Events

April 2005

Shaka's PFA reward for 10-year campaign

Shaka Hislop hopes his PFA award for his anti-racism work will strengthen the battle to keep racists away from football.

The Pompey goalkeeper picked up this year's special merit award from PFA chairman and Hawks striker Dean Holdsworth at the association's annual ceremony in London.

This week he paid tribute to the hundreds of people - players and otherwise - who were all doing their bit to stamp out racism.

But he warned although good progress was being made, there was still much work to do to make football completely free of the problem.

Hislop was a founder of the Show Racism The Red Card campaign in his Newcastle days about a decade ago.

He recalled: "A couple of the lads up there brought out an anti-racism leaflet which was intended to be a one-off.

"I received a copy and offered my full support. I sent a £50 cheque and said I'd help wherever I could.

"I was asked to go round schools in the north-east and talk to them about my own experiences and racism in general.

"In my time I've given a lot of talks but there are hundreds of professional footballers who support it with time and money, and it's played a big part in tackling the problem."

Hislop said getting the message across to children was the best way of preventing racism.

The Trinidad & Tobago international knows only too well there are still racist incidents in football grounds.

Last October a father and son were convicted after racially abusing Hislop during Pompey's 2-0 win over Manchester United.

He was not aware of the abuse until after it had happened.

"There have been some high-profile incidents, like the abuse the England players received in Madrid earlier this year and Dwight Yorke's incident up at Blackburn," he said.

"When I was targeted I was fantastically proud of the way it was dealt with. It was fans who reported it, and the club were very hard in their stance against it.

That sends out the right message. But the fact is there is still racism in the game, and all the time there is, the campaign must carry on."

"I cannot take the credit alone, I was given a great deal of help by a lot of people who have made my job a lot easier. "I am very proud of the campaign, considering where we have come from, but just because we have made so many steps forward over the last decade, it doesn't mean that we stop and rest on our laurels, otherwise all that hard work is in vain."

We are extremely grateful to Shaka for all of his support over the years and are overjoyed that his involvement with our campaign has been recognised in this manner