Welsh Football Association backs anti-homophobia campaign

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The Welsh Football Association (FAW) has backed a nationwide campaign against homophobia.

The FAW backed the Football v Homophobia (FvH) campaign, which is now looking at more clubs to get involved.

FvH holds its annual month of action in February.

After several Welsh clubs having shown support for the initiative in recent years, FvH hopes now that it will find support in all Welsh clubs.

Clubs can find information and resources on the FvH website, and can see how other clubs are taking action.

Examples include designating a home match in February, including information in match day programmes or publishing articles on clubs’ websites.

Lou Englefield, Director of the FvH campaign, explains: “We are really excited to have the backing of the Football Association of Wales for our 2016 campaign.

“In what will be a huge year for Welsh football, we hope that a wide range of Welsh clubs will support FvH and get involved in our month of action.”

Gwyn Derfel, Secretary of the Dafabet Welsh Premier League and Welsh Premier Women’s League added: “The Football v Homophobia campaign is a fantastic way for Welsh football clubs at all levels to demonstrate their commitment to diversity and inclusion.

“We look forward to seeing and hearing all about how clubs are engaging with this initiative.”

FvH is an international initiative opposing homophobia in football at all levels – from grassroots to professional clubs, and is led by Pride Sports, an LGBT Sports Development and Equity organisation.

The campaign wants football to take a clear stand against homophobia so that everyone can enjoy the beautiful game and so that football leads the way in removing discrimination and prejudice based on sexual orientation and gender identity.