RANGERS FOOTBALL CLUB'S ground-breaking diversity and inclusion campaign ‘Everyone Anyone’ celebrates its one year anniversary today and Managing Director Stewart Robertson has praised supporters for backing the pioneering initiative.
On July 22, 2019 Stewart joined manager Steven Gerrard, captain James Tavernier, Connal Cochrane from the Rangers Charity Foundation, politicians and most importantly fans at a media conference at Ibrox to unveil Everyone Anyone and the campaign has been widely-praised since launch.
EA’s key messages of tolerance, respect and understanding resonate now more than ever and Rangers is a club open to all regardless of gender, sexuality, faith, age or ethnicity.
The campaign will continue to grow and evolve in season 2020/21 and beyond and Stewart has been delighted with the response from the Light Blue legions.
Reflecting on one year of Everyone Anyone, he said: “I think it has been fantastic.
“I think the recognition it has had from external sources has been telling - from the political scene, the media or within football. It has been very, very well received.
“Most importantly for me, the supporters have taken to it in a very positive manner and I think it is very reflective of where we are as a society today.
“I have been delighted with the response and delighted with the manner in which the team, the supporters and people out-with the Rangers Family have got behind it.
“Society is changing. We need to be diverse, we need to be inclusive. It’s important we are as inclusive as we possibly can. The campaign itself will continue to evolve.
“We are open to all and anyone is welcome to come to Ibrox and feel welcome when they do. That’s so important if you are a player, a supporter, someone from the academy, a partner or a sponsor. Everyone who comes to Ibrox should be made to feel very welcome.
“Everyone Anyone has become part of the club’s values. That for me is one of its key successes. It’s not about one event. It’s the fact it now pervades through everything we do at the club.”
Rangers Charity Foundation Director Connal Cochrane added: “From a Foundation perspective, Everyone Anyone has given us a fantastic platform to celebrate and share the existing positive work we have been doing.
“Diversity and inclusion has been a key pillar of our work for a number of years and we have developed a number of programmes – including our Visually Impaired Football, Autism Football and our Diversity Wins Project.
“For me, it has always been crucially important there is genuine activity and projects that underpin the campaign and we will keep the momentum going.
“Everyone is welcome at Rangers and we are a foundation for all. I chair the Diversity and Inclusion Working Group and we have developed a really positive partnership with CEMVO – the Centre for Ethnic Minority Voluntary Organisations in Scotland.
“We enjoy our continued relationship with Ibrox Pride and we have had various open door events at Ibrox for people from ethnic minority communities.
“The campaign is genuine and has impact. We have been working hard to develop our programmes and recently we joined up with seven other European club foundations, with a European-funded project through the EFDN organisation, and that will mean we will be able to reach around 1,200 school pupils and people from various grassroots community football clubs with a range of diversity workshops over the next 2 years, which is really exciting.
“Both the club and Foundation are being increasingly recognised for their work in this area through a number of awards and award nominations.
“Reputation is really important and it is fantastic the journey we are on. Hopefully we can have a momentum that the players, the club, everyone at the Foundation and the fanbase can join us on this journey, feel proud of what we are doing and really celebrate and champion diversity.”
WATCH THE FULL INTERVIEW WITH STEWART ROBERTSON AND CONNAL COCHRANE HERE
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