ESPZEN has received approval from the Kick It Out organisation (Kick It Out is UK football's anti-racism campaign) based in the UK to fly their flag in Singapore. ESPZEN whole heartedly endorses this campaign given ESPZEN leagues bring together 2,600 players from all over the world (our last count was over 30 different nationalities) every week to play amateur football.

The brand name of the campaign - Let's Kick Racism Out of Football - was established in 1993. Kick It Out works throughout the football, educational and community sectors to challenge racism and work for positive change. The campaign is supported and funded by the game's governing bodies, including founding body the Professional Footballers Association (PFA), the FA Premier League, the Football Foundation and The Football Association.

Internationally Kick It Out plays a leading role in the Football Against Racism in Europe (FARE) network and has been cited as an example of good practice by the European governing body UEFA, the world governing body FIFA, the Council of Europe, the European Commission, European parliamentarians and the British Council.

Kick It Out’s core priorities are:

Professional football
Working with the professional game by offering advice and guidance on all aspects of race equality within professional football.

Young people
Using the appeal of the game to address young people within schools, colleges and youth organisations, through the development and delivery of resources and educational materials.

Amateur football
Working at grassroots and amateur levels to tackle racial abuse and harassment in parks football.

Asians in football
Raising the issue of the exclusion of south Asians as professional footballers from the game.

Ethnic Minorities and Sport
Capacity building ethnic minority communities to engage with professional clubs, the structures of the game and access funding.

European football
Developing partnerships to raise the debate and tackle racism in European football. Central to Kick It Out's strategy is the development of partnerships that bring together footballing organisations with communities to work in partnership on problems of exclusion and discrimination.

Football is the biggest sport in the world and belongs to us all. It should be the right of every person to play, watch and discuss freely, without fear. Kick It Out Logo will appear on all ESPZEN marketing materials going forward, as we fly this banner with pride. Our objective is to raise awareness to the campaign in Singapore and at the grass roots level. As the lifeblood of the game amateur clubs are key to its success and teams have found innovative and effective ways to make their own statement.In the UK and Europe, 16th to 28th October represents “The One Game, One Community Weeks Of Action” which is one of the most prominent equality and community engagement initiatives in the country.

Throughout Europe during these 2 weeks a series of initiatives will be launched to boost public awareness of the problems of racism and exclusion and to create a united front in dealing with this malign influence on Europe‘s number one sport. One such initiative is a short film, which features narration from BBC Football Focus presenter Manish Bhasin, and showcases the vast spectrum of work that Kick It Out covers both throughout the year and, specifically, during the weeks of action. The film also includes interviews with Chelsea goalkeeper Petr Cech and Sunderland defender Anton Ferdinand. Professional clubs up and down the country will show the film before matches during the 'One Game, One community' weeks of action, and you can view the film in full now at the link below.

http://www.kickitout.org/674.php

Eric Cantona once said "When races come together, cultures are enriched." These 7 words, collectively describe ESPZEN’s vision of Singapore Amateur football and the unity with this campaign. ESPZEN is delighted to leverage its platform to promote an important footballing message within Singapore.