The Essex FA report that their new Football Development Officer, Cindi Chatha, is excited about future projects for the Inclusion Advisory Group (IAG).
This is following the latest meeting which outlined aims to support ‘Football v Homophobia’ and Lesbian, Bisexual, Gay and Transgender (LGBT) History Month during a busy February.
Cindi joined the Essex County FA in November and assumed responsibility for elements of the IAG. She enjoys the fact that football brings people together, regardless of their age, gender, religion or sexual orientation and sees a shared passion coaches, officials, parents and volunteers to develop young talent, both on the pitch and socially.
Last June, former Ipswich Town and Republic of Ireland footballer Matt Holland joined a new, nine-strong voluntary IAG panel to fully embrace diverse communities across the area as part of Essex’s application for the next level of the National Standards for Equality. Joining Matt are individuals with knowledge from a variety of perspectives, including Chairperson Kirsty Clarke from Great Britain Wheelchair Rugby.
The IAG meets four times each year, reporting directly to the Association’s Board. After the latest gathering on Wednesday (11th February), Cindi said: “Our last meeting went very well and a lot of issues were discussed, such as the lack of females, Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic (BAME), disability and LGBT communities within football amongst players, coaches, referees and administrators.”
“We need to be recruiting new members who have the rights skill sets, abilities, passion and dialogue to drive the IAG forward, especially from within the BAME community. We also discussed making the most of our ‘Community Roadshow’ to reach targeted groups, especially those who are not involved in football.”
Overall, Cindi believes the toughest challenge in her role is removing perceived participation barriers which still exist in football. Her first few months have been focussed on work towards Preliminary level of the Equality Standard. “It’s been very challenging yet enjoyable,” she continued. “Apart from meeting all the new people I work with, there have been several other highlights so far.”
“They include developing the IAG, meeting people from various communities and starting to develop various initiatives to help enhance and develop the profile of the game for underrepresented groups throughout Essex. I’ve attended The FA’s LGBT Workshop and I’m working closely with Outhouse East, an LGBT charity in Essex.”
“Even though football has progressed leaps and bounds, we still need to instil confidence within underrepresented groups that we’re committed to equality and take discrimination of any form very seriously. There are plenty of events coming up, too, like the promotion of International Women’s Day in March, and working with Show Racism the Red Card to publicize the International Day for the Elimination of Racial Discrimination.”
At the forefront right now is Football v Homophobia (FvH), the sport’s campaign during LGBT History Month in February to highlight that “Football is for everyone. No exceptions.” Anything which stops people participating and enjoying the national game of football has to be tackled and eradicated. That is the commitment of The FA, as football’s governing body in this country, and it is also backed by the Essex County FA.
One of the areas to be constantly fought is discrimination in whatever form against any group of people or section of the nation’s multi-faceted society. Much work has been done in the area of anti-racism, attitudes have been changed and it is now accepted that any form of racism is simply wrong. The football authorities also want to focus attention on the issue of homophobia and transphobia in football.
Cindi explained: “I’m working with Kirsty Clarke to use her team to dedicate a match to FvH as well as send messages of strong, positive lesbian women in football. If other clubs have ideas for how they’d like to get involved, or need support, they can contact ourselves for advice, as well as the Gay Football Supporters Network, Just A Ball Game, Stonewall, The Football Supporters Federation, FvH and Transsexual in Sport to name a few.”
Read more about the Football v Homophobia campaign at www.footballvhomophobia.com.
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