Wear Red Day
We invite you to be involved in the first #SRTRCWearRedDay. On Friday 25th November, we are inviting people in school, work, college or wherever they are to wear red for the day. On the day, we hope to raise funds which will help increase our impact across Ireland.
About Show Racism the Red Card
It came from an incident in 1995 and a £50 donation. A group of bored teenagers sitting on the wall at the Shell garage just next to St James Park in Newcastle started shouting racist abuse at a tall black man who was filling up his car. They carried on until they got a reaction. The man turned around and the teens realised who they had be shouting racist abuse at turned out to be Newcastle United’s Shaka Hislop. They ran over to ask for his autograph.
One moment he was subject to abuse and the next, he was treated like a hero. This was at a time when Newcastle were 15 points ahead of Manchester United at the top of the Premier League. Shaka was their goalkeeper and admired like the rest of the team. The incident prompted him to think of his role as a footballer because it showed that while much had changed in football, racism was still an issue in society.
After making the donation of £50 to a local anti-racism campaign, he was then invited to visit a school and such was the impact of the interaction, that other players got involved in school visits as well. Irish players including Curtis Fleming, David Kelly and Niall Quinn were among the first to be involved. Since then SRTRC has grown in impact and is now present in countries across Europe including Ireland.
Racism in Ireland
Racism is not just an issue for those countries which have a far right in parliament, as is the case across much of Europe. Racism is an issue in Ireland and is a trade union issue. Trade unions unite workers but racism has the potential to divide. A Teachers Union of Ireland survey of delegates attending their conference found that 46% of teachers had witnessed racism in the classroom in the month prior to their conference. Research by the Children’s Research Centre found that racism is a common experience for children as young as seven years of age. This is a shocking reality.
Education needed
Education is a powerful tool in the fight against racism. SRTRC launched in Ireland in 2006 now has programmes including workshops, training, creative competition and our new club welcome for refugees programme. Each year, we work with more than 300 schools, clubs and youth services to reach the future generations.
The main resource of SRTRC is the DVD education pack. The DVD which features among others from the world of sport Seamus Coleman, Darren Randolph, James Mc Carthy and young people give their views and experiences of racism in sport and society.
Our impact is demonstrated by the feedback we receive where teachers had described the Creative Competition for example as: ‘very effective and challenging’, ‘fantastic impact on raising awareness’, ‘learnt so much about each others’s cultures and impact of racism’ and ‘made such a difference particularly as some of the pupils had experiences of racism’.
We need your help, so on Friday 25th November, Wear Red Against Racism.
Wear Red Day- Wear Red Against Racism