Famous football players and artists against racism and violence

Totonel, one of the children from the Alternative Education Club who took part in the football match

October 30, 2011

The second friendly football match” Love Football, No Racism, No Violence” organized by Policy Center for Roma and Minorities, The Romanian Football Federation and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs took place at the Romanian National Team training center at Mogosoaia -Bucharest. The match is part of a series of games which aims at raising awareness with regard to racism, discrimination and violence on football stadiums. We organised the first game on March 20th, on the occasion of the International Day for the Elimination of Racial Discrimination.

Among those who came to Mogosoia were famous Romanian ex-football players Daniel Prodan, Jean Vlădoiu, Adrian Bumbescu, Gheorge Muțescu, Florentin Petre and Ionel Ganea, but also personalities from sports and the show biz, famous TV presenter Dani Oțil, musician Damian Drăghici, singer Bodo, director Cătălin Mitulescu, ex-world boxing champion Marian Simion. The match was also attended by bloggers Marius Matache and Cezare Vasile, our staff and volunteers and the children playing in the football team at the Alternative Education Club.

“Unfortunately violence and racism remain a huge problem on the football stadiums in Europe. The incident on the stadium in Ploiesti (a hooligan managed to enter on the pitch and gravely injured a player of Steaua Bucharest) which took place later the same day shows that there is still a long way to go. Although the involvement of the Romanian Football Federation and of the celebrities is admirable, this is not enough. It should also be supported by the educational system, but also by sport clubs and especially by the Romanian mass-media”, said Valeriu Nicolae, the President of Policy Center forRoma and Minorities.

The football match is part of the pilot project REACT (Responsibility, Empowerment, Activism, Citizenship, Transparency), which is a public awareness raising campaign implemented in Romania by our organization, in partnership with the Romanian Football Federation, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the FARE Network (Football Against Racism in Europe) and supported by the European Commission. The goal of the campaign is to raise awareness on the Roma social issues and on changing negative attitudes through an approach that engages both Roma and non-Roma ethnics. The main actions use instruments like movies, documentaries, videos, sports and education, as a means of stimulating active citizenship regardless the ethnicity.

In July the Beyond Sports international organization announced that Policy Center for Roma and Minorities was nominated for the Beyond Sport Awards 2011, at the “Best New Project” category, for its efforts to use sport as a social inclusion tool and for combating racism and discrimination. Across the list, 35 projects have been nominated covering 18 countries, from Afghanistan and Nepal to Sierra Leone and the West Bank, and using 22 different sports. These projects were chosen from close to 400 entries from more than 125 countries that submitted applications to this year’s Awards. Policy Center for Roma and Minorities is the only non-profit in Europe (except for theUKand theNetherlands) that was nominated for the prestigious awards.

Also, at the end of October, the REACT campaign received two nominations at the 9th edition of the Romanian PR Award, in the Non-governmental organizations. Civil Society and Public Affairs / Advocacy / Lobby categories. A record number of 212 projects entered the competition of which the international jury formed by 38 members chose 72 campaigns for the final.