March 13 – CONCACAF has appointed a team of Diversity Officers who will have special responsibility for ensuring that the recently introduced ‘Protocol for Racist Incidents During Matches’ is implemented.
Their role will be to co-ordinate the monitoring and elimination of any racist or discriminatory behavior in stadiums during CONCACAF matches. The initiative is part of the confederation’s Embrace Diversity campaign.
The Diversity Officers are pulled from senior positions in CONCACAF federations across the region. This week they took part in a workshop in Los Angeles with UK-based group Football Against Racism (FARE) invited to share their experiences in the monitoring and handling of racism and discrimination in stadiums in Europe.
The workshop looked at methods used for monitoring and reporting incidents and evaluated several case studies. According to CONCACAF this lead to a deeper discussion on the specific conditions in the region and the best approach for tackling future incidents.
CONCACAF President Jeffrey Webb said: “Racism and discrimination have no place in our game and the Protocol is designed to ensure that we have the mechanisms to deal with any potential incidents swiftly and systematically,”
The first CONCACAF diversity officers are:
• David Sabir – General Secretary, Bermuda Football Association
• Peter Montopoli – General Secretary, Canadian Soccer Association
• Damien Hughes – General Secretary, Caribbean Football Union
• Carlos Mendez – President, El Salvador Football Federation
• Andy Swift, Executive Director, Dallas Cup
• Margarita Echeverria – CONCACAF Statutes Committee Member
• Anthony Johnson – President, St. Kitts & Nevis Football Association
• Rignaal Francisca – President, Curaçao Football Federation
• Decio de Maria – President, Liga MX
• Ariel Alvarado
• Sheldon Phillips – General Secretary, Trinidad & Tobago Football Association
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