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Post by Malcolm Clarke on Feb 3, 2022 12:53:47 GMT
The Supporters Club, along with the football Club, have been approached by the Chair of "Love football, hate racism", to see if Stoke City and the Supporters Club would be interested in running a local Fans For Diversity initiative called “My City My Shirt”, which has the support of the FSA. It is a diversity photography project. He doesn't believe there has been a city/town project that includes two football teams and thinks that this could be a unifying and diverse project for SOT. If photographs were taken around the city it could showcase the rich cultural history of the city, potentially something the city council might wish to support. The general idea is to take photos of football supporters, wearing a Stoke or Vale top reflecting a measure of the diverse fan bases in its broadest sense. He is also contacting the Port Vale Foundation and Supporters’ Club to raise the idea with them, and thinks ( I agree) that the prospect of bringing fans together from both teams in a diversity project is a worthwhile idea. Nottingham Forest did one for Forest fans but it didn’t include Notts County and Carlisle launched a version yesterday. The links below give a bit more information on what is achievable. thefsa.org.uk/news/my-city-my-shirt/www.nottinghamforest.co.uk/news/2021/december/10/my-city-my-shirt/www.carlisleunited.co.uk/news/2022/january/gallery-my-club-my-shirt/I have indicated support from the Supporters Club but it occurs to me that that this might be the kind of specific project which might appeal to some fans, particularly those interested in diversity and photography, who are outside the "usual suspects" as it were. If you would be interested in playing a role, please PM me. Thanks. |
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Post by Malcolm Clarke on Feb 7, 2022 20:35:59 GMT
A quick update. Stoke City have agreed to participate which is excellent. Still waiting to hear officially from the Vale club and supporters, but hopefully they will sign up soon. Meanwhile just to repeat the request for anyone who would like to get involved to PM me.
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Post by flea79 on Feb 8, 2022 9:03:42 GMT
if we are to go near the great unwashed will nose plugs be provided?
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Post by Malcolm Clarke on Feb 13, 2022 12:09:51 GMT
We have a meeting about this on Wednesday. I would be pleased to hear via PM from anyone who would like to be involved, particularly as a subject. Thanks.
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Post by Malcolm Clarke on Jun 23, 2022 6:35:31 GMT
We are now finally moving towards a launch of the project at Stoke. The Club are keen. If you would like to get involved please post or PM me. Thanks.
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Post by bunnyscfc on Jun 23, 2022 9:33:33 GMT
Happy to run a piece in the mag about it Malcolm. Deadline is next Wednesday for the next issue.
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Post by Malcolm Clarke on May 19, 2023 17:16:08 GMT
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Post by jestershat on May 19, 2023 17:27:07 GMT
Malcolm, forgive me for hijacking your thread. I have often wondered whether child safety could be improved using flourescent badges on winter coats during dark winter mornings and evenings on the school run. "Be safe, be seen, be Stoke"....kind of thing. If velcro-fixed to the child's coat they can be removed at any time to prevent them being stolen by other kids. If you are not interested I'm off to Dragon's Den! Keep up the good work.
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Post by Malcolm Clarke on May 19, 2023 17:31:40 GMT
Malcolm, forgive me for hijacking your thread. I have often wondered whether child safety could be improved using flourescent badges on winter coats during dark winter mornings and evenings on the school run. "Be safe, be seen, be Stoke"....kind of thing. If velcro-fixed to the child's coat they can be removed at any time to prevent them being stolen by other kids. If you are not interested I'm off to Dragon's Den! Keep up the good work. Sounds like an interesting idea - might be worth proposing it to whoever is in charge of retail at the Club - or to Simon King. |
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Post by OldStokie on May 19, 2023 19:21:09 GMT
Sounds like a brilliant idea Malcolm. Well done.
M.
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Post by a on May 19, 2023 19:55:40 GMT
I do wonder why we don’t see as many people from the BAME community at games. Then again maybe there is a proportional representation already? I honestly wouldn’t know.
Is the intention Malcolm to increase the number of BAME fans? That would be great. Or is it suggesting that an underrepresentation is down to racial discrimination? Interested to know your thoughts Malcom, et al.
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Post by bayernoatcake on May 19, 2023 20:57:01 GMT
I do wonder why we don’t see as many people from the BAME community at games. Then again maybe there is a proportional representation already? I honestly wouldn’t know. Is the intention Malcolm to increase the number of BAME fans? That would be great. Or is it suggesting that an underrepresentation is down to racial discrimination? Interested to know your thoughts Malcom, et al. Regularly around where I sit there is one bloke who isn’t white. When the club post pictures of our away crowds you struggle to find anyone who isn’t white. The area is a very white area but minority groups do seem very under represented in our fanbase/crowd. |
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Post by a on May 19, 2023 21:51:22 GMT
I do wonder why we don’t see as many people from the BAME community at games. Then again maybe there is a proportional representation already? I honestly wouldn’t know. Is the intention Malcolm to increase the number of BAME fans? That would be great. Or is it suggesting that an underrepresentation is down to racial discrimination? Interested to know your thoughts Malcom, et al. Regularly around where I sit there is one bloke who isn’t white. When the club post pictures of our away crowds you struggle to find anyone who isn’t white. The area is a very white area but minority groups do seem very under represented in our fanbase/crowd. Similarly I see a few people of colour but hardly any Asian people, yet we have a fair few people of Asian descent living in and around Stoke. I’ve wondered why more don’t go to games but not sure why not… 81% white, so 1 in 5 are not, yet I would wager that far less that 20% of the crowd identify as non-white. Maybe they just don’t like SCFC 😂 |
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Post by PotterLog on May 19, 2023 23:07:31 GMT
Regularly around where I sit there is one bloke who isn’t white. When the club post pictures of our away crowds you struggle to find anyone who isn’t white. The area is a very white area but minority groups do seem very under represented in our fanbase/crowd. Similarly I see a few people of colour but hardly any Asian people, yet we have a fair few people of Asian descent living in and around Stoke. I’ve wondered why more don’t go to games but not sure why not… 81% white, so 1 in 5 are not, yet I would wager that far less that 20% of the crowd identify as non-white. Maybe they just don’t like SCFC 😂 To deploy my biggest broadest brush for a second, it's probably not much more complicated than just being a cultural thing I guess. |
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Post by generationex on May 20, 2023 2:54:37 GMT
The Jamaican black immigration that focused in Cobridge seems to have died, when I was a kid there were lots of Blues parties on Waterloo road. There was a run of Afro-Caribbean players at stoke and vale.
Now Cobridge and Etruria are more Asian, although Snowhill is becoming an African immigrant area and is becoming pretty vibrant. My guess is the next generation of Stoke players will include kids from this background and area.
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Post by lawrieleslie on May 20, 2023 6:44:38 GMT
Back in the mid 1960s my bezzy mate was a Vale fan whilst I was a firm Stokie. It was common for us both to go to Stoke and Vale home games together. We were always skint so having the 2/6d entrance was paramount so we would walk from Wolstanton to both grounds. Up to May Bank, down through the woods to Etruria and along the Trent Mersey Canal to Stoke. To Vale we’d go down Pit Green Lane past McGuinesses scrap yard to Middleport and up into Burslem. We’re still friends now some 60 years later and banter about our clubs fortunes. Sorry no photos unfortunately.
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Post by Malcolm Clarke on May 20, 2023 10:43:16 GMT
I do wonder why we don’t see as many people from the BAME community at games. Then again maybe there is a proportional representation already? I honestly wouldn’t know. Is the intention Malcolm to increase the number of BAME fans? That would be great. Or is it suggesting that an underrepresentation is down to racial discrimination? Interested to know your thoughts Malcom, et al. It's an interesting question. There is no doubt that non-white people are underrepresented in football crowds at all clubs, not just Stoke City, compared with the local community. The reasons could be cultural, or a fear of not being welcomed, or even of outright discrimination, or a combination of those. We perhaps need some more research on this. I notice this when we go away - at Luton to take just one example, the contrast between the home crowd, and those living in the streets near the ground, and walking in the town centre is very stark. This project was the brainchild of a Cardiff City fan of asian heritage and Anwar Uddin, who until recently was the FSA's diversity manager. Anwar is an ex-pro having played for West Ham and captained Dagenham & Redbridge, and was the first player of asian heritage to captain a club side at Wembley in a play-off final. His departure from the FSA is a bad news/good news story. It's a great loss to us but he has gone to head up the FA's diversity programme, where I'm sure he will continue to be an inspirational lead for change in football. But this project isn't only about people of colour. It's about all aspects of diversity, including gender and disability. A few years ago I attended the launch of a scheme which Wigan Council set up with Wigan Athletic, where fans volunteered to become the 'buddy' to take someone with a learning disability to game they wouldn't otherwise be able to go to. The volunteers of course had to have all the relevant checks to ensure they were suitable. It's a great idea. I'm not sure whether that scheme is still running and whether it was successful. This thread has prompted me to find out ! As I said above, the pictures on display at the Stoke launch were brilliantly powerful and effective in making the link between fans from diverse backgrounds, the shirt - i.e the Club - and iconic landmarks of the community in which the Club is situated, the great City of Stoke. Was it Ibsen who said a picture is worth a thousand words ? I am sure the Club will want to find a way of sharing them with the wider fan-base - either on display at the ground and/or in the programme. |
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Post by Malcolm Clarke on May 20, 2023 10:47:46 GMT
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Post by bayernoatcake on May 20, 2023 10:49:18 GMT
I do wonder why we don’t see as many people from the BAME community at games. Then again maybe there is a proportional representation already? I honestly wouldn’t know. Is the intention Malcolm to increase the number of BAME fans? That would be great. Or is it suggesting that an underrepresentation is down to racial discrimination? Interested to know your thoughts Malcom, et al. It's an interesting question. There is no doubt that non-white people are underrepresented in football crowds at all clubs, not just Stoke City, compared with the local community. The reasons could be cultural, or a fear of not being welcomed, or even of outright discrimination, or a combination of those. We perhaps need some more research on this. I notice this when we go away - at Luton to take just one example, the contrast between the home crowd, and those living in the streets near the ground, and walking in the town centre is very stark. This project was the brainchild of a Cardiff City fan of asian heritage and Anwar Uddin, who until recently was the FSA's diversity manager. Anwar is an ex-pro having played for West Ham and captained Dagenham & Redbridge, and was the first player of asian heritage to captain a club side at Wembley in a play-off final. His departure from the FSA is a bad news/good news story. It's a great loss to us but he has gone to head up the FA's diversity programme, where I'm sure he will continue to be an inspirational lead for change in football. But this project isn't only about people of colour. It's about all aspects of diversity, including gender and disability. A few years ago I attended the launch of a scheme which Wigan Council set up with Wigan Athletic, where fans volunteered to become the 'buddy' to take someone with a learning disability to game they wouldn't otherwise be able to go to. The volunteers of course had to have all the relevant checks to ensure they were suitable. It's a great idea. I'm not sure whether that scheme is still running and whether it was successful. This thread has prompted me to find out ! As I said above, the pictures on display at the Stoke launch were brilliantly powerful and effective in making the link between fans from diverse backgrounds, the shirt - i.e the Club - and iconic landmarks of the community in which the Club is situated, the great City of Stoke. Was it Ibsen who said a picture is worth a thousand words ? I am sure the Club will want to find a way of sharing them with the wider fan-base - either on display at the ground and/or in the programme. I do think we have a lot of female fans which is great. No idea if that's actually the case and I'm just basing it on where I sit but there's quite a good mix. It's a great project and will hopefully help with getting a more diverse crowd to the game as representation can only help imo. |
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Post by a on May 21, 2023 11:42:02 GMT
Similarly I see a few people of colour but hardly any Asian people, yet we have a fair few people of Asian descent living in and around Stoke. I’ve wondered why more don’t go to games but not sure why not… 81% white, so 1 in 5 are not, yet I would wager that far less that 20% of the crowd identify as non-white. Maybe they just don’t like SCFC 😂 To deploy my biggest broadest brush for a second, it's probably not much more complicated than just being a cultural thing I guess. Maybe, which if true is a shame but I guess as long as we try to be as inclusive as possible then the decision to attend or not hopefully isn’t an issue of discrimination. As Malcolm quite rightly points out it could be a multitude of reasons, hopefully not a financial one, as many minority groups are also financially disadvantaged too. Great initiative though as the more fans, the better imo, and it shouldn’t matter what colour, race or religion they are. |
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Post by ivorstokie on May 21, 2023 13:13:53 GMT
Older fans (like me) can remember when non-white players started to appear in club matches, and certainly when the first black player appeared for England (Viv Anderson 1978). These days it’s not uncommon for more than half the players on the pitch to be non-white. Sadly, this development has not been reflected in the crowds attending games. Hard to pinpoint why this is but I think it’s likely to be a combination of factors which have already been touched on in this thread.
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