Swindon Town

SWINDON Town Football in The Community Trust and Wiltshire Council once again teamed up again together to launch the ‘Kick It Out’ programme by delivering a football tournament and a ‘Street skillz championship’ for youths aged between 8-16 across Wiltshire.

The tournament and championship was delivered across Wiltshire at the venues of Salisbury and Chippenham ending with the final of the tournament being held at Swindon Town FC’s County Ground stadium at half time of the Swindon v Fleetwood Town game on Saturday 29th November.

Both events were extremely popular with 8 teams participating in the tournament and a range of children with various abilities and disabilities taking part in the ‘Street skillz championship’. Both events were supported by the Football In The Community team and young volunteers from the Wiltshire Council group.

The Tournament was a tough evenly played  competition with all teams vying for the two sought after places of playing in front of a crowd of 10,000 at the amazing venue of the County Ground stadium.
The event was well supported by all of the Swindon Town staff and players, especially Swindon Town Goalkeeper Wes Foderingham who is the clubs official ambassador for ‘Kick it out’ and ‘Show Racism the Red Card’ programmes.

On Saturday 29th November, the day of the final, and also the day of the SkyBet League 1 game of Swindon Town V Fleetwood Town the day itself become a ‘kick it out’ day with the Football in The Community team raising awareness in and around the stadium and holding up the kick it out flags as both teams entered onto the pitch before the game began.

At Half time, the final of the kick it out competition, which was played in front of just over 10,000 spectators, was contested by Athletic FC and DHDL FC, 2 teams who were successful from Chippenham and Devizes respectively. With an exciting atmosphere building in the stands, the two teams were welcomed and well supported by both Swindon Town and Fleetwood Town supporters for a campaign that is supported throughout the Football League. After a close knit match, Athletic FC came out on top winning 3-0.

Wes Foderingham, STFC Goalkeeper, STFC Kick It Out and Give Racism the Red Card Ambassador, said: "The Kick It Out project is a great way to raise awareness of racism in football, and together we aim towards eradicating it from our beautiful game for good. The STFC Community Trust's Kick It Out project is a great example of this, especially as it doesn't just target Swindon but goes out across the whole of Wiltshire with youths engaging in exciting tournaments."

Andy Ealey, Swindon Town Football in The Community Officer added: “It’s been such a great couple of days helping out the project in Salisbury and Chippenham and even better ending with the final here at the County Ground. After helping out last year we knew what to expect and the teams didn’t fail to deliver. The ‘Kick It Out’ event is a fantastic opportunity to promote equality and inclusion in football, and it’s great that youths from all backgrounds, sexualities, race, religions and cultures can come and play with the chance to show off their talents. It’s also about positive attitudes and playing in the right manner. Well done to all of the teams and players who took part in both days and well done to your two winning teams that played at half time during the Fleetwood game.