IFA kick off anti-racism training

national | rights, freedoms and repression | other press Wednesday December 15, 2004 11:57 by pat c

The Irish Football Association has said that it is "stepping up" the fight against racism in football. It is holding a training day for players, coaches and referees. IFA community relations officer, Michael Boyd, said the association was committed to fighting racism and other problems in the sport.

He said: "We want the IFA to be the gold standard in sport and community
relations, so that is one of the reasons we organised the training." The
time was right to bring together all the different strands of football in
Northern Ireland to see what measures could be taken, Mr Boyd said.

He said there were a lot of people coming together such as IFA managers,
youth development officers, executive committee members, high profile
players and referees as well as representatives from women's football and
disability football. "We are being proactive with regards to our football
for all policy but we realise more can be done and we realise everyone has a
responsibility," he said.