Anti-Racism Wristbands - Not everything is black and white

The Racism Ban'd

A group of budding young entrepreneurs from Graeme High School in Falkirk came up with the idea of producing a wristband as part of their school's entry to the Young Enterprise competition. 'Revolutionary' was formed and the product was a red silicone wristband with the catchy slogan 'Racism Ban'd'. A 'revolutionary' partnership was set up between the young people and SRTRC Scotland with all proceeds from sales of the wristbands going to the Scottish campaign. Believe it or not this was all agreed in December, well before Nike launched their black and white 'Stand Up, Speak Up' bands!

Hampden Stadium Launch

The official launch of the bands took place at Hampden Stadium on the 14th March, the same day as the EIS/SRTRC Schools competition 2005 prize-giving ceremony, hosted by BBC Scotland's Dougie Vipond. All attending guests and footballers proudly showed off their bands to the visiting media and press. The weekend of the 19th and 20th March then saw a majority of the players in action in the SPL show racism the red card by wearing the bands during matches.

Clubs Involved

SRTRC contacted the football clubs to request stocking the bands in their club shops and the initial response was fantastic. The following club shops had agreed to stock the bands: Aberdeen, Albion Rovers, Celtic, Clyde, Dundee, Dundee United, Dunfermline Athletic, Falkirk, Forfar, Hamilton Accies, Hearts, Inverness CT, Kilmarnock, Livingston, Partick Thistle, Queens Park, Queen of the South, Raith Rovers, St. Johnstone and St. Mirren.

Parliament Launch

Tuesday 19th April saw Revolutionary take the bands to the Scottish Parliament to allow the MSPs a chance to have their say on the race issue, in the run up to the UK General Election. Robbie Nielsen of Hearts FC came along to show his support for the initiative and for SRTRC. A forum with cross party MSPs was held and the Racism Ban'd was now given 'official approval' by the parliamentarians.

Competition Letdown

By now the bands were also being sold on the company's website at £2 per band and orders were coming in thick and fast from afar a field as Singapore and Texas. Given the excellent coverage and profile in the news, media and the general public, Revolutionary, despite all their hard work and effort into the project, lost out to another local school in the regional heats of the Young Enterprise competition. It was a huge disappointment to Revolutionary and SRTRC, and an unfortunate end to an innovative idea that portrayed a strong anti-racist message to Scottish society.

A huge thank you to all at Revolutionary, particularly Alan Jenkins, Kirsty McDougall, Nicola Daniel and Stewart Douglas. Also to all the clubs who stocked the bands for free.