This month started with the strengthening of our relationship with Maccabi Germany’s Zusammen1 project – who have been working to educate and tackle antisemitism in German football. We shared our workshops with each other over Zoom which was highly beneficial to us as a means of learning best practice from a team who have been working in this field for years before we started.
Our first workshops of the month were given to young coaches from Charlton Athletic. Aged between 16 to 19 years old, the participants received our antisemitism in football workshop, which we made amendments to gear towards a young coach entering the football world.
Taking advantage of the off-season period, we saw 3 County Football Associations this month. The first was London FA, who we are particularly pleased to have trained, due to the large Jewish football-playing contingent in their regional jurisdiction. The feedback from this workshop was very positive, and we are continually working with the London FA to assist in any matters pertaining to the Jewish community or any incidents that occur in their region.
Next, we trained the staff team from Cheshire FA. Being a stone’s throw away from Manchester, which has the second largest Jewish community in the UK, this was another very apt group to have trained. Feedback from this workshop was excellent and we are in contact about working with their newly-formed Inclusion Advisory Board. A few days later, we trained the staff team of Cambridgeshire FA, which takes the total number of full County FA staff teams trained on antisemitism to 7 (with another scheduled for mid-July), with around 30 more having had representatives attend one or more of our regional workshops.
At the end of the month, we also ran a regional workshop, promoted by Kick It Out. Kindly hosted by Sheffield Wednesday at their infamous Hillsborough Stadium, attendees included representatives from Sheffield Wednesday, Sheffield & Hallam FA, Derby County, Stockport County, Grimsby Town, Stevenage, Sheffield United, MK Dons and Leeds United.
This month, our Tackling Antisemitism in Sport Manager also accompanied over 40 England fans, Lord Mann, representatives from the FA, FSA, Board of Deputies, World Jewish Congress and What Matters to the site of Bergen-Belsen Concentration Camp. Fans participated in a tour, followed by a wreath-laying at the Obelisk Memorial.
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