01.07.2012
Football unites
FARE network
In June and July 2012, fans, the media and the stars of European football will converge on eight cities across Poland and Ukraine for Euro 2012, the largest football tournament ever to take place in Eastern Europe.
Football in Eastern Europe has a vibrant history of great clubs, a production line of brilliant players and passionate fans. But it also comes with a recent history that can be said to be characterized by public displays of racism, xenophobia, intense nationalism and the far-right.
The FARE project in the East, led by the Never Again Association, has been building a network of activists and organisations that are developing anti- discrimination and education initiatives in the region.
For Euro 2012 we have been working with UEFA as part of their football and social responsibility programme to develop activities under the banner of Respect Diversity – Football Unites. These activities are part of UEFA’s wider RESPECT programme for the tournament. To find out further information about the other Respect partners, and UEFA’s key safe sex and no smoking message click here.
The Respect Diversity – Football Unites activities will run throughout the tournament, culminating in the semi-finals where the captains of all four semi-final teams will deliver anti- discrimination messages and other messages.
The tournament activities will include:
> STREETKICK- A tour of the mobile football game to engage fans and local people,
> INTERNATIONAL MONITORS – An extensive monitoring system with two monitors at each game who will feed in findings to the UEFA disciplinary process,
> LIAISON with UEFA match day staff to identify and deal with problems during games,
> REPORTING HOTLINE for fans to report racist and discriminatory incidents,
> INCLUSIVE ZONES– public areas that provide welcoming spaces for fans across the whole of Poland and Ukraine,
> FANZINE in four languages.