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Football codes unite at anti-racism conference

While Australia and England struggled to play nice at Lords in the second Ashes test, at the University of Cambridge, representatives from Australian and English football united to tackle racism.

AFL Players’ Association Indigenous and Multicultural Manager Kelly Applebee, representatives from the Professional Footballers’ Association (PFA) and academics from Australian and British universities attended a three-day conference to share ideas on how AFL and EPL has fought racism.

Following the conference there is plans to establish an international network on racism in football and an ongoing relationship between the AFL Players’ Association and the Professional Footballers’ Association was mooted.

Applebee says the conference, the first of its kind in the world, provided a rare opportunity for the two codes to share ideas on policy development and experiences dealing with racism in sport and society.

“While English football and Aussie Rules operate in different climates, historically in terms of where the two codes have been and where the codes are now in combating racism; the history is similar,” she said.

“Both codes are doing great work in this space and going forward, there might be opportunities for us to work together on some projects.

“There was plenty of enthusiasm in the room.”

AFL Players’ Association CEO Matt Finnis described a potential partnership between AFL and English football as “incredibly significant”.

“If by joining forces with a sporting organization on the other side of the earth, that is dealing with many of the same issues we are dealing with, allows us to combine the strength of our elite players with their elite players to really own social change, I think is a massive opportunity for us,” he said.

“It’s a massive opportunity in that regard and the opening of the dialogue between our associations and sharing experience and plans, is the first step in what I hope will be a very fruitful relationship.”

Applebee said the AFL Players’ Indigenous Advisory Board best practice document, “Many stories, one goal. Supporting Indigenous Footballers”, earned praise from the attendees for the strength of its framework and player voice.

“The feedback was around the strength of the document and its ability to transfer across to other social issues such as homophobia.”

“With a number of academics in the room who have done a lot of work in this field, their observation was around the strong correlation between evidence they have gathered and the player experiences and voice in our best practice document.”

“The combination of research and player voice is very powerful to drive change.”

Earlier last month Manchester United veteran Rio Ferdinand and Adam Goodes met to discuss their experiences with racism in sport and society.

Applebee also met with PFA deputy CEO Bobby Barnes in the UK and believes the chance to collaborate with English football is a fantastic opportunity for the AFL Players’ Association members and Aussie Rules in general.

“It is such a powerful brand and through initiatives like Kick It Out, it has been able to drive cultural change through football. There are already some little things we will take away from their programs, like using the clubs to connect with supporters to provide education.”

Another initiative to come from the conference is the publication of an issue of Sport and Society dedicated to this topic. It will be guest edited by Sean Gorman from Curtin University, who has done extensive research into this area, and will include a number of essays written by attendees from the conference.

Kelly Applebee also met with the Professional Cricketers’ Association, which was eager to investigate how the AFL Players’ Association assists with helping an athletes’ transition into the next phase of their life post their sporting careers.