SAFC legends Gary Bennett and Kevin Ball join Sunderland children to show racism the red card

Former SAFC skippers Gary Bennett and Kevin Ball have been visiting children at a school in Hendon as part of the Show Racism the Red Card campaign.

Transcript

00:00Okay then Gary, just how much have things progressed since your days when you

00:03arrived at Sunderland first of all?

00:05Progressed very very much really, I think if you come back to when I first

00:10come in 1984 in regards not just the team, you know I was the second black player to

00:16actually play for Sunderland AFC but the city itself, how far it's come, how diverse it is at the present moment.

00:25And is there still a lot of work to do do you think in terms of accepting

00:28multiculturalism and that sort of thing?

00:30There's always work to do, you know you've got to keep working on a daily basis.

00:36And obviously you're in schools today, just how important is it that we get this message across to children from a young age

00:41about integration and multiculturalism and you know accepting people for who they are?

00:45Yeah I think it's very important I think young people are our future and

00:49hopefully they'll be able to take the message on and education is key.

00:56Okay then Debra, obviously you've got former Sunderland captain Gary Bennett in here today with the Show, Race and the Red Card initiative.

01:02Just how important is that we get this message across to youngsters from a young age?

01:06I think we've got children at a very young age, we want to make sure that the influences on them are positive.

01:13The impact of social media and the things that they see outside of school are really significant these days.

01:19So for our school we want to have inclusive, warm, safe communities

01:24and Show, Race and the Red Card just matches with those values that we want to create in our trust.

01:29And obviously you know football's a big thing in Sunderland here.

01:33Of course.

01:34So again using football as a hook to get youngsters engaged, is that also important?

01:38It's just a fantastic hook to get our children involved in this project.

01:43I don't know if you know but Hendon Boys Club was actually based in our field just behind us where we're standing.

01:52We've got a blue plaque associated with our school.

01:55We're a school in Sunderland that can wear a Sunderland badge with pride.

01:59So to actually have real life footballers from 2024 and ex-captains in school,

02:05it just delivers a massive message about where we're from, where we're proud to be from and where we're going to in the future.