Introduction - Show Racism the Red Card

Show Racism
the Red Card
Introduction
Newsletter February 2007
Welcome to the first Show Racism
the Red Card UK newsletter 2007.
Campaign Worker for England - Gavin Sutherland on
email: [email protected]
The aim of this newsletter is to provide our sponsors,
patrons and supporters with a brief update of our plans
and reports on recent work.
Our new Campaign Co-ordinators for Wales and
Scotland are now in post and an excellent addition to
the Show Racism the Red Card Team. Our Welsh
worker - Sunil Patel, can be contacted via telephone
on 01443 228873 (ext 19) or by email at
[email protected]
In Scotland Billy Singh can be contacted
on 0141 332 8566 or by email at
[email protected]
We are now in the process of finalising our Annual
Review for 2006 and it will be available in an electronic
format in March. Our Guide for Councils working with
the campaign has now been completed and is due for
launch at Hampden Park, the Scottish National
Stadium on 23rd February. Also at this event we will
launch our new campaign film, which aims to promote
how our organisation works throughout the UK. We
hope that these new resources along with the
forthcoming “Guide for Football Clubs” will increase
both the number of organisations working in
partnership with us, and the efficacy of our work.
If you would like to reserve your copy of any
of these resources, please contact Paul
Kearns our UK Office Manager on tel: 0191 291 0160
or email: [email protected]
In the North East of England we work with a
number of partner councils who fund our
work and receive our free school
coaching and education service. North
Tyneside Council have agreed to fund
this scheme to the tune of £15,00
in 2007.
Finally, an indication that we are now part of the social
fabric of the UK is that we are receiving more and more
requests from TV programmes to include our football
club and anti-racism schools posters displayed on their
sets. Several television programmes have used the
posters to establish authenticity; including ‘The
Bill’ and ‘Byker Grove’. We have also made
it onto the set of the Oscar nominated
film ‘Notes on a Scandal’ which
is set in a London school
and stars Dame
Judi Dench.
by Ged Grebby
This year’s school competition has
already surpassed last year’s registration
totals in both England and Wales and we are
looking forward to our most successful
competition ever. Schools can register for the
competition until 28th February 2007 and
those who wish to do so should contact our
newsletter february 07
1
STOP PRESS
Campaign in Wales United at
Newcastle
United
Here in Wales, the campaign is gathering momentum with more
and more schools registering their interest in our annual
Schools Competition. We have had interest from schools
around the country, including a significant number of Welsh
speaking schools. Final stages of negotiations for the prize
giving ceremony venue are underway and we are hopeful that a
date will be confirmed with the Millennium Stadium shortly.
Show Racism the Red Card Wales held a very successful event
at Cardiff City at the end of last year and will hold events in the
coming weeks at Swansea City and Wrexham football clubs.
We are also planning events with clubs from the Welsh Premier
Football League including Cwmbran FC and Porthmadog FC,
and also with Newport FC who play in the English League.
SRTRC Wales will be involved in the ‘UN Elimination of Racial
Discrimination Day’ on 21st March 2007. During that week, we
will be working with clubs and various organisations in
conjunction with the Commission for Racial Equality in Wales to
promote awareness of the day and hold activities around the
country, for further details about the day, please visit
www.croesoproject.org
In the coming months we will be producing more posters in
Wales and will be working with other areas of sport such as
Rugby and Cricket. Activities are also planned with more
partners such as Cardiff University and the Valleys Race
Equality Council.
Events already confirmed
• SRTRC Football Day - Porthmadog FC v The New Saints
(3rd Feb’07)
• SRTRC event at Wrexham FC (14th Feb’07)
If you would like to be involved with the campaign in Wales,
please email me at [email protected]
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Show Racism the Red Card and Partners
Together Educating Against Racism at St
James’s Park Tuesday 6th February.
Newcastle United FC players will attend
the event alongside players from
Newcastle Women’s FC, Newcastle
Falcons.
In a landmark event, organisations from
across the North East are coming
together to educate young people on the
dangers of racism and prejudice.
Show Racism the Red Card, CSV –
Community Connections, Positive
Images, the North East Refugee Service
and Save the Children will all be
represented alongside sporting heroes
from the four main sporting clubs in
Newcastle
Over one hundred young people from
North Tyneside and Newcastle schools,
will experience awareness raising
workshops throughout the morning. The
afternoon will be kicked off by ExNewcastle star John Beresford, before
“Drummed Up” a West African drumming
group based in Newcastle provide an
interactive performance for the young
people.
The main event will follow with young
people watching the Show Racism the
Red Card DVD before posing questions
on racism to a panel consisting of
players from all four sporting clubs.
newsletter february 07
Campaign
in Scotland
political and social conditions and
that racism operates along at least
three axes. First, it is characterised
by derogatory stereotyping, hatred
and violence. Second, it sets in
motion cycles of disadvantage.
Third, it negates and even
obliterates the culture, religion and
language of the groups concerned. I
am looking forward to the challenge
that lies ahead but saddened by the
fact that in 2007 we still need to
fight the scourge that is racism in
our society.
In the coming year we plan to hold
stadium events at all 12 Scottish
Premier League Clubs and 12 in the
lower leagues. We are at advanced
negotiations with Dundee United,
Hearts, Aberdeen, Rangers and
Celtic to hold events in February
and March. We also are looking to
expand our work with amateur and
junior clubs. Recent additions to our
posters include Stranraer,
St. Johnstone, Kilmarnock and
Aberdeen with Motherwell,
Dunfermline, St. Mirren, Falkirk and
Inverness Caledonian Thistle in the
pipeline. Our Schools Competition
is in full flow and the closing date is
23rd February with the prize giving
Billy Singh
It’s been a real rollercoaster ride
here since I started in December
2006. On my first day we had a
photo shoot with avid supporters of
our campaign, Billy Bragg and
Rangers and Scotland captain Barry
Ferguson. Day three is spent with
Barry’s older brother and former
Rangers and Hearts star Derek
Ferguson delivering our ‘A Safe
Place’ workshop on asylum seekers
and refugees to primary schools in
Edinburgh. Day four I meet with one
of our committee advisors Derek
Kirkwood within the inner sanctum
of the Scottish Football Association
at Hampden Park. But it’s not all
glamour. On my way to the recent
Old Firm derby I notice the BNP
selling their propaganda outside the
stadium. It was a busy wee spot!
The recent race furore with regards
to Big Brother and the constant
negative attitudes towards Muslims
and our new citizens from the EU
reinforces my belief that we must
never be complacent. I believe that
racism changes according to
>
ceremony at Hampden Park on 19th
April. We have just completed
delivering our Safe Place (asylum
seekers and refugees) workshops
to over 90 schools in three council
areas. East Ayrshire Council in
partnership with Kilmarnock FC is
about to embark on the scheme.
Most of our educational work is with
children and I have a personal goal
to expand our work in Scotland to
target adults who are the main
perpetrators of racist abuse. We will
do this by working with supporters
clubs/trusts and negotiating with
employers to deliver our message in
places of work. Onwards and
upwards.
Further info:
www.theredcardscotland.org
Billy Singh,
Pictured above members of the Telugu Association of Scotland supporting Show Racism the Red
Scottish Campaign
Co-ordinator
Card campaign.
newsletter february 07
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Report on events held so far in 2007
Plymouth Argyle FC
17th January 2007
Pictured here young pupils from Welbeck Primary who attending a SRTRC event
Show Racism the Red Card’s very
first event with Plymouth FC was
organised in conjunction with the
club and Plymouth City Council. 60
young people were invited to Home
Park, from local city schools and
had the opportunity to tour the
ground, before the main event
began.
In attendance from Plymouth Argyle
FC were Marcel Seip and Cherno
Samba. Marcel is a former under21 Dutch International who played
for Heerenveen and joined
Plymouth in August, as did Cherno
Samba, who had spent the
previous two seasons playing in
Spain with Cadiz and Malaga. Two
representatives from Plymouth City
Council were also on the panel, Cllr
Allan Weekes, Cabinet member for
Social Care and Community
Cohesion; and Bronwen Lacey,
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Head of Childrens Services.
Completing the top table line-up
was Gary Bennett who was
representing SRTRC in addition to
Sunil Patel and Gavin Sutherland.
After short introductory speeches
from Allan Weekes and Bronwen
Lacey, we screened the latest Show
Racism the Red Card film, which
was well received by both the
audience and panel. After this a
very good Question and Answer
session took place, the players and
panel members answering some
very well thought out questions
from the audience. Thanks to
Plymouth Argyle FC, Gary was able
to choose his three favourite
questions to receive a prize. The
club had donated a signed shirt,
ball and match tickets as prizes.
After the Q&A, there was an
opportunity to get autographs and
photo opportunities with the
players. Media coverage of the
event was high, interviews taking
place with BBC TV, 2 radio stations,
the Club’s TV station and an article
appearing in the Plymouth Herald.
A big thank you is due to the club,
in particular to Mark Rivers and the
Community Team and Rick
Cowdery for their organisational
help before the event and on the
day. Also to Plymouth City Council,
especially Darin Halifax for his
assistance in organising the event
and to Allan Weekes and Bronwen
Lacey for taking part on the day .
Thanks also to Gary and Sunil for all
their help.
newsletter february 07
Newcastle Eagles event
19th January 2007
report by Derek Gardner
The launch of the Newcastle Eagles
season 2006-07 posters, took place
at the home of the Eagles, the
Metro Radio Arena prior to their
home game against London United.
Twenty young people from
Ashington Community High School
plus young volunteer Lewis and his
mum, distributed over 1000 posters
of the Eagles and 1000 poster of
football teams involved in the
campaign.
The poster celebrated the most
successful season in the Eagles
club history with all four of the
trophies won by the club during the
05-06 season.
Pictured here are the young people from
Ashington with the team at the end of their
winning game
Newcastle Falcons RFC
22nd January 2007
Newcastle Falcons again let SRTRC
use their Kingston Park facility for
an event to promote the anti-racism
message and Newcastle Falcons
Pictured above a young winner with match tickets,given away at the Newcastle Falcons, Kingston
Park event. Players from left to right Tim Visser, Joe Shaw, Micky Ward and Eni Gesinde.
poster to school pupils from latest
partnership council, North Tyneside,
and from Northumberland Council.
Around 60 young people were in
attendance to take part in a
Question and Answer session
featuring four players from
Newcastle Falcons. Joe Shaw,
Micky Ward, Tim Visser and Eni
Gesinde, who joined SRTRC
representatives Kieron Brady and
Gary Bennett on the panel. Ged
Grebby was able to speak on behalf
of the Campaign and informed the
audience of some of the history
behind the organisation.
Unfortunately, a technical hitch
meant that we were unable to show
the latest Show Racism the Red
Card film and so were able to enjoy
an extended question and answer
session. The players handled the
young people’s questions very well
and the Q&A session was
entertaining as well as supporting
the SRTRC message strongly. An
opportunity for autographs and a
tour of the stadium for the audience
took place at the end of the event.
Our thanks to Newcastle Falcons
and the staff there, in particular to
Mark Foster for his help in
organising the day. Thanks also to
Jo Stewart from North Tyneside
Council for organising the NTC
schools involvement and to Derek
Gardner for his help in ensuring
pupils from the Northumberland
area were present.
Sunderland AFC Poster Launch
23rd January 2007
The 2007 Sunderland AFC poster
was launched in conjunction with
Sunderland Council at the Council
Chamber on the 23rd January
2007. The young people from
Ashington, South Tyneside and
Sunderland had the opportunity to
tour the Stadium of Light earlier in
the afternoon, which was enjoyed
by all and set the atmosphere for
the main event.
Mayor of Sunderland Cllr Tom
Foster introduced the event, and
the young people then had the
Pictured here are the young people who attended the Newcastle Falcons, Kingston Park event
newsletter february 07
5
Nyron Nosworthy and Carlos Edwards from
Sunderland AFC signing autographs at our
SRTRC Sunderland event.
There was an excellent Question
and Answer session between the
young people and a panel which
included Nyron Nosworthy and
Carlos Edwards from Sunderland
AFC, Project Coordinator Ged
Grebby, Kieron and Gary. Thanks to
Sunderland AFC we were able to
distribute match tickets and a
signed Sunderland AFC shirt to the
young people who asked the best
questions.
Our thanks go to Les Platt at
Sunderland Council and Louise
Wanless at Sunderland AFC for
their help in organising this event.
Dagenham & Redbridge FC
Event 30th January 2007
SRTRC’s first event with Dagenham
& Redbridge FC was also our first
event with a current Conference
team. The club made us feel very
welcome and we enjoyed a great
event. 150 young people of a
variety of ages attended from
Barking & Dagenham and
Redbridge borough schools. A host
of agencies helped to organise the
event and attendance of the young
people and take part in the day;
including Barking & Dagenham
Council, Redbridge Council, South
Eastern Regional TUC, Regional
NUT and The Metropolitan Police.
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It was a very impressive panel in
attendance too, featuring SRTRC
patron Warren Barton, Dagenham &
Redbridge players Anwar Uddin
and Danny Foster, Fiona Bevan of
Barking & Dagenham Council, Alan
Weinberg Leader of Redbridge
Council, Jon Cruddas MP for
Dagenham, Ed Blissett from the
GMB, Stephen Thompson of
Dagenham & Redbridge FC and
representing SRTRC, Ged Grebby,
Kieron Brady and Kim Burns.
The event was chaired by Kim and
after introducing short speeches
from Jon Cruddas, The Leader of
Redbridge Council and Fiona
Bevan, Ged introduced the SRTRC
DVD, which was well received by
the audience. There then followed
an excellent Question and Answer
session with young members of the
audience asking questions of the
panel about racism. The club had
kindly donated an autographed
shirt, which was given away to the
person who asked the “best”
question. Kieron had the unenviable
task of selecting the best question.
The Q&A helped to ensure that
everybody left the event with a
positive anti-racist message
presented to them. After the Q&A,
an autograph session followed and
Ged did some interviews with local
TV, newspapers and radio stations.
After such an enjoyable and
effective event, we hope to organise
more events with the club in future
years. SRTRC would like to thank
all of the people who attended and
spoke and the following people for
their help in organising the event:
Stephen Thompson, Chris and Tony
(D&R FC), Jimmy Maravala and Bill
Gent from Redbridge Council, Fiona
Bevan, Gillian Perendes and
Dominic Byrne from Barking &
Dagenham Council and Laurie
Heselden from SERTUC.
future events:
February
• Tuesday 6/2/07 Newcastle
United Poster launch at St
James’ Park 1.30pm.
• Tuesday 13/02/07 Liverpool FC:
Anfield at 2pm.
• Wednesday 14/02/07 Wrexham
FC time TBC.
• Friday 23/02/07 Hampden Park
Glasgow launch of Best Practice
Guide for Councils at 10.30am.
• Wednesday 28/02/07 Darlington
FC at 2pm.
March
28/03/07 Crystal Palace FC at 2pm.
April
19/04/07 Prize giving ceremony for
Scottish schools competition at
Hampden at 2pm.
May
.
3/05/07 Prize giving ceremony for
English School competition. Venue
to be confirmed soon.
newsletter february 07
Artwork by: Kaylem Swires, Bramley Primary School, Leeds
opportunity to watch some
highlights of the SRTRC DVD.
Followed by a performance by antiracist hip-hop group “The Word”
who performed 2 songs and
showed some extracts from their
new DVD.
The Show Racism the Red Card Anti-Racist Schools
Competition 2007, looks as though it will be one of
the most high profile and widely participated that we
have organised. This year we aim to have one
thousand schools
registered to take part and
should be able to confirm
an extremely special venue
for the Prize Giving
Ceremony very soon.
We have promoted the
competition extensively
through the production and
distribution of 40,000
flyers. Thanks to the
National Union of Teachers,
Registration for the competition ends on February
28th. If your school has not registered yet then
please hurry! SRTRC are making every effort to
ensure that there are some great prizes for
winners and this year we will make all entries in to
a permanent display that will be available to public
buildings in the UK.
For all competition enquiries please contact:
Gavin Sutherland
[email protected]
0191 291 0160
and see the website for more details.
WELCOME
To the new members of
the Show Racism the
Red Card team Paul Kearns
< UK Office Manager
Sunil Patel
Wales Campaign
< Co-ordinator
Billy Singh
Scotland Campaign
< Co-ordinator
Congratulations to:
Our Wales Co-ordinator Sunil Patel & family on the birth
of their son Krish, born on 13th
January weighing 7lb. Both baby
and mum doing well, dad not
doing too bad either!
newsletter february 07
Major sponsors
Artwork by: Nina Haveron & Emily Pollock, Greenock Academy, Greenock
School Competition
who included a copy of the flyer with their January
mailing to schools, every school in England has
received a copy of the rules and registration form.
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