FARE receives MTV award

Free your Mind award
The Football Against Racism in Europe (FARE) network, which is currently working together with UEFA in a comprehensive anti-racist campaign, received the MTV 'Free Your Mind' award for 2002 from FC Barcelona stars Patrick Kluivert and Frank de Boer at the annual MTV Europe awards in Barcelona.

Outstanding achievement
The award is presented each year to an individual or organisation that has made an outstanding achievement in the battle against intolerance and prejudice. FARE joins an illustrious list of winners which includes Amnesty International and Greenpeace.

Financial aid
FARE have been given significant financial aid by UEFA as the fight to eliminate racism from football intensifies on and off the field. On Tuesday, before the UEFA Champions League match between FC Basel and Liverpool FC, UEFA Chief Executive Gerhard Aigner presented FARE with a cheque for €270,000 to help fund an anti-racism conference next year. UEFA and FARE have also issued a ten-point plan of action to the European football community, in which a variety of measures are listed which could be used to punish racist conduct by fans, players and officials.

Great honour
Piara Powar, National Co-ordinator of England's anti-racist group Kick it Out, who received the award in Barcelona, as well as the UEFA cheque in Basel, both on behalf of FARE, said: "It is a great honour for FARE to receive the Free Your Mind Award. The work of the network will be greatly boosted by this award. It will be particularly welcomed by the work of the great many grassroots groups striving for equality by challenging racism in football across Europe."

Renewed campaigning
"At a time when problems of racism and prejudice are at the forefront of the consciousness of many in Europe, the recognition accorded through this, and other awards the network has received of late, will form the basis of renewed campaigning and engagement with young people and marginalised communities across the continent," he added.

Defending values
The coordinator of Italy's Progetto Ultrà anti-racist body, Carlo Balestri, was also in Barcelona to represent FARE at the MTV award presentation. "We work actively everyday to defend the values of the popular culture of the fan and to struggle against racism," he said. "For this goal, we work with the grassroots, and we are very pleased to receive an award from such a big television station which speaks to youngsters."