Anti-racism campaigner Peter Foley set for honour

SRtRC has teamed up with Carlisle United football club for the fifth in a series of 50 educational events with clubs in the 2012-13 season.

Around 100 young people from Carlisle primary schools are visiting the stadium tomorrow for an afternoon of activities including an advance screening of a new SRtRC DVD featuring top footballers.

There, they will be able to pose questions on racism to a panel of guests including BBC pundit and former Newcastle United player John Anderson.

GMB northern regional secretary Tommy Brennan will present an SRtRC “Hall of Fame” award to former Scunthorpe United player Peter Foley.

“Peter has been a fantastic ambassador for GMB over his many years of service gaining the respect of all concerned in the battle against racism generally and football particularly,” he said.

“His contribution towards the formulation of GMB equality and diversity policy has been one of the highlights of his career and always with an endearing mild-mannered approach.”

SRtRC chief executive Ged Grebby said: “Peter Foley is receiving a SRtRC Hall of Fame award for his outstanding work with our campaign through his trade union GMB.

“Peter has worked with our campaign for many years and has given enormous amounts of time and effort to our cause. Peter was a pioneering black footballer, and the first black footballer to ever play for Scunthorpe United.

“He joins a long and illustrious list of Show Racism the Red Card Hall of Fame members from the north of England and we are delighted to be adding his name to that list.”

Show Racism the Red Card is an anti-racism charity involving professional footballers as role models to educate young people about the dangers of racism in football and society generally.

Each season SRtRC visits clubs in all four divisions to host educational events with local school pupils and professional footballers, ex-professionals, managers, coaches and high-profile members of the community.

Current Hall of Fame names include Shaka Hislop, Sir Bobby Robson, John Anderson, Charlie Hardwick, Chris Hughton, Warren Barton, Gary Bennett, Rio Ferdinand, Thierry Henry, Les Ferdinand, Curtis Fleming, John Beresford, Shola Ameobi and Kieron Dyer.