Preston North End Community and Education Trust [PNECET] is holding a dedicated Kick It Out matchday for the visit of Middlesbrough to Deepdale.
Kick It Out is a registered charity, first formed in the 1990s, which challenges discrimination in all forms, encourages inclusivity, and strives for positive change across sport.
More than 400 people are being invited to the fixture, which will celebrate the diversity of the club’s fanbase, the Trust’s participants and the local Preston population.
Six local mosques have been invited to the game and 60 young people from across those mosques will have the opportunity to take a penalty on the Deepdale pitch as part of the PNECET half-time penalty shoot out.
PNECET will also host a number of guests in hospitality for the fixture, including both those who have been positively impacted by its work, and those from external organisations working in the areas of equality, diversity and inclusion.
Among those in attendance on the day will be Adnan Miakhel, who notably starred on Freddie Flintoff’s ‘Field of Dreams’ documentary earlier this year, but before then had engaged with PNECET for a number of months.
Adnan began attending our weekly PL Kicks programme at Preston College, where he was a student, earlier this year, before completing the NCS programme with the Trust in the summer of 2022.
Adnan will be joined by a group of other Preston College ESOL [English to speakers of other languages] students at kick-off to carry out the match ball and a Kick It Out flag to the centre circle.
Community Engagement Officer Mohammed Patel said: “We are proud of our growing work to promote equality, diversity and inclusion across our provision, but we are determined to continue becoming more and more accessible and welcoming of people of all faiths and backgrounds attending matches at Deepdale.
“Our dedicated fixture coincides with Black History Month and there is plenty of work ongoing across our provision to recognise the achievements of ethnically diverse individuals, including with our Together As One anti-racism education programme, and our newly launched partnership with Show Racism the Red Card.
“By encouraging people from all faiths and backgrounds to attend our programmes and fixtures at Deepdale, we are confident of creating a safer, stronger and more resilient community.”
The Trust continues to promote equality, diversity and inclusion in all forms across its provision – which has been recognised with a nomination for the Kick It Out Promoting Inclusion Award at this year’s Northwest Football Awards, taking place next month.
Deepdale now also features three multi-faith prayer rooms to allow supporters of all faiths – both home and away fans – to provide a safe space to pray on matchday.
For more information about the Trust’s provision, please email community@pne.com.