kick out racism
8.9.2003
| Hello! I write on behalf of the Electric Yetis, a charity football team (Charity No. 1094756) formed in 1996 consisting of Leicester City supporters, which regularly flies the flag for the Foxes in fund-raising matches, friendlies and tournaments against supporters' team representing other Premiership, Nationwide, Scottish, and non-League Clubs. In the past couple of seasons, the team has forged very close links with Foxes Against Racism, the Leicester City FC-based group which strives to rid the game of racism, and has been very active in supporting various initiatives of the likes of 'Kick it Out' and 'Show Racism the Red Card'. Last season, for instance, the team organised matches against supporters teams representing Burnley and Preston North End to coincide with KIO and SRtRC weeks of action for which Foxes Against Racism provided silverware plus refreshments (liquid and food!!) after the games for all players. More recently, the Electric Yetis - in conjunction with FAR - organised a friendly match between supporters of England and Serbia / Montenegro to coincide with the international game being staged that evening at the Walkers Stadium. The game was a huge success and attracted considerable media interest. What's more, we even had Emile Heskey's brother making a guest appearance for the England fans! :-) You may already be aware that Kick it Out's next National Anti-Racism "week" of action takes place this year from the 16th to the 28th of October. As you know, Spurs' game at the Walkers Stadium takes place during this period so, to mark the Kick it Out campaign, the Electric Yetis would very much like to arrange another supporters' game, this time against a fans' team representing Tottenham Hotspur. Therefore I would like to ask if, on behalf of Spurs, you either a) know of any existing THFC supporters' team who you could forward this invitation on to for me please, or b) investigate assembling a make-shift Spurs' fans team yourself for this particular occasion. The game is all about sporting friendships and building bridges between rival sets of supporters, rather than sporting excellence and results on the pitch, and so it doesn't matter whether we play an established THFC supporters' team or simply one put together just for this day. The important thing is that we play such a fixture. In the absence of an existing Spurs side, please don't let the thought of us playing against a "scratch" side put you off; the Burnley team that played us last October in Leicester was one that formed just for that match and whose players didn't even know one another ... yet they still managed to hold us to a 6-all draw!! Similarly, the England players (photo attached for your information) that played the Serbian fans in June, were selected from supporters' teams representing Clubs from as far away as Reading, Huddersfield Town, Liverpool and Halifax Town so none of them had played together before either! I have already run the idea of a Leicester City -v- Spurs supporters' anti-racism game past FAR and they fully support the proposal. In fact, I understand they are keen to provide a similar package as previously!! In our games against Burnley and Preston, they also arranged for presentations to take place on the Walkers Stadium pitch during half-time of the respective Nationwide matches and we'd certainly look into something similar happening this time as well. With most things already falling nicely into place, all I need now is a Spurs fans' team - established or otherwise - to play us on the morning of the Premiership fixture between our two Clubs! Can you help, please? Incidentally, the Electric Yetis' President just so happens to be a certain Gary Lineker and he will of course be invited to attend such a fixture (and maybe even put in a guest appearance for one or both sides!). I do hope this idea
appeals to you and that you are in a position to help. It would be
good to take on a Spurs team next month for the first time in the Yetis'
history. Yours in sport,
Anyone interested in taking part, mail us at mehstg@blueyonder.co.uk and we will see how many like minded souls want to form a team. |