Agenda item

It was moved by Cllr Scott Cunliffe and seconded by Cllr Bea Foster that:

This Council notes:

• the recent success of the England squad for UEFA Euros 2020, which if it was not for injury would have included Burnley FC Goalkeeper Nick Pope.

• that thousands of racist comments aimed at England players (notably Marcus Rashford, Jadon Sancho and Bukayo Saka) were posted online after England's defeat by penalties in the UEFA Euros 2020 Final. The number of social media accounts permanently suspended amid a blaze of racial and hateful messages is unclear, arguably it is currently too easy to respawn accounts with nothing more than a new email address or sim card.

• that an online petition launched by Huda Jawad, Shaista Aziz and Amna Abdul calling for the Football Association (FA) and the government to work together to reinforce stricter sanctions for those responsible for online and offline racial abuse; the petition received over one million signatures from concerned citizens around the country since it was launched after the UEFA Euros 2020 Final on Sunday 11th July 2021.

• Burnley Football Club has an anonymous text to report ‘CLARETS RESPECT’ text line should anyone witness or experience any of any form of discrimination at any place in or around Turf Moor. On matchdays the text line is monitored in real time and includes proactive actions such as covert and overt monitoring in the designated area. The Club works closely with its Dedicated Football Officer (DFO) and Lancashire Police, including following guidance from the Professional Footballers Association (PFA), the FA, Kick it Out and the Premier Leagues ‘No Room for Racism’ throughout the year too.

• Burnley FC in the Community (BFCitC), the official charity of Burnley FC, has a positive track record of delivering various inclusion projects and targeted intervention in East Lancashire for all ages and demographics.

• the upcoming Online Safety Bill and the propose setting up of independent regulatory bodies for online platforms.

This Council believes:

• that all forms of discrimination are unacceptable and that any individual found guilty of online or offline hate crime and racism should receive a ban for life from all football games in England with an emphasis on stringent identification processes and sanctions for those online.

• places with Premier League Clubs, like Burnley, need to continue to lead from the front in combating racist abuse and hate crimes both online and offline.

• Football’s governing bodies including the FA and the Premier League, the Government and Social Media corporations should work effectively together to tackle online abuse and prevent hate crimes from appearing and remaining on their platforms.

This Council resolves:

• to work closely with Burnley Football Club and Burnley Football Club in the Community to schedule anti-racism messages across Council social platforms on match days.

• to work closely with Building Bridges Burnley to promote community cohesion and dialogue around issues of diversity and racism.

• that the Chief Executive will write to the FA, the Premier League and social media companies urging them to work together with the government to reduce hate crime and racial abuse online.

• that the Chief Executive will write to the MP for Burnley and the Leader of the House of Commons to urge them to call on the Government to strengthen legislation to prevent online abuse, holding social media companies accountable for the publication of abusive content and to appropriately punish hate crimes carried out by ‘football fans’.

On being put to the vote the motion was CARRIED and it was RESOLVED accordingly.