Football Unites, Racism Divides held their biggest ever Week of Action event at the game between Sheffield United and Premiership champions Chelsea on 28th October. Football Unites have worked together with Sheffield United since 1997 on their Anti-Racist days.
"The match against Chelsea provided the perfect opportunity of a packed stadium, plus Sky coverage, to do something a bit special"
, said Football Unites coordinator Howard Holmes.
25 Football Unites volunteers worked for three hours to lay out 6,000 cards, which spelt out a giant 'Kick It Out' message, as the players shook hands before the game. Football Unites worked with the club and 'Show Racism the Red Card' to produce a team poster against racism, 4,500 copies of which were handed out to fans, along with Kick It Out's 'One Game, One Community' leaflet and poster.
'Blades United Against Racism' and 'Kick It Out' messages were flashed every ten minutes on the giant scoreboard and 12 young players from the Football Unites free sessions at the Blades Academy took part in a coaching demonstration on the pitch at half-time.