Euro Pride House welcomes fans at UEFA Euro 2012

Next week Warsaw will see the opening of “Euro Pride House”, a place for the LGBT community to enjoy Euro2012 in safety alongside straight friends, allies and fellow supporters in an environment of tolerance and respect for fundamental human rights.

Throughout June Euro Pride House will screen matches, host a table football tournament and play host to a range of debates and networking events. Of course, there is also a very well stocked bar and great local seasonal food for any fans looking for a friendly place to relax during the tournament.

For more information about the Launch of Euro Pride House contact: Lou Manders, EGLSF Co-President: lou@eglsf.info

Ljubljana tournament a success for Football for Equality

From the announcement of the event:

Nogometna Družina Je Zakon! – Football Family Rules!

The tournament organised by SPOLINT will be held in Ljubljana on Sunday, May 13th. There will be 12 teams (7-a-side), each playing 4 games. Among invited teams, ex-Olympic athletes have agreed to participate and they will form a team named »Olympic ladies«. Artists (poets, writers and actors) will have their own team as well. Both of them will help raise the publicity of the event.

On their website, SPOLINT started to publish informative texts about discrimination and homophobia in sport. In order to reach-out to certain target-groups, SPOLINT cooperates with a local high school to take action as well. One of the most efficient ways of gaining knowledge is learning by doing. Pupils from the High School – Gymnasium Vič support in translating texts on homosexual athletes into Slovenian that are available on SPOLINT’s web site.

This material together with the planned opening of the exhibition ‘Against the Rules’ in Ljubljana and a round table discussion on 8 May 2012 will rise further awareness on homophobia in sport and strengthen knowledge about that topic in Slovenia.

Come, visit the tornament and show your engagment against homophobia and other forms auf discrimination!

John Amaechi at FARE founding assembly in Rome

From Football Against Racism in Europe:

FARE launches membership scheme and announces Rome conference

The FARE network has launched a membership scheme and announced a conference to take place in Rome in on 4 and 5 May featuring some of the most interesting speakers in the sport, inclusion and social responsibility area.

The membership scheme is being opened as a result of the process of formalising the network begun two years ago in Vienna. The conference will also act as a first General Meeting of the network according to the statutes.

How to become a member
FARE membership is open to individuals, non- governmental organisations and institutional bodies. Full details are available here.

The conference, which is being organised in conjunction with host partner, the Italian FC (FiGC), and FARE founding partner UISP (Unione Italiana Sport Per tutti) will focus on looking at future perspectives in campaigning against discrimination and working with excluded groups in sport.

The conference will feature speakers from activist groups, European institutions, sporting bodies and minority groups and include former athletes and footballers. The conference will feature a mix a workshops and plenary sessions on issues including pioneering practice in social inclusion, working alongside ethnic minorities, women in sport leadership and Euro 2012.

Confirmed speakers include Giancarlo Abete, Italian FA President; Karen Espelund, first woman on the UEFA Executive Committee; former NBA star John Amaechi; Willliam Gaillard, Advisor to the UEFA President; FARE Chairperson Howard Holmes; Filippo Fossati, UISP President; CEO of WomenWin, Maria Brobenreith; Polish football legend Darius Dziekanowski.

12 October 2011 / We are FOOTBALL PEOPLE - Join the FARE action weeks 2011

Visit the FARE website to find all active links from this page.

We are FOOTBALL PEOPLE - Join the FARE action weeks 2011
12 – 25 October 2011

The 2011 FARE Action Weeks are themed Football People. Our aim is to challenge discrimination and celebrate the contribution we all make to football, wherever we live, whatever our connection to the game, or our background.

The weeks aim to encourage initiatives and activities to address problems, or celebrate success, within your club or community. They allow us to join together across Europe to present a unified stand.

Alongside activities by professional clubs and leagues, such as the UEFA Champions League and the UEFA Europa League, the weeks give fans, minority groups and grassroots clubs the opportunity to celebrate the inclusive power of the game.

If you are a fan group or a community organisation, you might develop one of the following actions:
> Organise a fan choreography inside your stadium
> Distribute anti- discrimination materials at a game
> Develop an education workshop to be given by fans to schools in your area
> Work with minority groups in your area on a joint project
> Work with players (or ex-players) to hold an event
> Develop a small exhibition celebrating the diversity of fans, and black and minority players at your club
> Hold a fans forum with minority groups
> Organise a flash mob in a public place in your town
> Invite minority groups that are under-represented amongst your fans to a game

From August 1st you can apply for a €400 grant to help your activities, the English online form can be found here.

We look forward to learning about your ideas, initiatives and activities. Take a stand and join the FARE Action Weeks this October.

Grants to help activities
To help organise grassroots events, FARE is able to offer small grants for activities that take place during the Action Weeks.

The range of activities we are able to support include the production of campaigning materials (banners, flyers, fanzines, posters, t-shirts, stickers), the production of fan choreographies and flags, the organisation of stadium actions and community days and football- related intercultural events such as special matches, debates or tournaments.

Criteria
The financial contribution groups can ask for should not exceed 400 €.

In the past we have been able to lend financial support to about 150 groups. If you intend applying for small grants we ask you to observe following criteria:

1. Action is directly linked to anti-discrimination and football and takes place between 12 - 25 October 2011.
2. The activity aims at involving migrants, ethnic minorities or other targeted groups such as refugees, asylum seekers, LGBT communities or religious minorities.
3. Quality of partnerships and involvement of grass-root organisations (fan groups, NGOs, amateur teams,...).
4. The activity should pay attention to gender equality and inclusion of minorities
Please apply here.

Application for Grants
Refer to the online application form in 4 languages (English, German, Italian and French ) and describe briefly your planned activity or event during the FARE Action Week.

The deadline to submit applications is 16 September 2011.


We look forward to learning about your ideas, initiatives and activities.

For more information, and details on how to order resources and materials write to info@farenet.org.

Even if you do not apply for financial help we would encourage your commitment and ability to develop activities on your own, since you know the situation best. If you require further advice please contact the FARE group coordinating the Action Week in your country.

Campaign Resources
FARE will produce an Action Week poster (A2 format) which will be sent to all FARE contacts and also upon request. We can also offer a limited amount of campaign material to initiatives including stickers, t-shirts, flags and captain’s arm-bands.

Football Against Racism in Europe opposes FIFA ban on Islamic dress

FARE has published a statement on the ban on religious clothing by FIFA. Here is an extract:

The Executive Director of FARE, Piara Powar, today said, “The ban on the wearing of religious headwear in football is misguided and wrong. It contravenes the right to religious freedom on the pretext of safety.

“The ban impacts heavily on one religious and gender group in particular - Muslim women – whose choice to wear a hijab during games should be respected as a legitimate expression of their religious identity.”

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We cannot agree with FARE on this matter. Sport is not about the expression of ones religious beliefs: it's about sport, and the rules are the same for all. When an athlete walks on the field of play, she follows the rules of the game, not the Koran or the New Testament or the Torah. An athlete is an athlete, not a Muslim athlete or a gay athlete or a Tory athlete.

Moreover, in countries like Iran where women are repressed as women, where the religious law consistently oppresses women, it is laughable to imagine that a member of the national team is able to freely choose religious garb: to refuse means not being selected at best.
The rules of sport, whether Olympic Sport or those of FIFA itself, attempt to protect sport from the influence of religion.

Olympic Charter

Principle 5 of the Olympic Charter: Any form of discrimination with regard to a country or a person on grounds of race, religion, politics, gender or otherwise is incompatible with belonging to the Olympic Movement.

Mission and role of National Olympic Committees: The NOCs must preserve their autonomy and resist all pressures of any kind, including but not limited to political, legal, religious or economic pressures which may prevent them from complying with the Olympic Charter.

Rule 51: No kind of demonstration or political, religious or racial propaganda is permitted in any Olympic sites, venues or other areas.

FIFA's own rules state: Players must not reveal undergarments showing slogans or advertising. The basic compulsory equipment must not have any political, religious or personal statements.

Relaunch of The Justin Campaign's Football v Homophobia initiative

FARE reports on the relaunch of The Justin Campaign's Football v Homophobia:

On February 19th 2011, The Justin Campaign are launching an initiative, Football v Homophobia, to raise awareness of homophobia in amateur and professional football; to unite clubs, players and fans across the country by using the game of football to bring communities together in opposing hate and discrimination in the world’s favourite sport.

The campainers where also part of the FARE Networking Conference “Football for Equality: Challenging racism and homophobia across Europe”. One decade after the foundation of the Football Against Racism in Europe (FARE) network in Vienna, The Justin Campaign joined more than 100 campaigners, fans, football administrators, players, policy makers and experts from 28 European countries in Austria’s capital to devise the future of the FARE network.

In her opening address MEP Ulrike Lunacek, co-president of the LGBT Inter-Group of the European Parliament, stressed her satisfaction that FARE addressed homophobia for the first time so prominently in a conference.

For football, Ulrike Lunacek said, "it is also clear that there are some gay man among football players - but very few of them are out. Justin Fashanu was one: A black man, but also gay. He could not live his full potential and committed suicide because of the fear, because of the reactions, because of the prejudices. That’s why it is so important to work against this fear, to be open, breaking the surface, breaking the silence."

Continue reading HERE.

EGLSF posters for FARE Action Week

The European Gay and Lesbian Sports Federation (EGLSF) is a member of Football Against Racism in Europe (FARE). Each year, FARE organizes an "Action Week". You can download the the EGLSF poster series featuring actions against homophobia in football HERE.