Slum Soccer wins first Diversity Award in a FIFA Fellini-moment in Manchester

By Paul Nicholson

September 27 – “This is the first award FIFA has given to India,” said Abhijeet Barse, CEO of Slum Soccer in accepting the inaugural FIFA Diversity Award at the Soccerex Convention in Manchester from FIFA’s general secretary Fatma Samoura.

It was a powerful recognition of an important programme in one of the world’s football growth markets that is using the game to teach life skills and improve the living conditions in marginalised populations in Indian society.

But the timing of the awards could not have come at a more inopportune moment with the revelation the same day on Twitter that FIFA had disbanded its anti-discrimination Task Force.

Samoura, out in public in the UK for the first time since taking up her role at FIFA, was welcomed with a baptism of fire. It was a PR gaffe she and FIFA could have done without; and all streamed Live on Facebook as CNN anchor Amanda Davies broke from the business of awards presenting to questioning the reasoning behind dumping the Task Force.

The message was probably not meant to be that the Anti-discrimination Task Force has been replaced by the more favourable and touchy-feely Diversity Awards, but anyone coming late to the Facebook broadcast could be forgiven for being slightly confused. Perhaps as confused as Congo football chief Constant Omari who chaired the Task Force as was, and was a juror on the new award as is.

One wonders if the first he heard of it was on Insideworldfootball columnist and Task Force member Osasu Obayiuwana’s twitter feed, and of course how he feels about his new role in the awards entertainment businsess. If only he had been there for Amanda to ask him.

Samoura handled what was something of a Fellini-moment with a good degree of grace, and assurances that anti-discrimination was still at the top of her agenda. An African woman running FIFA’s administration is after all a good step towards getting the anti-discrimination job done isn’t it?

But the business of the awards is a serious business – echoed by the stern looking expression on the face of Kick It Out’s representative at the ceremony. They had earlier issued a strongly worded statement criticising the culling of the Task Force. Or perhaps they were just fed up at not winning the award.

The third of the finalists was the International Gay and Lesbian Football Association (IGLFA). They were disappointingly uncontroversial in their attendance or behaviour, perhaps they just hadn’t read the memo.

Clarence Seedorf and Thomas Hitzelsperger were both on hand to lend former player gravitas to the awards – both were on the 11-person jury.

With FIFA president Gianni Infantino running the gauntlet of a furious AFC in Goa, India, it can be safe to say that FIFA’s bosses will have less stressful days on the road.

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