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Equality, Diversity and Inclusion; Celebrating LGBT+ youth is a key focus of Bolton Wanderers in the Community.

Bolton Wanderers in the Community’s (BWitC) award winning LGBTQ+ Youth Club in conjunction with Bolton Council’s Youth Service, has been hugely successful in making a difference in the areas of equality, diversity, inclusion and Hate Crime awareness since its launch in May 2018. The LGBTQ+ Youth Club offers a safe space for young people to socialise with friends, meet others they identify with and discuss important topics and issues they may face.

Beth Warriner (Equality Diversity, Inclusion and Cohesion Lead at BWitC) played a key part in setting up and running the weekly Youth Club and is delighted about the positive impact it is making in tackling exclusion and discrimination in the Bolton community.

Speaking to �������� Trust, she said:

“The difference we have made to the individuals who attend the LGBTQ+ Youth Club every week is amazing. Every single person who has been involved has said they have made new friends through attending, some of whom attended on their own initially. We tailor it to ensure that the young people know it is their Youth Club. It’s all about them; they own it, they decide what we do and don’t do – it’s their night. It’s co-designed and gives the young people a real sense of empowerment.”

Beth also believes that the power of the Football Club is vital in tackling areas of Hate Crime, equality, diversity and inclusion in communities.

“The well-known Bolton Wanderers Club badge and the brand of the Football Club is key. We are proud to support national anti-discrimination campaigns each year such as Rainbow Laces and Football vs Homophobia, but we are also able use the attraction of the Bolton Wanderers Football Club brand to reach out to local underrepresented communities and support them directly”.

“In October 2021, our LGBT+ Youth Club participants planned and delivered a Youth Pride event, in partnership with Bolton Octagon Theatre. Over 40 young LGBT+ people and allies attended the event, many of whom we had never engaged with before! We have visited lunchtime and afterschool LGBTQ+ clubs at local Secondary Schools, offering the students and teachers support around LGBTQ+ inclusion, sexual health (through NHS’ local Adolescent Health and Wellbeing Service, The Parallel) and advice on where to seek support online”.

“Our Youth Club participants have also worked together (with support from Greater Manchester Police and Bolton’s Community Safety Team) to create a Hate Crime Awareness training package, which is currently being refined and revamped, to be delivered to young people across Bolton in order to increase knowledge of the importance of recognising and reporting Hate Crime.

One of the LGBTQ+ Youth Club participants, Jaeden, has attended the LGBTQ+ Youth Club since it started in 2018. He became a volunteer and ambassador for the Club, and has recently secured a job with Bolton Youth Service as a Youth Worker. Jaeden said:

“The LGBTQ+ Youth Club has created a comfortable and safe environment, free of judgement, for me to flourish and develop as a person. It’s become a staple in my life and I look forward to it every week”.

Aside from the successful weekly LGBTQ+ Youth Club, BWitC deliver a wide range of inclusive activities and projects to champion cohesion and bring together different communities within Bolton.

BWitC are one of six organisations which make up the locally funded Bolton Unity Project. Along with Bolton Solidarity Community Association, Bolton Christian Community Cohesion, Bolton Interfaith Council, Bolton Council of Mosques and Bolton Hindu Forum, the Bolton Unity Project delivers activities and events which aim to promote and celebrate individuality and diversity across the town. More information on this project, as well as details of their upcoming Bolton Unity Festival on 18^th April, can be found at .

Utilita, the Official Title Partner of the Kids and Girls Cup competitions, marked the launch of their partnership with the �������� with a tournament which took place at Brentford FC.

Schoolchildren from Rabbsfarm, Marlborough and St Anselm’s Primary Schools took part in a six-a-side tournament to mark the start of the partnership and celebrate the Kids and Girls Cup competitions.

The event was supported by Brentford FC and the Brentford FC Community Sport Trust, who hosted the tournament. Wycombe Wanderers’ Adebayo Akinfenwa, Brentford FC players Josh Clarke and Joe Hardy and Brentford FC Women’s stars Charlotte Tanner and Nicole Goolab were on hand to coach the teams, acting as mentors for the round robin tournament.

Utilita are one of the UK’s fastest-growing energy suppliers and a leader in the smart meter revolution – installing Britain’s first ever smart meter way back in 2008. 14 �������� Clubs are currently partnered with Utilita, with sponsorship ranging from stadium naming rights to junior retail kits.

Earlier this season, the �������� and Utilita announced the new partnership, which will be in place until at least the conclusion of the 2022/23 season and will see the community competitions renamed as the ‘Utilita Kids Cup’ and ‘Utilita Girls Cup’, respectively.

Over 22,000 schoolchildren take part in the competitions each year, with the aim of representing their local �������� Club, as they battle for the opportunity to play at Wembley Stadium. The Girls Cup Final takes place before the Leasing.com Trophy Final and the Kids Cup Finals during the Sky Bet Play-Off Finals weekend.

In the run up to these Finals, �������� Clubs and their Club Community Organisation’s deliver local and regional stages of the competitions. By encouraging these young people to participate and develop a love of sport, the Clubs and CCOs are helping to deliver the �������� Trust’s overall vision to create stronger, healthier, more active communities, whilst also supporting Sport England’s ambition of creating an active nation by focusing on the benefits sport can bring to people and society.

The competitions have also historically played a part in the development of some now established professional players, with Will Hughes (Watford) and Scott McTominay (Manchester United) having previously represented their schools in the Kids Cup Finals.

Adebayo Akinfenwa said, “I think initiatives like the Utilita Kids & Girls Cup are a brilliant thing and are a must. To give children the opportunity to play the game and have the ultimate reward of playing on that hallowed turf at Wembley Stadium, which is a dream for many kids and adults, is immense.”

Brentford FC Women’s player, Nicole Goolab said, “It’s been great to be down here today coaching the teams and making it enjoyable for them to play football.

“I took part in a similar competition to the Utilita Kids & Girls Cup when I was younger and providing children with the chance to potentially play at Wembley is a once in a lifetime opportunity and an achievement they can hold on to for the rest of their lives.”

As well as the title sponsorship, Utilita will have a portfolio of rights across the Utilita Kids Cup and the Utilita Girls Cup, including digital rights and prestigious access at all �������� Wembley Finals.

The partnership will also allow Utilita to activate within communities nationwide across area and regional Finals of the respective competitions, as well as four newly created football festivals.

“We would like to thank Brentford FC for providing the location for today’s event and to the ��������, for their continued support in what has been an exciting start to the partnership.”

Rotherham United were delighted to see the Community Sports Trust honoured with the recognition of winning #NO2H8CRIME’s Sports Upstander Award at last night’s ceremony in London.

Head of Community Jamie Noble was on hand to receive the coveted accolade which saw the Millers recognised for their efforts in the local community to stamp out hate crime.

The high-profile event which was held at InterContinental Park Lane in Mayfair, London on Thursday evening saw other prizes handed out for awards including Parliamentary Upstander, Young Upstander, Business Upstander and the CPS Award.

The Millers, together with the Community Sports Trust wing of the club, are constantly reinforcing the message that nobody should be subjected to any form of hate crime. Our recent home games have been dedicated to reaffirming this message too, with fixtures played in support of the Kick it Out and Show Racism the Red Card campaigns, as well as the Hate Crime Awareness match which took place against Oxford United.

RUCST work closely with a number of local charities and partners who work hard to ensure that hate crime isn’t an issue in the South Yorkshire region and beyond and we are incredibly proud to have been presented with this award.

Speaking following the event in London on Thursday night, Head of Community Jamie Noble expressed his delight at the national recognition of the club’s work on the matter.

“We are honoured to be presented with such a high-profile award and to receive it at such an illustrious event,” he told .

“As many of our supporters will already know, we have done a lot of work, particularly this season surrounding the issue of hate crime and it is particularly pleasing to see those efforts culminate in us receiving this award.

“It is a privilege to work so closely with all of the people that we do in and around Rotherham around the topic of hate crime and without their support, none of this would have been possible.

“I would also like to thank the first team players and staff, who are always happy to support our campaigns on the matter and help to raise the profile of the important work that ourselves and associated organisations are doing in the community.”