Football Unites, Racism divides meeting at EU Parliament

Football Unites, Racism divides meeting at EU Parliament

FARE and EFDN member Chelsea Foundation participated in a panel discussion with the European Parliament last Wednesday. Together with experts from other stakeholders, issues around racism, discrimination, and antisemitism in football were discussed.

The “Racism divides, Football unites” event started with a video message of Mario Balotelli who is currently playing for the French 1st League team OGC Nice. After the Members of Intergroups of the European Parliament made their introductory remarks, a discussion about the problems of racism and discrimination and possible solutions followed. FARE’s Eastern Europe Development Officer Pavel Klymenko had a panel discussion with discussed with three speakers, including Patrick Gasser, member of Social Responsibility team at the UEFA.

The second session focused on the thread of antisemitism in football. After the introductory remark from the Chair of the European Working Group on Antisemitism, Heinz Becker, he invited Simon Taylor and Dave Rich from the Chelsea FC Foundation, to join him in a panel discussion.

Expertise due to own campaign against antisemitism

The representatives of the Chelsea Foundation have developed a good practice and gained practical experiences regarding the fight against antisemitism. In January  2018 the English club launched the initiative “Say No To Antisemitism”. The goal of the campaign is to raise awareness of the impact of antisemitism on the Jewish community and the wider society. It also aims to foster equality and diversity in football. The campaign followed several claims of antisemitism against the club, including Chelsea fans singing antisemitic songs at a pub before their FA Cup semi-final match against Tottenham Hotspur in April 2017. As part of the campaign, Chelsea published a guide for safety officers and stewards entitled “Tackling Antisemitism in Football”. The guide was developed in cooperation with Chelsea FC Foundation partners Community Security Trust and Kick It Out and aims to educate people about Judaism, the Holocaust, antisemitism in football, the law regarding hate speech and how to report incidents of antisemitism in football. The guide is also available on the EFDN online learning platform. 

FARE challenges discrimination at all levels

Pavel Klymenko represented the FARE Network. FARE works across all levels of the game to advance social inclusion of marginalised and disenfranchised groups and to engage policymakers, key players and governing bodies in the anti-discrimination movement. The network challenges discrimination at all levels of football. At the same time, it uses football as a tool to tackle societal discrimination.