Cardiff City Football Club Foundation made a powerful start to Black History Month this week.
In a statement published on the Foundation’s website calling on “everyone to challenge discrimination and celebrate diversity”, the Foundation’s Disability and Equality Diversity and Inclusion Coordinator, Chris Foot, listed a number of steps the club has taken, and will be taking over the next few weeks.
“Racism and discrimination have a profound and corrosive impact on our communities,” said Chris. “They exacerbate inequalities. They create fear and mistrust. They exploit vulnerabilities.
COMMUNITIES
“At the start of Black History Month, we’re calling on everyone to come together to challenge discrimination and celebrate diversity, not just in football but in our communities.
“The events of this year caused us to stop and think hard about what we need to do to encourage more inclusive behaviours, tackle racism and discrimination, celebrate diversity and create lasting change.”
Chris described how the club had asked service users to tell them what they do well and what they needed to improve upon.
He revealed: “They told us that they feel included and valued by our people. They told us that we do a good job of bringing people of different backgrounds together through football and we should continue to do it. They also told us we should try and make our workforce more representative of our communities and that we should do more to educate people about black history.”
WORKFORCE
Chris lists a number of steps that the Foundation have taken, including appointing a new Equality Diversity and Inclusion Lead, and hosting a Q&A with Show Racism the Red Card, so young people could learn about and discuss issues relating to race, racism and racial injustice.
Furthermore over the next few weeks, amongst numerous steps, the club has pledged to make its Equality Diversity and Inclusion (EDI) Action Plan publicly available, and review its recruitment procedures in order to build a more diverse workforce.
Read more on the Foundation’s website.
Pic credit: Cardiff City FC Foundation.
