TheFA.com - Black List winners at Wembley
Football's African-Caribbean role models recognised.
Wembley Stadium opened its doors to role models from the African-Caribbean football community on Thursday evening as The FA hosted the 2009 Black List Awards.
The Black List, founded by journalist Leon Mann, honours and recognises England’s African-Caribbean achievement across all levels of football and is supported by The FA, PFA and Kick It Out.
Hosting the event was BBC Sport presenter Sean Fletcher while Aston Villa’s Curtis Davies was on hand to give out the trophies to the 30 winners.
“I’m really pleased to attend this event at Wembley Stadium and recognise the success of everyone here,” said Davies.
“I grew up as a Manchester United fan and players like Dwight Yorke and Andy Cole were a real inspiration for me. As I got older I looked up to Sol Campbell and Rio Ferdinand and I’d love to emulate their careers."
FA Coaches such as Hope Powell, Noel Blake and Lyndon Lynch were all award winners while Sir Trevor Brooking welcomed everyone to Wembley Stadium: “We’re very pleased to be hosting this event because we live in a diverse country and that’s something to celebrate,” said The FA’s Director of Football Development.
“I played with the likes of Clyde Best, Ade Coker and the Charles brothers at West Ham United and they were tough times.
“But, as players, we didn’t even think about skin colour. It was about how good you were as a footballer and what you could do with the ball.
“England finished the recent friendly against Holland with six black players on the pitch so the talent is there to inspire more players, coaches and volunteers for the future and we need to create opportunities for more people to succeed."
Also in attendance were members of The FA’s Race Equality Advisory Group (REAG) and Governance Director, Darren Bailey, Sue Law, Head of Equality and Child Protection and Funke Awoderu, Equality Manager.
Bailey said: “We need to make sure that we cover all areas of the game and allow our REAG committee to make a real difference.
“There’s a huge of pool of talent out there and it’s our job to tap into that at national and local level.”
Black List Award winners in attendance included Football League managers Chris Hughton and Keith Alexander plus World Cup 2018 Bid Ambassador Paul Elliott and Garth Crooks.
“There’s an amazing amount of talent in this room with great people from football, administration, TV and media,” said Crooks.
“I was lucky to progress thanks to a great mentor in Gordon Taylor at the PFA but we need to create more opportunities like that to give others a chance.”
BBC - BBC Sport: Matt Slater: What we can learn from Rooney, Dan Rooney
Football's African-Caribbean role models recognised.
Wembley Stadium opened its doors to role models from the African-Caribbean football community on Thursday evening as The FA hosted the 2009 Black List Awards.
The Black List, founded by journalist Leon Mann, honours and recognises England’s African-Caribbean achievement across all levels of football and is supported by The FA, PFA and Kick It Out.
Hosting the event was BBC Sport presenter Sean Fletcher while Aston Villa’s Curtis Davies was on hand to give out the trophies to the 30 winners.
“I’m really pleased to attend this event at Wembley Stadium and recognise the success of everyone here,” said Davies.
“I grew up as a Manchester United fan and players like Dwight Yorke and Andy Cole were a real inspiration for me. As I got older I looked up to Sol Campbell and Rio Ferdinand and I’d love to emulate their careers."
FA Coaches such as Hope Powell, Noel Blake and Lyndon Lynch were all award winners while Sir Trevor Brooking welcomed everyone to Wembley Stadium: “We’re very pleased to be hosting this event because we live in a diverse country and that’s something to celebrate,” said The FA’s Director of Football Development.
“I played with the likes of Clyde Best, Ade Coker and the Charles brothers at West Ham United and they were tough times.
“But, as players, we didn’t even think about skin colour. It was about how good you were as a footballer and what you could do with the ball.
“England finished the recent friendly against Holland with six black players on the pitch so the talent is there to inspire more players, coaches and volunteers for the future and we need to create opportunities for more people to succeed."
Also in attendance were members of The FA’s Race Equality Advisory Group (REAG) and Governance Director, Darren Bailey, Sue Law, Head of Equality and Child Protection and Funke Awoderu, Equality Manager.
Bailey said: “We need to make sure that we cover all areas of the game and allow our REAG committee to make a real difference.
“There’s a huge of pool of talent out there and it’s our job to tap into that at national and local level.”
Black List Award winners in attendance included Football League managers Chris Hughton and Keith Alexander plus World Cup 2018 Bid Ambassador Paul Elliott and Garth Crooks.
“There’s an amazing amount of talent in this room with great people from football, administration, TV and media,” said Crooks.
“I was lucky to progress thanks to a great mentor in Gordon Taylor at the PFA but we need to create more opportunities like that to give others a chance.”
BBC - BBC Sport: Matt Slater: What we can learn from Rooney, Dan Rooney
