Club works with local school children
- HTAFC holds 'Show Racism the Red Card' event
- Chris Powell, Nahki Wells & Tommy Smith hold Q&A
- Three local school partners attend
On Thursday 15 October, Huddersfield Town hosted a ‘Show Racism the Red Card (SRtRC)’ educational event at PPG Canalside.
School partners Christchurch Academy, St Thomas and Shepley First School attended on the day and together brought with them over 60 young people.
The event started with an introduction into the afternoon and a reminder of what was in store for the young people.
Straight from the introduction the children were on their feet being mentally warmed up by Campaign Worker, James Kingett, who conducted the SRtRC workshop. The workshop which is designed to help young people explore the ways in which individuals stereotype and the dangers of stereotyping ran brilliantly thanks to the honest engagement from the young people at the event. When James (SRtRC Campaign Worker) posed the question to the audience of young people, “Why do you think we did that activity just then?” which was followed up with the reply of “You should never judge a book by its cover” it rounded of the workshop perfectly.
Once the young people had got themselves refreshments, which were provided courtesy of Huddersfield Town, they found their way back to their seats to watch the SRtRC educational film.
Once the film had finished it was time to introduce the panel of special guests!
Campaign worker, Ben Holman, sat on the panel alongside Huddersfield Town players Tommy Smith and Nahki Wells, who were joined by former player Brian Deane.
The final special guest to be introduced to the panel was Town Manager Chris Powell, who is a long-time supporter of the campaign. Chris has taken part in a number of SRtRC films as well as featuring in the campaign’s Hall of Fame.
The young people from the three schools had been thinking about the questions throughout the afternoon workshop and film as they put forward some very well thought out questions.
What would you do if you were being racially abused and had no support? Why do people choose to be racist? What can people do to help stop racism?
These were just a few examples of the questions, which the panel took it in turn to answer. The former and current players recalled from their experience of racism on and off the pitch to help provide the young people with examples when answering their questions.
Once the Q&A came to a close the young people were given an opportunity to get their Huddersfield Town posters signed from the former and current players. The best question on the day went a young girl called Jody who won herself a signed Huddersfield Town football provided by the Club.
To round off a brilliant afternoon, in each SRtRC card goody-bag Huddersfield Town also provided every young person in attendance a match ticket for themselves and one adult to an upcoming game.
