This project unites academics, fans, policy makers and other stakeholders for the first time to address manifestations of hate crime in football and how it can be tackled. This will be done in two distinct ways: by centralising gender; and using creative methods and outputs. Six events will be held over a period of 20 months, each addressing a theme and reflecting our interdisciplinary approach. All but the first workshop will be one-day events. Workshops will be based in Brighton, Leeds, Liverpool, Glasgow, and Berlin, to ensure a European audience and access for different groups. Berlin is home to the Berlin Fanproject which has hosted events for Football Supporters Europe. The Scottish Football Museum has hosted many events and will host the final event.

Event 1 (Leeds)

The first event took place in Headingley Heart, where the network heard from speakers from Marching Out Together, Level Playing Field and the Football Safety Officers Association. The session was launched by Professor job Garland (Surrey) who provided an expert overview of hate crime, its definitions and the broader context.

Event 2 (Glasgow)

The second event is taking place at Hampden Stadium, Glasgow, on Thursday 8th December 5-8pm. The keynote is Dr Nancy Lombard (Glasgow Caledonian University) to discuss the topic of football and domestic abuse. We will start our event with keynote presentations that outline the current issues around hate crime in Scottish football, before having workshop discussions to get to know each other, discuss what is hate crime, and experiences of hate, and any examples of successful campaigns to tackle these issues, before finishing by writing a manifesto on what is required to tackle it.

Event 3 (Berlin)

This event was held at the Berlin Fanprojekt. A great location with great people. Participants included Andreas Kahrs from What Matters (talking about antisemitism and rememberence activities), Elena Muller from medif-nrw (one reporting incidents of hate), Martin Endemann from Football Supporters Europe (highlighting the European dimension), Michael Gabriel from KOS (giving an overview of fan projects), and Kathrin Sturmer from F_In and F+ Collective (addressing sexism and misogyny in football). We learned a lot from what is happening in Germany and the active approach fans are taking to tackling hate crime, but also that clubs and the FA and League are including fans in the dialogue.