Juniors at Tipton Town taught how to Kick it Out

West Midlands Police and Kick it Out invited Tipton Town FC's under-13s team to talk about how discrimination can affect people at all levels in the game.

Pc Ben Clay from West Midlands Police organised the session after having a hate crime involving the under-13s team reported to him.

He said: "The victims parents told me one of the players had kicked a ball at the player and made a number of racist comments to him.

"After the incident was resolved with a letter of apology, I contacted Kick it Out and asked if they could do a presentation to the team to help further educate the players about discrimination.

"It's part of what we are trying to do to raise awareness, rather than criminalising the people involved, as we'll always look for ways to educate them further."

Arran Williams, Northern Grassroots Officer for Kick it Out, ran the session and spoke about how it came to be and what the reaction was.

He said: ""We were contacted by Tipton Police following the incident with the U13s team and we agreed that we needed to do something together.

"This led to the creation of the workshop for players, supporters and parents to ensure they'd get something out of it and learn a few things.

"The reaction was great as parents, players and other members of the club walked away going 'Wow, I never knew all that' and it was clear how much the players were concentrating on the presentation."

Neil Perks, who manages the first team at Tipton Town, said: "I've been involved in football for more than 20 years and I'd never been to a workshop like this, but it provided a lot of useful tools and I took a lot away from it.

"The club will benefit a lot from this as we have decided that all age groups will attend a session like this in the future, as they are so beneficial to everyone.

"It's not just players who need awareness, but it's rising off the pitch as well, so sessions like this will be a valuable lesson to all of us."