The first week in February saw Fans for Diversity visit Greet Primary School, to break down barriers, and build diversity in football.
The Fans for Diversity campaign is a partnership between the Football Supporters’ Association and Kick It Out led by Anwar Uddin. Its aim is simple – to celebrate diversity in football to ensure all fans feel safe and welcome at the game, regardless of; age, disability, gender, race, faith, sexual orientation or any other protected characteristic.
“We are incredibly proud to be part of initiating this exciting project about diversity in football. We want every child at Greet to know there are no limits to what they can achieve and provide them with the skills and confidence to push through barriers they may face. All sport, including football, should provide equal opportunities for all but sadly this is not the case. The day was a wonderful celebration of all of the positives that football can offer physical & mental wellbeing, a sense of community & teamwork to name but a few! I even got to practice my own skills. Such an awesome day!” - Chloe Williams, Deputy Headteacher
Nicky Brennan, councillor for Sparkhill attended the event, and said: “It was amazing to see so many children engaged in playing football and the pride they showed designing their own shirts. It made me feel so happy seeing girls especially playing football so freely. Football is for everyone and I’m so glad the children got so much out of it. Thank you to Greet for such an amazing day”
Anwar Uddin MBE, was the first Bangladeshi to play professional football in England and the first British Asian to captain a football club in the top four divisions of English football. He began his football career at West Ham United, working his way up through their youth and reserve teams where he was captain. He was in West Ham's victorious 1999 FA Youth Cup winning squad that defeated Coventry City.* Anwar is the campaign manager for Fans for Diversity and said: “Being back in school for a day with the brilliant pupils at Greet was a privilege, people often say if you can't see it you can't be it, we wanted to give the young people an insight into our journeys which started where they are, what it takes, the challenges, the highs and the lows but ultimately be living proof that anything is possible regardless of who you are”.
* Source - Wikipedia