Social Inclusion

Inclusion is a key word in society. The theme of Social Inclusion addresses the area of a lack of wealth or welfare issues. This may result in less participation or involvement for people who would otherwise have wished to participate in a given activity. Currently within football we have players who come from a varied socio-economic background. This means that players at your club could come from a variety of family backgrounds ranging from very wealthy to very poor. Sociologists and Politicians will define Social Exclusion as caused by poverty or a series of often linked circumstances such as unemployment, low income, high crime, poor housing and health, family breakdown and poor skills.

Football is a sport played everywhere and not just confined to leafy affluent suburbs or run down housing estates, so for football the issue of Social Inclusion is a real and existing one. There is no doubt that poverty can and does prevent participation for many players. When we in football refer to Social Inclusion we mean the ways we ensure that players are not excluded from participating if they wish to.

There are a number of Government initiatives to address this area, with Local Government taking a major role in addressing this issue. If people lack the resources to enable participation then application can be made to various departments to seek assistance.

What does this mean for football? Quite simply does your club understand its role in ensuring that players are not denied access to the game due to socio-economic reasons? Family circumstances can change, often drastically and very quickly, so clubs must be aware that access for their players may also change as a result. The payment of weekly subscriptions may have been straightforward in the past but once circumstances have changed they no longer become possible. Clubs have to understand that parent / carers without a means of personal transport may well struggle to get to training or to fixtures on time and fining the participants may only compound their difficulties. For some children, their main activity of the week is their game of football where they can play as an equal with their peers and their home circumstances can be forgotten for a short while.

Families of players often do not seek nor do they want charity from their teams but at times they may need a little understanding and consideration. They may need a little longer to pay their yearly subscriptions or perhaps a loan to purchase boots etc. These are all issues that are dealt with on a regular basis in clubs all over the land. What is important is how the club deals with these concerns initially and how it contributes to deal with them afterwards.

What should our club be doing to promote Social Inclusion?

• Ensure that the club committee are aware of the area of Social Inclusion and what it may mean to players.
• Mention in your Code of Conduct the respecting of individuals and ensure that everyone adheres to this Code at all times.
• Ensure that the club structures, policies, procedures and programmes are fairly designed and developed and do not negatively discriminate because of a persons socio-economic background.
• Keep all such personal details private and on a ‘need to know basis’, these details should not be shared with everyone and the club has to respect a persons dignity and privacy.
• Try to deal with any such situations sensitively as often people are very reluctant or embarrassed to admit to changed circumstances. Do try to find out sooner rather than later after which time your offer of support may be too late.
• Value the experience and support that people of all socio-economic backgrounds can bring to the club.
• Challenge your players or parents if there are any inappropriate behaviours or poor practices that do not meet the criteria of the club code.