Birmingham County FA has Pledged to fully support The FA’s new campaign aimed at encouraging all participants and spectators within grassroots football to report any acts of discrimination they witness.

Tell Us, We’ll Tackle It campaign will be rolled out by Birmingham County FA across the West Midlands and has been designed to put further emphasis on the importance of reporting all forms of discrimination, reassuring people that it makes a tangible difference and that the updated reporting process is simple and effective.

This revised reporting process along with a new dedicated FA website means that all completed online forms reporting discrimination will be sent direct to the FA and Birmingham County FA, so they can log and commence any investigation process more swiftly.

The Tell Us, We’ll Tackle It website, to be used to report any incidents of discrimination, can be found at www.thefa.com/tellus

Birmingham County FA recently carried out a thorough analysis into its cases of discrimination, to provide crucial information regarding the current and historic levels of reported discrimination experienced by participants in grassroots football locally.

Some of the key findings of this analysis are as follows:

• Since season 2012/13 to the current 2019/20 season, the average number of reported incidents of discrimination is 33.5 per-season
• Racial discrimination forms 63% of those incidents reported
• 24% of incidents reported are of a homophobic/sexual orientation or disability nature
• 82.4% of incidents reported were investigated, with charges and football sanctions issued to offenders
• 302 game suspensions issued since 2012/13 as a result of discrimination investigations

Kevin Shoemake, CEO at Birmingham County FA, said: “Tackling discrimination is an area of work that is of the utmost importance to us all at Birmingham County FA and the FA nationally so this new campaign and reporting process is very welcome and will help us and those within the game immensely.

“We pride ourselves in being one of the most diverse, multicultural Regions of the country and, as football is a game to be played and enjoyed by everyone, any incidents of discrimination will not be tolerated. The high rate of proven incidents and charges shows how seriously we investigate these matters, but we can only do so if people report them to us in the first instance and at the time of the incident along with as much information and evidence as possible.

“The health and wellbeing benefits of football are fantastic and the game is played, coached, officiated, watched and enjoyed by thousands of people each and every week of the season.  However, there is a minority who continue to be physically and verbally abusive and we need the help of everyone on and off the pitch to single these out and help us tackle this blight on our National game.  Therefore, it’s absolutely crucial that participants, officials and spectators who believe that they have been the subject of, or witness to, any form of discriminatory behaviour and abuse, reports it to us as soon as practically possible”

For more information, please visit: www.birminghamfa.com/about/rules-and-regulations/inclusion

To visit the Tell Us, We’ll Tackle It website and report an incident of discrimination, please visit: www.thefa.com/tellus