The ‘More than a game- Football Including REfugees’ interactive conference gathered over 80 participants from the sport sector, civil society, different levels of government and government-related organisations, which successfully reflect the diversity of involved stakeholders when it comes to the social inclusion of refugees, migrants and asylum-seekers. Following a formal welcome on behalf of the Scottish FA, and an overview of the FIRE project’s philosophy and objectives, the programme got into the thick of things when learning about the State-of-the-Art research- ‘The Inventory’. While many mappings, collection of good practices, and toolkits on the topic of the social inclusion of refugees and migrants through sport already exist, FIRE adopted a slightly different approach. In addition to mapping the existing documents, and to focusing on football, the Inventory further identified the common main issues, major needs and good practices while also conceptualising key terms and ideas. The Inventory hence serves as a basis upon which FIRE conferences lean and which lays out the foundations of a roadmap for the design of the FIRE MOOC.
Moderated by Piara Powar (Fare network) a Q&A panel offered a holistic vision on the role of football in the inclusion of refugees, migrants and asylum-seekers, with Abdul Bostani (Glasgow Afghan United FC), David McArdle (Diversity and Inclusion Manager, SFA) and Lorna Gledhill (Scottish Refugee Council). The discussion emphasised the importance of collaborating with grassroots actors in order to monitor the accessibility of activities, their popularity, and how to reach out farther to fight isolation.
