morning 19th Oct 28 kids from our Fun Soccer Academy helped us celebrate FARE Week by “Showing Racism the Red Card”. We began the event by talking to the kids (Under 6/7) about Respect and what “Show Racism the Red Card” means. The kids were then put through their normal warm-up routines before we got them into teams for the Fun Mini-Soccer Blitz. Before kick-off in each game all teams exchanged handshakes and the kids refereed the games with the emphasis on Respect for your team-mate & opponent. As Buncrana still has a large numbers of foreign nationals especially from the Polish community we are well aware of the different cultural backgrounds and aspects something that the event gave us the opportunity to address. Pictures were taken and sent to three local papers of which one has published some pics and another will publish pics in next weeks edition. All the kids that took part were presented with a wrist band and during matches they wore training bibs with the “Unite against Racism” logo on it. On behalf of the club I would like to thank “Show Racism the Red Card” for once again inviting us to participate in this exercise. Look forward to next year’s event.
Report from Athlone Institute of TechnologyWe had 10 teams in total competing in our Futsal league and over 75 students playing from all over the world, Ireland, Saudi, Italy, Spain, France, Brazil, Germany, China. We marked FARE fortnight with a display of banners and posters. Report from Manor Astropark in Co Leitrim
Pictured below: Participants in the FARE Action from Neighbourhood Youth Project 1 from Dublin City. Here is their report
Eric here from the Neighbourhood Youth Project for the fare week we ran a number of mixed football games between our project members and and other young people from different schools, on Monday we had an under 14 event, Tuesday an over 18 football match was held for our past project members, Wednesday and Thursday we had mixed football matches in O Connells school between project members teachers and a number of young people from different schools. The following week we had 12 German young people over from Bonn in Germany who took part in an exchange programme with 10 Irish young people, one of the workshops that the group did was about Racism they made a short play, and played a few mixed football matches with the staff.
Clubs in Kerry mark FARE fortnightSchoolsFAI Development Officers in each county delivered Show Racism the Red Card workshops to children in over 100 schools reaching over 6,000 young people. Community Gardai in Clontarf and Raheny are joining the FAI to deliver the Show Racism the Red Card message in ten schools in the area, which will culminate in an interschools soccer blitz involving 526 children from 10 schools. Meanwhile the FAI in Wexford brought the message to young people in 19 schools over the two week period.Here is a report from Gaelscoil Mhíchíl Cíosóg about their activities:The Gaelscoil in Ennis invited the Educate Together school to watch the “Show racism dvd” together and take part in a soccer blitz. Aidan and his team from Lifford Soccer club in Ennis kindly helped to organise the blitz and refereed the matches.5th class from the Educate together and 5th an 6th class from the Gaelscoil took part in the event. The children watched the dvd and discussed its content before taking part in a mixed team blitz. Afterwards children enjoyed some refreshments together in the hall and they were all presented with a “Show racism the red card” wristband. The children were all extremely well behaved and very positive throughout the afternoon. We hope to organise similar events with the Educate Together school in the future.
Pictured above: Pupils from Gaelscoil and Ennis Educate Together NS
Pictured: Boys and Girls from schools at the Interschool anti-racism blitz at Irishtown Stadium this week. 100 children were involved in anti-racism workshops and the blitz tournament. Schools included: Warrenmount gns,St Brigids, the Coombe NS, Ringsend bns,Ringsend gns, St John Scottus, Francis street, Scoil Treasa
Pictured: Boys and Girls at the Dublin 5 Interschools Anti Racism Blitz with SRTRC mascot Jeff the Ref. 526 children from 10 schools took part in both anti-racism workshops and the blitz.
Pictured above: players and young people from Clondalkin and Lucan who took part in activities with Clondalkin Youth Service
Pictured above: Players from Melville United FC, Athlone. The players promoted the anti racism message through their community centre, which is used by other local groups. They made their own ‘Jeff the Ref’ poster and hosted a public screening of the Show Racism the Red Card DVD, which was very well received. Announcing the programme of activities today, Garrett Mullan, Coordinator of Show Racism the Red Card, said: “Unfortunately, racism is an issue in Ireland, but football and the role model status of its top stars are powerful vehicles for promoting tolerance and integration.“There is a huge amount of activity planned for the FARE fortnight. We are delighted that individual footballers, as well as clubs at all levels, and – of course – the FAI – have lent their support to the FARE initiative. If young football fans get the message from all quarters that racism will not be tolerated in this sport, it is likely to have a very positive impact in future years.”Also speaking today at the announcement of the programme of events was Des Tomlinson, Intercultural Coordinator with the FAI. “FARE fortnight is supported by UEFA and involves actions against racism not only in Ireland but throughout the game internationally. Football has the potential to be a powerful driver in promoting integration and there can be no place for racism within the game,” he said. More information about Football Against Racism in EuropeUEFA FARE WEEK REPORT 2013 UEFA FARE WEEK REPORT 2013http://www.uefa.org/socialresponsibility/antiracism/index.htmlwww.farenet.org