#SRtRCSpotlight: Anti-Racist Captains Programme Launch
Show Racism the Red Card’s “Wear Red Day” campaign was celebrated this year with the launch of our North West Anti-Racist Captains programme at Old Trafford in partnership with the Manchester United Foundation.
At this year’s event, forty students from Year 9 and Year 10 at seven different schools came together to begin a project that will last for the rest of this academic year, culminating in a celebration event in the spring. In the meantime, they will plan and undertake a range of activities in their own schools, aimed at highlighting understanding of racism within their school communities, raising awareness, and planning ways of challenging incidents.
At the launch event, the students explored specific examples of institutional racism, investigating the impact it can have, and how important allyship is when people are targeted in a range of situations. This led to sharing stories of “unsung heroes”, from the footballing world and beyond, before having the opportunity to engage with SRtRC’s “First 11” programme, which will form a major part of the charity’s 30-year celebrations throughout 2026.
On display at the event was an exhibition celebrating the first 11 Black women to play for England, and the group were given the opportunity to research some of these players’ stories, and plan and present their own ideas on how they would share and celebrate them. This included some imaginative suggestions and designs for biography titles and book covers, which will be further developed after the event.
After meeting and asking questions with a panel of guests, including Iffy Onuora, Head of Race Equality and Inclusion at the FA Premier League, the students began creating their Anti-Racist Captains action plans, which will form the basis of their work back in school, alongside MUFC Foundation staff. All the groups came up with powerful ideas which they will implement across the coming months. We look forward to supporting them in this work, and coming together again in 2026 to celebrate their achievements.
In evaluating the day, participants said that they particularly enjoyed the emphasis on small group work, participating in debates and discussions, ice-breakers, and interactive challenges.
Comments from the participants included:
“Now I can look around and see that all these other people have been through something like I have, so I’m not alone in this”
“Everyone has a role to play when it comes to this, it’s not just one person, it’s everyone, even the people that are doing it.”
“People need to be educated on what racism is, how it affects someone, why they shouldn’t do it and what the impact is”
Iffy Onuora Head of Race Equality and Inclusion at the FA Premier League said,
“The main focus is about anti-racism and some of the attitudes and beliefs we’re trying to challenge”
Participants had an overwhelmingly positive impression of the day when asked about educational benefit and general enjoyment of the programme;
100% of students said they ‘strongly agreed’ or ‘agreed’ that they had ‘learned a lot’ (85% strongly agreed, 15% agreed)
100% of students said they ‘strongly agreed’ or ‘agreed’ that they had ‘enjoyed the day’ (85% strongly agreed, 15% agreed)
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