Enough is Enough campaign launches to tackle hate across grassroots football
Enough is Enough also focuses on the importance of reporting of incidents of discrimination and highlighting the different ways to do this through match officials, The FA, Kick It Out and local County FAs. This campaign encourages everyone in the game that sees or hears an incident of discrimination to report it through the official channels so that the appropriate action can be taken.
The campaign also outlines the support available to victims, which includes access to a range of specialist mental health and wellbeing services, which are funded by The FA and delivered by charity Sporting Chance.
This builds on the ongoing work to address unacceptable, discriminatory and illegal behaviour across the game, under the football-wide Love Football. Protect the Game initiative, which aims to ensure that the actions of the minority do not spoil the game for all.
From the start of the 2023-24 season, we introduced point deductions for teams across the grassroots game whose players or coaches commit repeated offences of serious misconduct, which includes discriminatory behaviour. This landmark change in sanctioning followed consistent feedback from across grassroots football that player behaviour is a significant issue, making clear to clubs that this kind of behaviour is unacceptable.
FA Director of Football Development, James Kendall, said: "Grassroots football is the foundation of our game and we want it to be as enjoyable and inclusive as possible, played in an environment where everybody feels safe and comfortable to be themselves. Through our Enough Is Enough campaign, we couldn’t be any clearer that we will not tolerate any form of hate across our game.
"We’ve previously acted on feedback to strengthen our sanctioning framework across grassroots football, to ensure those who are found guilty of discriminatory behaviour face the toughest possible action. We’re also using Enough is Enough to highlight the significance of reporting incidents, which cannot be underestimated. It’s critical that every incident of this nature that is seen or heard is reported to match officials, local County FAs, The FA or Kick It Out. Only by working together can we truly stamp this behaviour out of our game."
MORE: ENOUGH IS ENOUGH
What counts as hate?
In grassroots football, hate is the expression of discrimination through verbal abuse, insulting gestures and prejudicial behaviour. Racism, sexism and homophobia are the most common reported incidents, but we are targeting all forms of discriminatory behaviour. Watch the video to find out more.