Brighton & Hove Albion's Premier League game against Swansea City on Saturday will see the club host their dedicated fixture to the work of Kick It Out, football’s equality and inclusion organisation.
Since 1993, Kick It Out has worked throughout the football, educational and community sectors to challenge discrimination, encourage inclusive practices and campaign for positive change.
A small independent charity, the ‘Let’s Kick Racism Out of Football’ campaign, was established in 1993 in response to widespread calls from clubs, players and fans to tackle racist attitudes existing within the game. Kick It Out was then introduced as a body in 1997, as it widened out its objectives to cover all aspects of inequality and exclusion.
The players will be wearing Kick It Out T-shirts in the warm-up this on Saturday, along with the ball kids and mascots, while Paul Mortimer and Roisin Woods from the organisation will be special guests at the game.
Kick It Out education manager Troy Townsend spoke to the club’s matchday magazine ahead of the game and said, “We have a particularly good relationship with Brighton.
“I would regularly visit three times a season, and that was before the club got into the Premier League and became part of the Equality Inspires programme, which allows them to now reach out and provide more workshops than ever before – many of which are self-funded by the club.
“One of first sessions we had, about three years ago, was regarding homophobia and I remember the boys saying we don’t have that issue down here, which was great to hear.
“They were very conscious of the zero-tolerance the club has towards homophobia and mindful of the demographic within the city, so it became one of the best workshops I’ve done. The club has embraced every element of the workshops that we’ve done and in Chris Hughton and Hope Powell, we also have two high-profile figures who are very supportive of the work we do.
“Brighton are also working towards attaining the preliminary level of the Premier League’s Equality Standard and Kick It Out is part the club’s support network for this process.”
Fans attending matches here at the Amex can report incidents of discrimination directly to Kick It Out via the Kick It Out app, and these incidents are then communicated to the club to investigate.
Another way of reporting incidents of discrimination and anti-social behaviour directly to the club is via our dedicated hotline number which is 07880 196442.