Soccer can cut through barriers

Delroy Dacres has a goal. His aim is to unite communities and creeds of every colour through sport.

Playing football in his younger days, Delroy is well aware of racism on the pitch. Born in Bradford to Jamaican parents, the strapping six-footer experienced it. Now he's trying to stamp it out.

He knows that eradicating racism on football pitches, or anywhere else where sport is played, is a long shot. "Will we ever stamp out crime? No," says Delroy, one of the people behind the local campaign group SCAR (Sports Campaign Against Racism) based in the Frontline resource centre in Bradford.

The group was launched in 1998 in response to a racist incident on a Bradford football pitch. Research into the nature and extent of racism in football carried out by the Carnegie Research Institute in Leeds revealed black and Asian players were experiencing racial abuse on the pitch every week.

The research was part of a series of research projects undertaken for national campaigning body Kick It Out, tackling racism in sport.

It focused on the Bradford, Wakefield, Huddersfield, Leeds and Calderdale areas under the umbrella of the West Riding County FA, and identified as being representative of the national scene.

The report identified problems and recommendations were made for change but, according to Dr Kevin Hylton, a senior lecturer with the Institute who was involved in the research, there's still a long way to go. His views are based on a follow-up report he presented last year.

"Things have changed, there is a much greater awareness of anti-racist activity across sport. If you look at the World Cup that is an example of high-profile, symbolic activity. But if you look around, what is happening in practice isn't enough," says Dr Hylton.

"There has to be a systematic institutional approach to diversity, equity and inclusion in each sport otherwise what you'll get are people signing charters, high-profile expressions of anti-racist activity but beyond these symbolic commitments you won't get enough activity going on within organisations and within sports," explains Dr Hylton.

He praises organisations such as SCAR and the work volunteers like Delroy do in helping to raise awareness.

His concern is the continuity of the valuable work should these organisations ever disappear. For Delroy, that isn't even a consideration.

We spoke the day after the mini World Cup, a tournament he and his colleagues pulled together for the benefit of the Bradford community.

A phenomenal 500 spectators supported the event at Manningham Mills Sports Association. More than 160 players from different nationalities, indicative of how diverse Bradford's community is, performed on the pitch.

Ill-health forced Delroy to give up work as a machine operator and he become a volunteer. As well as being chairman of SCAR he also manages Campion, an open-age football team playing in the West Riding County Amateur league.

Says Delroy: "I used to play football but I always wanted to run faster than anybody else; I wanted to jump higher than anybody else. I met friends through sport and played football at a reasonable level."

But he suffered for his passion too. "I suffered racism and I'm six foot three. I can look after myself but a lot of people can't.

"The problem back then was there was no law to say somebody couldn't say it. There is now.

He adds: "I would like to say racism isn't just white on black. It's all the way round."

Councillor David Ward believes sport is a way of tackling segregation. "People living in communities are not mixing and that's why coming together through sport is really important."

Developing links between Bradford City and the Manningham community is part of his remit as Leeds Metropolitan University's business development manager for Bradford Projects. Along with the football club, Bradford Council and Carlton Bolling College, he's also involved in a new community football scheme, launched at the College, to nurture sporting potential within the Asian community.

Nationally, there's a need to increase the number of Asians in sport, particularly at a professional level. Yet, despite the efforts of Kick It Out and local groups like SCAR, there are still few coming through the ranks.

Former professional Rugby League player Ikram Butt is confident of change. Ikram made his name as the first Asian to play for England. Today he's busy developing sporting initiatives within Bradford as a community sports and activities development officer for the Council.

He also campaigns for change through the many organisations he's involved with, including the Asians in Football Forum launched last year.

Says Ikram: "I was fortunate because my father was sporty. He was a boxer so I think that's where we got our sporting genes."

He's aware of cultural barriers preventing young Asians getting into certain sports. He explains how many parents discouraged their children from playing rugby, a game they perceive as a tough and physically demanding sport. Back then he says there wasn't the encouragement or support there is now and that's down to organisations such as Kick It Out and SCAR.

"They are making a change. Carlton Bolling is a positive move in the right direction, SCAR is a welcome too. These initiatives are welcomed but they have to be sustained," says Ikram.

"I would like to see a sporting society which reflects communities living in England today.

"There have been improvements in policies from sporting codes filtering down to grass roots. We need to continue in that direction to ensure racism plays no part in sport and society as well."

Piara Power, Kick It Out director, praised SCAR's work building bridges within the local community: "SCAR in particular is very interesting because it's a voluntary group. Volunteers give up their time for free, get the message across and do what they can to make sure communities live together in harmony and peace."

David Gent, regional director, Sport England Yorkshire, says: "Campaigns like SCAR are essential, not only in tackling racism in sport, but in giving more people from ethnic minority communities more opportunities to get involved in all sports -- whether as a player, a coach or a volunteer."

• One Game, One Community is the theme for Kick It Out's annual week of action from October 17 to 30. For more information visit