Initiatives

Kick It Out can also help support pupils, students, teachers and professors hoping to run a campaign or activity within their school, college or university to promote the orgainsation’s key messages of equality and inclusion.

Below are some of the initiatives that Kick It Out has helped develop.

Schools and Colleges

  • Brittons Academy - January 2016

    Brittons-Academy-211-13 year olds are currently participating in a 10-week programme that will see the students develop artwork around the theme of equality and diversity within football.

    The aim of the initiative is for pupils to create posters and other materials that can be displayed with the school and local youth centres to spread positive message about inclusion for all.

  • Sevenoaks School - July 2015

    Students from Sevenoaks School in Kent delivered a presentation to Kick It Out on how the organisation can raise further awareness of its work at Fulham’s Craven Cottage ground on Thursday (2 July).

    The presentation was part of the ‘Classroom to Boardroom’ programme run by Entrepreneurs In Action, and for this project assisted by our Education Programme, looked to engage the students with the work of organisation as well as devise their own unique strategies to help Kick It Out reach further.

    The group of 25 were given their assignment earlier in the week by Hayley Bennett, Kick It Out’s Education Officer, who visited Sevenoaks to discuss what the students should explore for their project.

    The students focused on a number of aspects which they felt could raise awareness of the organisation, including how to improve Kick It Out’s presence on matchdays, encourage more people to download its free app and to engage with more people who play at the grassroots level of the game.

    You can find out more information here.

  • Long Road Sixth Form College - January 2016

    Students from Long Road Sixth Form College in Cambridge held a football match on Tuesday 12 January to promote inclusion in football.

    With support from Kick It Out’s Education Programme, students from the college organised the fixture, promoting the event across Long Road and encouraging fellow students to attend and participate.

    Each participant received a Kick It Out badge with the winning team claiming a trophy for their efforts. Speaking after the match, Chloe Beeton, Sports Activator at Long Road, was delighted with how the event went.

    “We held a recreational football match to raise awareness of equality and inclusion in football at the college.

    “The students were fully engaged and really enjoyed the event in aid of Kick It Out, which is a great organisation. We are really pleased with how the match went and we are hoping to run more matches in the future!”

  • UK Youth Parliament - January 2016

    DOH-logo

    The UK Youth Parliament (UKYP) announced a year-long campaign, in partnership with Kick It Out, to tackle racism and religious discrimination with a National Day of Action.

    The ‘Don’t Hate, Educate’ campaign aims to help young people speak out about incidents of racism and religious discrimination, particularly against people who are Muslim or Jewish.

    Kick It Out will be utilising its new young people’s group, comprised of ambassadors between the ages of 16 and 21, to help create promotional and educational resources for the campaign.

    Over the next year, Kick It Out’s young people’s group will campaign together with the UKYP to challenge negative attitudes around race and religion, to educate communities in order to tackle ignorance around race and religion, and to promote integration in those communities.

    You can find out more information here.

Universities

  • University of Nottingham - October 2015

    Nottingham Uni Brendan and TroyBrendon Batson joined Kick It Out to deliver a discussion on racism and discrimination in football at the University of Nottingham on Thursday 15 October, as part of the organisation’s activities during Black History Month.

    The former West Bromwich Albion star was joined by Troy Townsend, Kick It Out’s Education and Development Manager, as the audience listened to Brendan’s experience as a footballer and Troy’s involvement with football’s equality and inclusion organisation.

    The evening started with a brief talk on Brendon’s playing career, explaining how he started at Arsenal Football Club, moving to Cambridge before making his greatest impact as part of the famous ‘Three Degrees’ at West Brom.

    This was followed by a viewing of the Kick It Out 20 year Anniversary video, which gave an insight into the work the organisation has performed since its inception in 1993.

    You can read a full report of the event here.

  • University of Sunderland - May 2015

    Kick It Out, football’s equality and inclusion organisation, spoke at the Sport and Discrimination Conference 2015, held at the London Campus of the University of Sunderland.

    The conference was held on Friday 1 May and aimed to provide a forum for discrimination faced by people today. The conference also sought to discover what these forms of discrimination are and how best they can be understood and tackled.

    Kick It Out spoke as part of a panel discussion on discrimination, answering questions from the audience and from social media.

    There were keynote speeches from Dr Daniel Burdsey and Dr Jayne Caldwell, both from the University of Brighton, while there were also presentations from an international range of experts.

    You can read a full report of the event here.

  • Swansea University - May 2015

    Kick It Out’s education programme has been logging hundreds of miles, visiting institutions in England and Wales to spread the organisations’ key messages of equality and inclusion.

    Days after attending the 2015 Sport and Discrimination Conference at the London Campus of the University Of Sunderland, Education Officer Hayley Bennett visited Swansea University to deliver a talk to students from the School of Management.

    The talk focused on the importance of inclusion both in football and in business. Hayley spoke to students about social marketing and highlighted campaigns that Kick It Out has executed this season so far.

    You can read a full account of a busy May for Kick It Out here.

  • Leeds Beckett University - May 2015

    Leeds-Beckett-PhotoFollowing on from her trips to Swansea University and the London Campus of the University Of Sunderland, Education Officer Hayley Bennett visited Leeds Beckett University. Hayley was joined by Grassroots Football Development Officer Cory Hendricks-Jackman as they visited students at an event aimed at increasing Asian participation in football.

    Hayley said: “It’s been fantastic to go out to three very different areas and talk about the work of Kick It Out to intelligent and engaged young people.

    “Our education programme is really important to the work we do as a whole and the three events we’ve attended recently shows how varied it can be. Obviously we have more events planned and I’m really looking forward to going out and reaching communities that we haven’t met before, as well as following up with repeated visits to areas we’ve visited before.

    “We tailor our education sessions to each audience to maximise its impact and being able to deliver these sessions will hopefully plant a seed within the students and academics and we’ll see the future of football be a more inclusive place.”

    You can read more information about the event here.

  • London College of Communications - March 2015

    LCC-Exhibition-PhotoKick It Out and the London College of Communication (LCC) hosted a special event with Foundation Diploma in Art and Design students exhibiting artwork themed around equality and inclusion.

    Students were challenged to create unique artwork that would provoke discussion amongst viewers of the exhibition and make them think about the chosen topics. Over 400 students submitted entries with 40 selected for the exhibition.

    All students created work of a high standard, with several different media being used. Videos, masks, posters, paintings, sculptures, and structures all combined to create a powerful impression inside the college where the exhibition was being hosted.

    The entries were judged by a three-person panel of Roisin Wood, Director of Kick It Out, Richard Bates, Media and Communications Manager for Kick It Out, and Mark Crawley, Dean of Students at LCC and Director of Widening Participation and Progression at University of the Arts London.

    You can read the full report of the event here.

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Kelly Smith, England Women's record goalscorer
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Rachel Yankey, former Arsenal Ladies forward
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