What is the Forum

The L8 Sport Forum is a community sports umbrella organisation housing a number of various sport and sporting related clubs or organisations. It is the aim of the forum to increase opportunities for local people to become involved in sport as participants, coaches, volunteers and making use of available training opportunities. The forum supports local sports clubs/groups in accessing funding and increasing human and financial resources to extend participation for both ethnic minorities and women and girls. The forum is committed to improving access to existing activities and to create new opportunities in conjunction with identified community needs. The forum aims to improve integration of communities and community cohesion through sport.

JD Associates have worked with us on the following projects:

Anthony Walker Basketball Tournament:

Some of the 1,000 spectators who watched the final at the Anthony Walker Basketball Tournament

Knowsley Against Racism:

We successfully set up the Knowsley Against Racism event on the 23rd October 2005. This became the launch pad for Knowsley council's anti-racism campaign with more than 2,000 people attending the day at King George V sports centre in Huyton.

The day included a children's under 10 and under 12's football tournament with 32 teams representing different communities and cultures from around Merseyside. These included teams from Toxteth, Kensington, the Somali and Chinese communities, Halewood and Kirby. As well as football, there was music, free food, arts and dance from all the different cultures represented in the borough and Liverpool. These included performances from Halewood Community College, One Heart One Voice and the Chinese Acorn and food from Quynny's Quisine and ??????.

Dancers at the Knowsley Against Racism event at Halewood College .

Ex-Liverpool player Alan Kennedy, local born and Swansea FC forward Lee Trundle were at the event with coaches from Everton football club and the Toxteth Tigers basketball club.

Children could also pick up tips from rugby coaches and even have a go at sumo wrestling in a padded ring with special play suits. Other activities included a climbing wall and youth busses.

Anti-racism T-shirts and wristbands were handed out while people could sign a banner to pledge their support to the campaign.

Alan Johnson (Everton), John Aldridge (ex-Liverpool), Earl Barrett (ex-Everton) and Henry Mooney (Liverpool Basketball Club) at the Let's Kick Racism Out event at Halewood College .

Kick It Out were also present on the day and contributed to the planning of the event. Leon Mann Europe and Media Relations Officer stated “The 23rd October saw a great coming together of communities and people from a range of different backgrounds to get behind a message against racism in football, and most importantly in society. As football's national anti- racism campaign we hope the day serves as the springboard for ongoing engaging activities to prevent racism and celebrate the fantastic history of the diverse communities in Liverpool.”

In the build up to the event, on the 20th October we staged a Question and Answer session to raise awareness of racism in Halewood Community Arts College, Knowsley. The event used some footballing and non-footballing role models to use their profile to raise awareness of the issue of racism in football and offer practical advice on how to get into various areas of the football industry. The session also raised the aspirations of the youngsters who identified with the guests who have come from a similar background and area. The audience was made up of over 300 pupils from the School. There were also some performances from pupils at the school. The event was covered by Sky Sports news.

 

Invited guests included ;

John Aldridge , former Liverpool player

Earle Barrett , former Everton Player

Alan Johnson , Everton Race and Diversity Manager

Henry Mooney , former Assistant Head Coach England Basketball Team & Head Coach of Liverpool & Toxteth Tigers Basketball club

Piara Powar , Director of Kick it Out

(left) Piara Powar, director of Kick it Out (centre) Van Gaffney, L8 Sports Forum (right) Leon Mann Europe and Media Relations Officer.

Future Projects: Currently helping in securing funding and consulting on strategic planning for future anti racism project from the Football Foundation and Commission of Racial Equality.

L8 Sports Forum: It is always difficult to raise funding in the voluntary sector but working with JD Associates has increased our ability to raise and find funding from various organisations that we would not have otherwise known about. JD Associates have advised us in our quest to improve integration of BME communities and community cohesion through sport.

Van Gaffney

Community Sports Development Officer