In a week when the incident between John Terry and Anton Ferdinand has brought the ugly issue of racism in football to the forefront of the media, Alex Lawson takes a look at what Everton FC is doing to address the situation

Football isn’t always very open to change. Anyone who’s heard grumbles about a return to terracing or worked on the turnstiles ripping tickets will attest fans have perhaps the most rose-tinted of all society’s glasses-wearers. But anonymous texting in reporting racist and unacceptable abuse has proven a triumph in embracing technology. How many times have you heard pathetic individuals “giving people stick” in their own way but dared not confront them?

But there’s still work to do and it’s credit to Everton, widely known to be on a tight budget under chairman Bill Kenwright, that the club has put cash behind its Everton for Equality campaign. In following Kick It Out’s Equality Standards for Professional Clubs, Everton is working within the Racial Equality Standard to ensure that all staff and participants that access club programmes and projects, receive fair and equitable treatment in the workplace – irrespective of race, colour, ethnic background and nationality.

“The vast majority of our fans are well behaved but occasionally a small minority spoil the experience for other supporters,” community engagement officer Henry Mooney, who cites helping several members of the black community be the first in their family to go to university as his proudest achievement, tells Footy Matters.

The club works with a number of charities that promote racial equality in the Greater Merseyside Area. This includes the Commission for Racial Equality, Refugee Action, The African Elders Project, The Somali Women’s Group and The Local Authority Positive Action team.

The club is also involved in Black History Month and support the Merseyside Homeless Games, as well as sponsoring a homeless provision that participate in the Liverpool Homeless League, an organisation documented on this very site. Everton also runs one of the largest disability programmes in the country.

But, while the club has achieved a lot, Mooney admits there is more to be done: “I believe that there have been substantial inroads made through national campaigns such as Show Racism the Red Card and Kick it Out. It has helped in relation to racism in that it is now a criminal offence in this country, including any incident that has a racial undertone. Unfortunately there are still isolated incidents of racism in this country and I believe them to be related to lack of education more than anything else.”

So what next? The club is well on the way to achieving Kick It Out’s advanced level Racial Equality Standard accreditation, an admiral accreditation in one of the country’s largest and whitest cities. Everton will hope that most clubs, who are working with Kick It Out but perhaps do not have a dedicated campaign to deal with racism, will use its work as an example. Looking at the wider game, recent racial abuse aimed at England’s Ashley Young in Bulgaria has to be addressed by UEFA who have been reticent to take strong action including points deductions for clubs and countries. Ultimately, it will be the will of the fans that will stamp out racism in football, but action by clubs like Everton will provide the backbone to success.