I really do believe in football’s ability to change lives and from previous blogs you will know of my work with the Charlton Athletic Community Trust.I've also been very impressed with the CSR work Chelsea have been doing. The club may have become known for what they spend rather than what they give back over the past decade but I have been aware of their community, anti- racism and social inclusion work for some time.
Their key staff in this area, Shaun Gore who leads the club’s football in the community programme and Simon Taylor who is the Head of Corporate Social Responsibility, are great people putting the club on the map as much as the superstars on the field of play.
An example of the way in which their work is being recognised in football circles was that the club picked up the Intermediate Level of the Kick It Out Equality Standard last week, just a few days after launching a talent search for an Asian footballer.
On another Chelsea connection, I met David Baddiel recently who is looking at making an advertising film to highlight the fact that the word 'yid' is a racially offensive term. I support David's work and will be getting involved. The use of this term has gone unchallenged for too long and often leads to overt anti-semitism. Abusive terms like this just don't have a place in football anymore, whatever the context and we need to educate people as to its meaning.
I am also an ambassador for and a big fan of the FARE network. It's their 10th anniversary this year, ten years of doing some great, challenging work. I'm looking forward to getting involved in the celebrations!
First there's a meeting in Budapest later this month to look at how the network operates that I will be attending, I'm an ambassador but I want to make sure I contribute as much as possible, not just as a figurehead.
Hi Paul.
ReplyDeleteInteresting article on Chelsea. It's great to see the club so engaged in numerous initiatives. I just wish more clubs, especially those in the Premier League took the larger hoilistic approach Chelsea are beginning to take.
From a CSR position they are doing okay, good within the football industry, still quite immature but way beyond the original PFA Football in the Community remit. Their annual CSR report is a little too well polished, omits a few material issues and is too full of full page pictures to have real impact. Who reads it anyway apart from people like me?
I should admit at this stage I have more than a little experience in experience in CSR / football as I was at Everton FC for 8 years including managing the Community project, I also managed the England Amputee Football Squad and I now have my own successful CSR consulantcy called Coethica.
Across football in particular community engagement is good and I like yourself passionately believe in the 'power of football' (no apologies for the cliche because its true). Unfortunately this power isn't exploited anywhere near as much as it could be. I hate wasted potential in any form and the whole industry needs to looking at best practice globally, especially outside football, for guidance on how to create more win-win scenrios for communities, the environment and the game itself. Too many clubs compare themselves to each other rather than look beyond the touchlines, admit weaknesses and demonstrate true leadership.
Every club has a very different approach to CSR or community engagement. Most non-football businesses don't understand CSR, and football isn't exactly a hotbed for world class management executives to be polite. For example, I would be interested to compare each club's environmental performance. I'm also very wary of some clubs relationships with charitable status and the transparency and ethics of multi-million pound businesses too closely connected to charitable organisations.
I was once told by a high profile club Chairman that football was 'just a vehicle to transfer Sky money to players and agents' and there is still a large element of this. There isn't a community version of the term 'greenwash' as yet but some big clubs are guilty of complacency and superficiality when it comes to CSR, which can be dangerous.
Well done to Chelsea and other clubs such as Man City, Charlton and especially many lower league clubs working really hard with less resources.