Posted on 22nd October 2014
The FA has said it will be introducing new rules to protect the heritage of football clubs in the men’s and women’s game.
All Colours Are Beautiful! (#secondfanshirt)
This is a story from the FSF archive – the FSF and SD merged to become the FSA in 2019.
The FSF is affiliated to Football Supporters Europe and our friends at FSE have launched a donation campaign called All Colours Are Beautiful! (#secondfanshirt). It’s part of the FARE Action Weeks and gives fans a chance to help those in desperate circumstances. The idea is fairly simple, fans clear their closets of old club gear while helping clothe refugees. FSE explain more…
The frightening war scenarios across the world are leaving millions of people stranded close to war zones. Some are still living in a conflict region under desperate conditions, like in Ukraine, while others fled to our neighbourhoods from war zones to save their lives, like those from Syria. And some of them are members of FSE.
Most are left with nothing more than the set of clothes they were wearing when they fled. We believe that giving these people all possible support is one of the most pressing issues of our time.
Many football fans all over Europe are already active in supporting refugee projects as a matter of social responsibility in many different ways: be it through organising clothing collections for refugees, providing logistical help, or by using football to help them intergrate into their new communities.
Our initiative “Second Fan Shirt” is not intending to reinvent the wheel – if there are already similar initiatives in existence in your country, we’d encourage you to engage in similar actions to make the life of refugees and the football lovers among them a little better.
Donate your Second Fan Shirt!
We are calling on supporters across Europe to get active and donate (or organise) clothing that has been getting dusty in your cupboards: jerseys, scarves, blankets, training jackets, woolly hats, trousers, footballs, bed sheets…literally any football merchandise that you don’t need anymore but which could be useful for brightening up the days of kids and adults in the refugee centers.
The situation of refugees is different from country to country. Some countries in Europe are more directly affected and closer to the actual wars than others. Hence, it is down to the national or local initiative, which kind of support/donation scheme they want to adopt.
Some might want to organise clothing collections at their club, others will do the same at national level in cooperation with first aid charities, some might want to send things to refugees directly in refugee camps in the war zones, others might want to go to refugee centers in their communities or sell their donations in auctions to support projects financially.
It is easy to take part, and every form of donation is welcome! Let’s show together that football supporters stand side-by-side in support with the refugees as the most tragically affected victims of conflicts around the world.
More from Football Supporters Europe (FSE):
- HOW CAN YOU TAKE PART?
- PARTICIPATING GROUPS – ACTIONS AND CONTACTS
- LOGOS/RESOURCES
- SECOND FAN SHIRT ACTION DAYS 2014!
The FSF blog is the space to challenge perceived wisdom, entertain readers and inform our members. The views expressed are those of the author and they don’t necessarily represent FSF policy and (pay attention journalists) shouldn’t be attributed to the FSF.
