With Sunday’s fixture being dedicated to the Kick It Out campaign, the SUFC Trust have asked one of their trustees Abid Khan to write this week to highlight the issues with racism in football.
Kick It Out has contributed to making football a safer, more enjoyable and less intimidating place for those under-represented communities wishing to participate in the game in whatever capacity, at whatever level.
BEMSports are fully supportive of the Kick It Out of Football campaign, as we believe it is important to raise awareness. A lot of work has been done to challenge racial abuse and harassment at all levels of football, from the grassroots clubs, schools, community groups and fans enjoying the professional game in coming together in symbolic activities in promoting inclusion.
British Asian presence within football is still severely lacking. Currently, only eight Asian players appear in top tier football out of a total of 4,000 players.
With the FA attempting to encourage more Asians into the sport, it is understandable that many young Asians are turned off by the clear absence of other Asian role models in British football. Other Asians may stay clear of sports altogether with pressure from parents pushing them into more ‘valued’ career paths, like medicine and law.
BEMSports has been working for many years in partnership with Scunthorpe United CSET to raise awareness and break down barriers that exist within the sport. We believe it is important to involve people, regardless of ability, race, religion or background. It is all about encouraging and increasing the involvement of groups at all levels of football by recognising that inequalities exist and taking steps to address them.
I would like to wish Scunthorpe United all the best for Sunday’s game. Hopefully the team can get back to winning ways on Sunday after the recent poor run of results.
Up the Iron!
Abid Khan
Sport Development Officer
E-mail: bemsportnorthlincs@yahoo.co.uk
Tel: 07791374777