The reception centres' summer football tour culminates with a seminar on tolerance
This past summer, the Finnish Immigration Service and the Football Players Association of Finland (FPA), the representative organisation for football players in Finland, took the most popular sport in the world to reception centres to enrich the everyday lives of asylum seekers. The aim of the "Football belongs to everyone" tour was not only to bring football to asylum seekers but also to promote the realisation of equality and justice at reception centres and in our society in general.
The summer's collaborative effort will culminate on Tuesday 29 October with the FARE tolerance seminar held at the Helsinki Olympic Stadium. The results of the “Football belongs to everyone” tour will be presented at the seminar organised by Finnish multicultural sports association: the asylum seekers' World All Stars team, a giant football jersey created from signed sheets gathered from each reception centre and a documentary describing the tour.
Other practical action against racism in the Nordic and Baltic Countries will also discussed at the seminar in Helsinki, which is a part of the international FARE week.
The cooperation between the Finnish Immigration Service and the FPA was not a one-off affair, and the power of football to combat racism will be used at reception centres in future summers as well.
Tour visited all reception centres
The “Football belongs to everyone” tour began in Oulu at the beginning of June and finished in Kotka at the start of September. Members of the FPA, i.e. top Finnish players, visited every reception centre in Finland during the tour.
During the visits, the players spoke against racism, provided general information on football in Finland and led a group exercise, in which asylum seekers selected their own starting eleven from the world's best players. All participants also signed their names on sheets, which have been sown into a gigantic football jersey at the conclusion of the tour. Each visit naturally ended with a game of football.
Tero Koskela, the FPA's Vice Chairman who finished his playing career at VPS in 2012, was responsible for the tour's implementation. During his career, the 37-year-old Koskela played at six different Veikkausliiga clubs, along with a three-season stint in the Norwegian top flight.
– Football unites all the people of the world, and it was truly fantastic to see people in difficult situations experience such freedom and enthusiasm. I am extremely grateful to the Finnish Immigration Service for letting us spread the Finnish footballers' message of tolerance to every reception centre, says Koskela.
Further information for the media
- Executive Manager Markus Juhola, Football Players Association of Finland,
tel. +358 50 596 0727, e-mail: markus@jpy.fi - Senior Adviser Olli Snellman, Finnish Immigration Service's reception unit
tel. +358 71 873 0431, e-mail: firstname.lastname@migri.fi
Press release issued by the Finnish Immigration Service, reception centres and the Football Players Association of Finland
What is FARE?Football is the world's most popular sport and belongs to everyone. Every human being must have the right to play or follow football and to discuss it freely. The purpose of the FARE campaign is to prevent all forms of discrimination related to football. FARE is the abbreviation for Football Against Racism in Europe network. The campaign began when the supporter organisations of various European clubs issued an initiative to football associations and players' associations to do something about racism in football. The first joint FARE congress was held in Vienna, Austria in 1999. The core principles and policies of FARE campaigning were defined at this inaugural meeting, which also saw the creation of the FARE network with membership organisations all over Europe. The goal of the FARE campaign is to completely weed out discrimination and racism from football equally at the local, national and international levels. The key objectives of the FARE Action Week are:
Further information: http://www.farenet.org/ |
