Action Reports - Contents

October 2005 Fortnight of Action - Action Reports

Community care shows racism the red card

A very enthusiastic group of service users with learning disabilities joined some of St. Johnstone's top players at McDiarmid Park recently as part of the Show Racism the Red Card Charity's Fortnight of Action.

The event was arranged to promote the anti-racism message to users of Community Care services as part of the service's continued commitment in this area of work. Approximately 30 service users from Adult Resource Centres in Perth and Blairgowrie and from Corbenic in Dunkeld attended.

St. Johnstone currently have a number of players from different countries and internationalists Jason Scotland of Trinidad & Tobago, Mark Paston of New Zealand and Goran Stanic of Macedonia spoke to the group about their experiences of racism and of playing football in different countries around the world. They all stressed that they had been made to feel very welcome in Scotland and looked forward to helping St. Johnstone back to the SPL.

Community Care Planning Officer, David McPhee talked to the group about different forms of racism and bigotry and how to report any racist incidents before showing the group an educational video from Show Racism the Red Card. The group were then treated to a short tour of the facilities at McDiarmid Park by Marketing Manager Paul Smith and received a bag of "goodies" which included posters, a magazine and badges from St. Johnstone and Show Racism the Red Card.

Community Care Depute Director, David Burke said of the event "It is important that there is an opportunity to inform all people using our service that racism is unacceptable in any shape or form and I am pleased that we have had the opportunity to work with St. Johnstone using the Show Racism the Red Card Campaign."