Posted on 4th April 2017
This is a story from the FSF archive – the FSF and SD merged to become the FSA in 2019.
Anwar Uddin has had a busy spring period, leading the Fans for Diversity campaign with events across the country…
Fans For Diversity FC vs Stonewall FC
To mark LGBT History Month, the Fans For Diversity created its own football team and took on Stonewall FC at Imber Court, home of Metropolitan Police FC.
More than 100 people applied to join the Fans For Diversity FC side for its opening fixture and the match was captured by film-maker Liam Sullivan…
Sporting Memories
Anwar was at Wembley in March with a group of West Ham-supporting senior citizens thanks to Sporting Memories and Any Old Irons.
Young and old Hammers were treated to a tour of Wembley, including the 1966 exhibit, where the seniors shared their memories of England’s only World Cup success.
“It was fantastic listening to the stories of the 1966 final,” Anwar said. “From the 100,000 crammed into Wembley right down to the little details, like the paper tickets.
“They remember it like it was yesterday and it really left an impression on the young people.”
The Any Old Irons initiative helps any West Ham fan over the age of 65 who may no longer be able to make games meet and socialise with other supporters.
Anwar said: “I was speaking to one woman who’d been going to Upton Park with her husband for years.
“Her husband organised match-day, bought all the tickets, so when he passed unfortunately she didn’t feel comfortable going to matches on her own.
“It’s important to think about the challenges such as this facing match-going fans as we all get older.”
Birmingham City
We got to spoke to a range of Birmingham City fans and supporter groups at St Andrew’s on Friday, 31st March.
More than 200 Blues supporters filled out the Birmingham City Legends Lounge and Anwar spoke about his work on the diversity campaign as well as telling the audience about the FSF.
“It was a really good opportunity to tell people what we’re all about,” Anwar said.
Anwar’s talk was part of an evening to celebrate the career of local Birmingham radio legend Tom Ross, organised by supporters group Blues 4 All and the Blues Trust.
Elsewhere…
Fans for Diversity is a joint campaign run with Kick It Out, football’s anti-discrimination group. Find out more about the campaign here.
The Fans for Diversity campaign, a partnership between the FSA and Kick It Out, continues to assist supporters around the country, and we spoke to campaign lead Anwar Uddin about recent work to promote diversity via three new projects in London…
Supporter representatives from top-flight clubs recently met with Premier League executives to discuss a range of issues which impact match-going fans.
Supporter representatives from top-flight clubs recently met with Premier League executives to discuss a range of issues which impact match-going fans – including the European Super League and the return to grounds.
The FSA works with two organisations, Football Supporters Europe (FSE) and SD Europe, to represent and promote the interests of football supporters at European level. To keep FSA members up-to-date on that work, we’ve rounded up some of the recent highlights from our friends at FSE and SD Europe…
