³ÉÈË¿ìÊÖ

Raise Your Game: Can you tell us about yourself and your role?

Lord Herman Ouseley: I'm the Chair of Kick it Out. I started Kick it Out when I was the Chairperson of the Commission for Racial Equality as I was concerned by the abuse that was given to black players in professional football. It was all sorts of vile horrendous insulting abuse, and it made you, as a black person, as a fan, feel very uncomfortable and I stopped going to the football.

A colleague and I contacted all the professional football clubs in England and Wales, asking them whether they'd agree to be involved in the campaign to try and eliminate racial abuse from football.

We got over 50% positive response and eventually we had all 92 clubs signed up. We got the Professional Footballers Association involved because it was their members who were being abused, and they were very keen to see it stop.

Over the last 15 years we think we've transformed the attitude in professional football of footballers towards footballers, of fans towards footballers. We've tried to influence the whole game at the highest level from the regulatory authorities, the FA, the Premier League and so on, right down to grass roots football, in schools, in local clubs, local leagues, county FAs and so on, to make sure that everyone is aware of what their responsibilities are. To take, not so much the aggression or the passion out of the game, but to take the nastiness out of it.

So much so, at the last World Cup in Germany, England fans were praised for their behaviour. We've worked with legislators to put into place legislation to stop anyone, who's likely to go abroad and cause trouble, from travelling when football matches are being played abroad.

We carry out educational work to get people to look at their behaviour and look at their conduct. The regulations bought in by clubs refuse to tolerate bad behaviour and conduct. Clubs can exclude you, withdraw your season ticket if you're a member, withdraw any facility to you and ban you if necessary. If you break the law, obviously we'll help the police to have you prosecuted.

It's a transformation that England can be commended by the World Football Authorities on the behaviour of their fans in Germany so we've made some progress. We haven't completed the job, we haven't transformed all our attitudes, but we've made some progress.

RYG: It's from one simple structure that you've managed to make this change?

LHO: Yes. Firstly, we asked can we do something about it? And if so, we will. It was really trying to get people to acknowledge that there was a problem. A lot of people said to us 'Go away, there isn't a problem, you're making it up.' But I'd experienced the feelings and hurt and I knew other people had as well.

The crunch came when one professional footballer, John Fashanu, playing for Wimbledon, said 'I always try to avoid going to the touchline to take a throw-on, because I know the abuse will be greater. I can hear it more, and sometimes people spit at you and throw things at you. What really hurt me on this occasion was fathers standing with their children and their children are giving out abuse, and their parents encouraging them and laughing. I thought then that something has got to be done.'

We got a few big name supporters like John to get involved. Now we've managed to get every player in the professional world to sign up for the campaign. So much so that the campaign itself has been adopted in many other countries. It's been a fantastic way forward. In the end it's about how you persuade other supporters to see this is a good thing.

RYG: How do we change people's attitudes at grass-root level?

LHO: Schoolteachers said to us that sometimes they found it difficult to engage with some of their boys. Football gets them to start talking and start understanding what abuse and bad behaviour can do.

It's getting people to look at what is happening very simply. What are they doing and why are they doing it? What is the sense of it? Very often you find that kids are doing things because others are doing it, it's that herd instinct.

We've got to do as much as we can with children from the earliest age possible to recognise differences, but to not see differences as a threat or something to be insulting about.

At a very early stage we say to kids 'Sticks and stones may break your bones, but words never hurt,' but if you're calling someone fatty, ginger and big nose, and all sorts of things, it's hurtful to those kids. Even at that age they already feel that they are not liked and there's something wrong with them.

It's about how we get all young people to see that they are very special themselves, to understand how they want to be treated, to be made to feel special, and therefore to see others as special. Then we can start to understand more about the bigger differences, about race, colour, nationality, ethnicity, and how we respect those things.

It's not about having to like someone because they're black, or because they're white, but it's having respect for the individual. I think it's a learning process. If we can get people to start to feel good about themselves at a very early stage, and therefore feel good about other people, I think that's the way to do it.

RYG: Doesn't respect permeate right across sport, players, opposing teams and referees?

LHO: I think what we've seen with the campaign is one level of our work is trying to get people to change behaviour, and another level is really the education work, supporting those who are working with children, whether it's in youth clubs, in playing football, in the classroom, or even working with families.

We do a lot of work as part of the football in the community work in which there's a link with ex-offenders and unemployed young people. I think this has an important role in enabling young people to see the talent that people from different backgrounds bring alongside their own.

Although sport is about your own individual contribution, a lot of sports, particularly football, are team sports. Happiness comes not just in winning, or in doing well for yourself, but in the camaraderie and the spirit that it brings, you all have a respect for each other and a liking for each other.

We've discovered that people are now very interested in learning about the culture of others. Football is so international now that there is a greater willingness to try and understand people's own background, their culture, their language even. We've got icons like David Beckham going to Spain and having to learn Spanish. He became the one of the minority there, not abused because he's English, but welcomed because he's a talented player.

I think it's getting people to see that everyone can bring something different, and part of that learning process is therefore appreciating that diversity. We like to be with our own, and there's nothing wrong with that, but there's also something quite exciting about being with variety as part of our diversity and understanding that.