Football Club is honoured for Showing Racism the Red Card
By Aideen O'Flaherty
BOOTH Road Celtic Football Club received a Show Racism the Red Card award for promoting integration in the club, after they invited youngsters from the Clondalkin Towers Refugee Centre to an open coaching evening with the FAI.
The football club also facilitated the participation of the children from the centre, aged from four- to 13-years-old, in their under-age teams and the club’s academy.
Colm Kernan from Booth Road Celtic FC told The Echo: “The kids [from the club and the centre] all got on very well, and at the end there were lots of big smiles.
“The kids loved it, it was a chance for them to get out and socialise – it was an outlet for them.
“There’s a number of kids that have been placed into teams, and when the academy starts up again in February we hope to do it again.”
Colm added: “We were the only Dublin club to receive an award, so it was very humbling and there was a real sense of achievement when we got it.”
There was a community feel to the initiative according to Colm, as “some of the parents noticed that some of the kids didn’t have socks or boots, so they went out and bought them for the kids.”
The club currently has eight schoolboy teams which have 140 budding young footballers, with Colm adding that inclusivity is one of the cornerstones of the club.
“We don’t turn kids away, we never have,” he said. “In the club, we’re all about equal opportunities for everyone.”
Show Racism the Red Card is an international anti-racism charity which harnesses the high profile of sportspeople to combat racism, and the charity also works to produce anti-racism educational resources, and to educate young people through workshops and coaching activities.
