Fans have a role to play

By Luke Williams

If there was a buzzword at yesterday's 'Unite Against Racism' conference in London it was 'practicality'.

Common desire
The various delegates and personalities at the conference, organised by UEFA, the pan-European Football Against Racism in Europe (FARE) network and the English Football Association (FA), were united in their determination to combat racism, but also bound by a common desire that the day's events should produce concrete practical steps for the future.

Opinion canvassed
Fans who have an interest in the fight against racism may not always know where to go to make their contributions, so uefa.com canvassed opinion about how supporters across the continent can make a difference.

'Join with them'
Lord Herman Ouseley of Kick it Out and FARE noted: "If you're the fan of a club there are probably groups of people within the club already who are committed to better behaviour within fans. Join with them. Our campaign has sought to build on the strength of supporters who are campaigning against racism, abuse and intolerance. Getting in touch with the Kick it Out campaign we can put you in touch with others. We don't see ourselves as rising above these [fan] groups but as consolidating them."

'Take sustenance'
Piara Powar, national co-ordinator of Kick it Out and FARE, offered a direct message to supporters who wish to get involved with anti-racist campaigns or feel marginalised by their experiences within football. "Don't feel you're in the minority in objecting and abhorring what you hear or see," he said. "You're not alone. Secondly take some sustenance from the fact that European football is finally saying enough is enough, in some countries you may be raising issues that associations or clubs or leagues are not yet ready to deal with. But in many others this conference will have given FAs the confidence and ability to go on and challenge racism."

Conference specifically tailored
The conference was specifically tailored to recognise the desire of the participants and delegates to achieve practical results with a series of workshops at the centre of the day's activities. Over the coming weeks the findings and results from these group discussions will be fed into the draft guide to good practice in combating racism in European football, launched yesterday. It is intended that this document, in the words of Mike Lee, UEFA's director of communications and public affairs, will be built "into an official code throughout Europe".

Four workshops
The four workshops at the conference ('educating fans, stewards and police', 'developing policies at national level', 'what clubs can do' and 'tackling racism in UEFA competitions') each focused on different arenas in which the fight against racism can be mobilised.

Audio summations
The findings and discussions of each group were then summarised for the benefit of the whole conference - uefa.com users can listen to these summations by utilising the audio links on this page. Likewise if you are interested in learning more about the activities of FARE and Kick it Out you can visit the following websites:

http://www.farenet.org/
http://www.kickitout.org/