Dagenham and Redbridge FC

Show Racism the Red Card returned to the Dagenham Stadium for the third event in as many seasons with Dagenham & Redbridge FC.

I am delighted to once again show that Dagenham & Redbridge is a football club for the whole community and there is no place for racism here.

Steve Thompson, Chief Executive, Dagenham & Redbridge FC

The Club got right behind the campaign again and arranged for four of the first team squad Peter Gain, Jacob Erskine, Mark Nwokeji and Kayan Kalipha, the Manager – John Still and the Chief Executive Steve Thompson to attend and take part in the Q&A session.

The audience was comprised of 80+ young people from six different schools in the Barking & Dagenham borough. The ages of the pupils ranged from Year 6 to Year 10, which ensured that the Q&A session was interesting, varied and testing for the panel, which was completed by PFA Deputy Chief Executive and former Professional Footballer Bobby Barnes and Matt Ancell from the Metropolitan Police.

To begin the event however, Laura Fleck from SRtRC got the young people to join in with some short activities to define racism before a screening of the new Show Racism the Red Card DVD. The film was well received by the audience and provided some food for thought for the Question and Answer session. SRtRC had provided T-Shirts for the winners of the best question, which the panel were happy to sign. The best questions were chosen by John Still and the winners were photographed with the panel. The best questions of the day were:

• How do you feel deep down when you get a racist comment? (Sophia)
• What punishment do you think should be given to a racist? (Christian)
• Do you learn together about different Nationalities and listen? In our school there are 55 different Nationalities and we talk about feelings. (Jo)

All of the audience were able to get a SRtRC / Dagenham & Redbridge FC poster signed by the panel as well as a goody-bag and match tickets for an upcoming Dagenham & Redbridge FC match. The event received some coverage on the D&RFC website and programme.

SRtRC would like to thank everyone who attended and participated on the day and in particular Jeff Wood and Steve Thompson at the club for all of their help in arranging the event and to Matt Ancell for his help in getting some of the schools along. The campaign looks forward to its next trip to Dagenham and working with club further in the future.