KAA Gent and their fight against racism and discrimination
In response to the racist comments on a TikTok video by the U9 of KAA Gent, the club provides an overview below of the initiatives that KAA Gent and the KAA Gent Foundation have been undertaking since 2009 in the fight against racism and discrimination.
Priority since 2009
In 2009, KAA Gent made tackling discrimination and racism a priority. KAA Gent and its KAA Gent Foundation have since converted this priority into concrete actions. Since 2014, they have also been working on this theme with the City of Ghent and with all Ghent football clubs.
What we do
They developed their own basic training for club managers, volunteers and trainers , with a focus on themes that are relevant in their urban context, such as intercultural coexistence and respect for diversity. They offer referee training in which they pay special attention to a diverse influx of young people from their Elk Talent Counts clubs. They organize action weekends where they focus on the parents of their little footballers. At all football clubs in Ghent, including in the Ghelamco Arena, there are messages against discrimination and calls to report problems so that they can tackle them concretely and quickly. And in 2022 they developed a bystander training football in collaboration with INGent vzwteaching supporters and volunteers how to actively intervene when faced with racism or discrimination on or around the football pitch.
No tolerance for racism in the stands
They note that there is great awareness of this issue in their stands. Individual expressions of racism or discrimination are less and less tolerated by bystanders. When an incident occurs, the club can count on concrete reports from fellow supporters, after which the necessary measures are taken. This does not mean that there is no (anymore) problem, but there is broad support for effective action where necessary.
Local football
There is still more work to be done around the local football fields. When they addressed their federation on this theme in recent years, they encountered procedures, sometimes also misunderstanding. All too often they had the impression that their urban issues went unheard and misunderstood.
They therefore welcome every policy act of the Pro League, the KBVB and Voetbal Vlaanderen to structurally tackle racism and discrimination. Today they are an active partner of the football cell of the FPS Home Affairs, the Pro League, the KBVB and Voetbal Vlaanderen to get started together. With the implementation of concrete actions at the base: on and around the fields and in the stadiums of the football clubs. The capstone is fast procedures with sanctions for offenders. Concrete, workable and result-oriented are the keywords.
KAA Gent Foundation
In the meantime, they also work weekly with hundreds of Ghent residents on the same values in the social-sports projects of our KAA Gent Foundation: respect, fair play, non-discrimination. In Ghent, a football field has more than two goals.
The KAA Gent Foundation will continue its fight against racism and discrimination more than ever and will not fail to report and file a complaint with the existing hotlines and the competent authorities whenever such incidents occur in the Ghent football world.
