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| Battling on a budget: how Kick It Out fights on a shoestring | Battling on a budget: how Kick It Out fights on a shoestring |
| (30 days later) | |
| The apparent protest against Kick It Out, a symbol of dissatisfaction partly with the football authorities' handling of the John Terry affair, partly with the Professional Footballers' Association, is a shock to an organisation which for almost 20 years has run the game's anti-racism campaign on a shoestring. | The apparent protest against Kick It Out, a symbol of dissatisfaction partly with the football authorities' handling of the John Terry affair, partly with the Professional Footballers' Association, is a shock to an organisation which for almost 20 years has run the game's anti-racism campaign on a shoestring. |
| Originally formed as Let's Kick Racism Out of Football, in 1993, it was launched as a charity jointly by the PFA and the then Commission for Racial Equality, which Lord Ouseley had served as the chairman. For years the organisation was considered to punch above its weight from a modest London office, the opposite to the way it is now being depicted, as having been too diplomatic in this year of the Terry and Luis Suárez racial abuse cases. | Originally formed as Let's Kick Racism Out of Football, in 1993, it was launched as a charity jointly by the PFA and the then Commission for Racial Equality, which Lord Ouseley had served as the chairman. For years the organisation was considered to punch above its weight from a modest London office, the opposite to the way it is now being depicted, as having been too diplomatic in this year of the Terry and Luis Suárez racial abuse cases. |
| Kick It Out has generally always been lauded for its role in transforming football from a sport disgraced by the widespread and overt racism of the 1970s and 1980s into a much more inclusive game in which incidents of racist abuse are now so rare. | Kick It Out has generally always been lauded for its role in transforming football from a sport disgraced by the widespread and overt racism of the 1970s and 1980s into a much more inclusive game in which incidents of racist abuse are now so rare. |
| It is partly a testament to the progress made in improving behaviour among supporters that the focus has shifted so dramatically to the Terry and Suárez racial abuse of fellow players. | It is partly a testament to the progress made in improving behaviour among supporters that the focus has shifted so dramatically to the Terry and Suárez racial abuse of fellow players. |
| Yet Kick It Out is hardly lavishly resourced to carry out a role which is so vital in football, more recently extended to include other kinds of discrimination, and which, as has been seen this year, becomes so high-pressure when incidents occur. | Yet Kick It Out is hardly lavishly resourced to carry out a role which is so vital in football, more recently extended to include other kinds of discrimination, and which, as has been seen this year, becomes so high-pressure when incidents occur. |
| The organisation is now funded by the Football Association, Premier League and PFA, who contribute just £115,000 each annually. So, a little over two weeks of Terry's wages stretches to the rent, the campaigns, and the salaries of just six staff. Ouseley, who has felt personally swamped since the T-shirt boycott and forced to defend the organisation's stance, gives his time entirely for free. Some black players are questioning the organisation's independence, and freedom to be critical of the authorities or clubs, but Ouseley has always maintained Kick It Out's role is to work within football to improve it. | The organisation is now funded by the Football Association, Premier League and PFA, who contribute just £115,000 each annually. So, a little over two weeks of Terry's wages stretches to the rent, the campaigns, and the salaries of just six staff. Ouseley, who has felt personally swamped since the T-shirt boycott and forced to defend the organisation's stance, gives his time entirely for free. Some black players are questioning the organisation's independence, and freedom to be critical of the authorities or clubs, but Ouseley has always maintained Kick It Out's role is to work within football to improve it. |
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