March 2018

Recipients of FBL awards in the Community section

Nominations for the Football Black List 2018 are officially open and we are excited about who the initiative – which is 10 years old this year – will help to shine a light on. 

Managers, coaches, senior administrators, players, community and grassroots heroes, fans, campaigners, practitioners, lawyers and journalists have comprised the lists since 2008 – highlighting the incredible contribution of black people to the game.

The initiative is now high profile, widely recognised and supported by the game at all levels – as well as the community. We are very proud of how far the Football Black List has come. However, we want to ensure the list continues to flourish and remains relevant and inclusive.

An immediate improvement is addressing noticeable under- representation in some areas of the list. For example, since Uriah Rennie retired in 2009 we haven’t seen a referee included. This is something I will write about in more detail over the coming weeks – but where are the black refs? Do we really not have one across professional football? If that is the case, should the initiative be highlighting the next highest ranking official?

Another area where representation on the list has been low is in the board room. Dame Heather Rabbatts has been our highest ranking club official over – when she was Executive Deputy Chair of Millwall Football Club. In that time we have had very few other board members at clubs featured on the list, underlining the challenge ahead for the community in this area.

We also want the list to be more diverse. Encouragingly, the numbers of women has increased over the years but there is still some way to go. And while we have been pleased to see those with disabilities and members of the LGBT community on the list, we still want to see much greater diversity.

Of course, the challenges we face with the list only highlight where the black community is in the game. We don’t have significant representation at board level or in refereeing, and football still lacks a genuinely diverse workforce. The Football Black List, by highlighting the range of jobs in the game and role models to aspire to, is a proactive response in helping to address this.

But to create the most inclusive and genuinely representative list we need nominations that are reflective of the outstanding individuals across the game. We won’t know everyone out there – particularly at community and grassroots level. So please do not be shy.

Judging the nominations and pulling together the Football Black List is a huge challenge that has never been easy. This year we want the community and football family to give the panel of judges their hardest task ever.

Get nominating and let’s highlight and celebrate those leading the way!

HOW TO NOMINATE

ANYONE can be nominated for the Football Black List. They just need to work or be active in football. You can even nominate yourself. 

The categories for nominations are: Administration, Community and Grassroots, Players (for Off the field work), Media, Practitioners, Coaching and Management, Commercial and Ugo Ehiogu’s Ones To Watch (Under 30 and excellent).

Email nominations to info@footballblacklist.com with a name, contact details and information on the nominees contribution to the game (maximum 200 words) this can be a short written description and/or through online links (YouTube, website, SoundCloud, etc.)

CLOSING DATE: 27th April 2018

Christian Atsu with young children he is supporting in Ghana

Christian Atsu is crying. A silence sweeps over the room and the semi circle of journalists sat opposite the Newcastle and Ghana winger are at a loss for words. This is a rare moment in football. Footballers are rarely moved to tears in this way and the reason transcends the sport.

The 26 year-old is on a mission to help kids in his native Ghana who have become orphans. He’s putting his heart and soul into making a difference and will hold a special gala dinner on the 14th March in Newcastle with the charity Arms Around The Child.

To promote the event he has been speaking to the media and ahead of our exclusive interview he’s broken down when the questions bring back strong memories of what he’s seen orphans go through.

“When you grow up in a difficult situation you know exactly the suffering”, he tells The Voice of Sport. “If you don’t have any support you are going to suffer for the rest of your life.”

Atsu doesn’t want to see anymore children abused, imprisoned, affected by HIV, trafficked or sold – and he is determined to use his prominence as a Premier League footballer to prevent this. He visits the children regularly and cares greatly for them.

“I want to show love to the kids and that’s why I’m very involved in charity work.

“They are very happy when they see me. They always look up to me, they want to become better in the future and now they believe there is life – there is hope that they can live.

“We are organising a gala dinner here in Newcastle and we want to raise funds to provide better schooling and build houses for the young people – so we can try to help solve the problems on the streets.”

Hosted by Marvin Humes, British rap artist Ramz will be performing at the event and Newcastle United’s players will be out in force to support their team mate and the charity.

The North East of England is another world compared to where Atsu grew up in Ghana’s capital Accra. When reflecting on memories from his childhood he reveals he still plays barefoot when he returns.

“I was always enjoying playing on the streets with barefoot and this stays with me even now!

“Sometimes I still play football barefoot with my friends at home. We also play on the bad pitches too – but now with boots and with other professional players when we are on holiday in Ghana.”

This summer Atsu will be watching the World Cup on the television during his holiday as Ghana failed to qualify. Senegal, Egypt, Nigeria, Morocco and Tunisia are the African countries hoping to become the first to win the tournament from the continent. The Blackstar picks out Senegal, Nigeria and Egypt as sides to keep an eye on.

“When you look at the Senegal team they have Sadio Mane and deserved it (World Cup finals qualification). So with hard work I think they will do well.

“The Nigeria team have a lot of young players – very talented players – who are playing at a high level. Some are playing in La Liga, some in the Premier League and when you look at their group they won almost all of their matches. So I believe Nigeria will be one of the countries to go far in the World Cup.

“Also Egypt – they have Mohammed Salah, they have a very good coach and they play really compact. I have played against them and they are really hard to play against. I believe they can also go far.”

And what of the Blackstars? What is their focus?

“The fans were really disappointed when we couldn’t qualify for the World Cup but we have the African Nations Cup coming in 2019. We haven’t won it for 36 or 35 years now and the fans in Ghana are really angry with the Blackstars because of this.

“So for us, we want to tell them that we are working hard and preparing for the 2019 African Nations Cup – which they would prefer (we won) to the World Cup. So we are very confident that we will give them what they want.”

A confirmed victory for Atsu is his inclusion in the Best of Africa 100 Players of the Year. The BOA awards are now well established in the football calendar and the Newcastle star is a supporter.

“To be amongst the African 100 players is a great thing and I wasn’t expecting it, so it comes as a nice surprise to me.

“It’s very good for people to see we have a lot of African players doing well, so this will also help to raise the profile of African players in the Premier League.”

*Tickets for the Arms Around The Child gala dinner are £150 per person and are available from https://theblackstargala.eventbrite.co.uk.

*For more information on Arms Around The Child visit www.armsaroundthechild.org