How The Football Industry Celebrated Black History Month...
The month of October is Black History Month in the UK, here are some of the Black History Month activations from some of your favourite football clubs...
Happy new week,
We’re very happy to see the Premier League and clubs take the opportunity to share, celebrate and understand the impact of black British heritage and culture. The Premier League and football clubs all celebrated in various ways.
Arsenal had their U11 team visit Black Cultural Archives as part of Arsenal’s wider ‘Respect for Everyone’ education programme. Across the day, their academy players gained greater insight into the challenges faced and overcome by Caribbean people in Britain, as well as the positive impact they continue to have on British culture. Fulham also took their academy age groups to the Black Cultural Archive in Brixton and were tasked with writing a poem inspired by their visit. You can listen to Zach’s poem narrated by Fulham’s staff and players here.
Brentford football club’s theme for this black history month was ‘Celebrating our sisters, saluting our sisters and honouring matriarchs of movements.’ Which highlighted the crucial role that black women have played in shaping history, inspiring change and building communities. As part of Black History Month, they had British-Nigerian historian David Olusoga give a talk to their players. They also had midfielder Josh Dasilva sit down with Brentford FC Community Sports Trust to talk about Black History Month and what it means to him and his family.
"I think Black History Month is important to uplift and show that we are worthy in a sense, even though we shouldn't have to. But it is a good opportunity for other cultures to understand black people and where we have come from." Josh Dasilva
Manchester United invited lifelong fan Avelino to sit down with a number of the men’s and women’s team players to discuss inspirational black role models in the Black community, whether that be in football or in other industries. They also held a Black History month event at Old Trafford with the Foundation educating young people about employment opportunities.
The football club that really impressed this Black History Month was Chelsea FC. They put a lot of thought, effort and budget into their black history month celebration. They partnered with London based designer Nicholas Daley to create a clothing collection inspired by the first black Chelsea men’s player Paul Canoville.
This campaign is a powerful way to share Paul Canovile's story and allow his story to connect with the next generation. This collaboration serves as a great example of how to integrate and empower your local community for your campaign to be truly authentic. What I’m also impressed by is Chelsea’s year long Black History Month campaign ‘Making History Everyday’. A campaign designed to celebrate black leaders, trailblazers and pioneers in the Chelsea community through the year. This is a great move to celebrate black history month beyond the dedicated month of October.
Black History Month is an important cultural month and is the easiest way for clubs, brands and leagues to do something to celebrate black history. It’s easy to see when Black History Month is treated as a tick box exercise and when it’s well thought out. There’s an abundance of untold stories and achievements in football that deserves to be celebrated and it would be great for black staff, players and fans to feel acknowledged and celebrated.