Reserves
MATCH REPORT | DUNDEE UNITED B 0-1 DUNFERMLINE ATHLETIC B
26th November 2024
Dundee United played host to 66 enthusiastic young people from Carnoustie High and The Number 5 Group from Blairgowrie when they were joined by five first team players in an all day anti-racism seminar.
The young people travelled to Tannadice to take part in Show Racism the Red Card’s second Club visit of their current calendar spending the day learning about the dangers of racism whilst getting the chance to chat to top flight football stars about their own experiences of racism. The focal point of the event was immigration, made extra special by the active involvement of five United players who are all migrants to Scotland.
The day kicked off with a fantastic performance by Paul Reid, United’s renowned in-house impressionist who got everybody laughing and looking forward to the day. On top of being treated to a stadium tour, pupils watched SRtRC’s educational anti-racism film (featuring top ambassadors from the football world) before taking part in two focused workshops with SRtRC’s education team. Interactive games and activities allowed them to explore the prevalence of stereotyping within prejudice and discrimination while defining what racism is. The second workshop focused participants’ thoughts on the topic of immigration, and the ways in which immigrants may be affected by racist attitudes. The young people shared their own ideas about what messages they had previously heard about immigration, before being joined by first team players Ryan McGowan, Billy Mckay, Luis Zwick, Darko Bodul, and Michal Szromnik who each gave their own migrant story.
A question and answer session with the players ended the day, goody bags and match tickets were presented to all attending, and one lucky pupil went home with an extra big smile on her face after being presented with a signed Dundee United top – a prize for her contribution to the session!
Education worker for SRtRC, Gillian Eunson, said:
“Powerful messages were reiterated throughout the day, and the personal contributions of each player gave huge weight to allaying several of the negative myths and misinformation that many of the pupils had previously shared regarding their views on migrants”.
Special thanks go to Riki Grauer, Colin Stewart, and ArabTRUST for their outstanding support in organising, sponsoring and running the event as well as the Dundee United Business Club.
