KICK RACISM OUT OF FOOTBALL WEEK

Kelvin Hopkins MP for Luton North met young Asian footballers at Maidenhall Junior School on Saturday together with their trainer Butch Fazal. Kelvin was supporting the Kick Racism out of Football Week and was presented with a commemorative football shirt, which he wore for the rest of the day.

He later spoke at a Luton Borough Council organised conference at Dallow School and looked forward to the day when Luton Town had great Asian footballers as well as black and white players, and when the crowd truly represented the whole community.

Kelvin Hopkins said, “I congratulate all those associated with Kick Racism out of Football Week, and especially Butch Fazal who is paving the way for the emergence of good and great players from Britain's Asian communities.

“Football is a wonderful game and like all sport should bring people from the whole community together. The relative absence of Asian players from the upper reaches of football in Britain is very obvious at the moment, but that I know is going to change and must change in the next few years. The enthusiasm for football amongst Luton's young Asians was obvious on Saturday, and I look forward to some of them making it onto Luton Town's books and beyond in the coming years. I also want to see Luton Town's crowd including white, and representative of black and Asian supporters all cheering together for our local team.

“Sadly, my own footballing days are over, (I played my last game for a local team called Red Star in 1974!) but I still love football and want to see all our young people playing and enjoying our national game.”