"Division doesn't help any of us": Sheffield charity celebrates 30 years of breaking barriers in football
“Working at FURD is not a job. You’re doing it because you believe in what you're trying to achieve”
Sheffield charity FURD is celebrating its 30th anniversary after decades of using the power of football to challenge racism and discrimination.
FURD - which stands for ‘Football Unites, Racism Divides’ - is a youth and social inclusion charity with the goal of bringing people together and breaking down barriers.
Reflecting on the last 30 years, CEOs Mehrun Ahmed, 50 and Simon Hyacinth, 57, go back to the beginning in 1995 to share how it all started.
Simon said: “It started with a small group of concerned people, they were Sheffield United fans and youth and community workers in the area.
“There was an influx of football fans converging in and around Bramall Lane, which is quite a multi-ethnic area of the city. There were issues around clashes with young people and the community not feeling safe.
“The group felt there was a need to address that and to develop the links between the club and its local communities.”
So after initially starting out as a football project, the focus became more targeted towards working with individuals directly. Mehrun added: “Very quickly we evolved into a youth and community project, but always using football as a development tool.”
To so many, football is a source of identity, bringing together communities to support clubs. What FURD does is use the power of sport to create spaces “where everyone feels they belong”.
Over the years, the charity has had many stand out moments to remember, and despite being a Sheffield organisation, their work has reached far and wide.
Their influence has reached national and international football, working with UEFA, FIFA, The FA, the Premier League and the English Football League.
FURD has also worked closely with Kick It Out, a football equality and inclusion organisation and the Football Against Racism in Europe (FARE) network.
A notable mention for Simon was when they attended the 2006 World Cup in Germany.
He said: “We took our inflatable football pitch, organised games and activities that brought different fan groups together, and helped to spread anti-discriminatory and inclusive messages.
“That was great for the organisation, but it was also great for a number of our young people that had progressed from being participants into volunteering and got the opportunities to go with us to Europe.”
Youth involvement is core to FURD, something they deem extremely important when preparing young people for their futures.
They offer various workshops, mentoring and activities to get young people involved and create opportunities to help build their confidence.
Mehrun said: “Young people are the bread and butter, what we’ve been trying to do is build up their confidence, their skills, self-esteem and give them qualifications.
“Then they can go out, become future leaders, community workers, social workers - that’s our intention.”
Sharing that same idea, Simon added: “The aim is to increase young people’s voices as well as their ability to influence things that directly affect them.”
So for years, people have benefited from the services provided by FURD, and have gone on to achieve great things.
Their biggest “claim to fame” is Kyle Walker, who currently plays for Burnley. Kyle attended sessions at FURD when he was around 10-years-old, before he started at Sheffield United’s Academy.
Simon said: “He was quite small for his age, but he was fast, quick as a whippet. He was a bit cheeky, just a young kid, he was pleasant.
“He came to us as a very young person and started getting involved in a couple of our sessions, and then was referred by one of our coaches at the time to Sheffield United.
“We still have some basic contact with Kyle in the past, and we know his parents quite well.”
Whilst the charity has achieved great things in the last 30 years, they have also been subject to many challenges.
When they were located at The Stables building on Sharrow Lane In the early 2000s, their building actually caught fire, forcing them to move locations to the Park Centre on Duke Street.
The impact this had meant that they “lost contact” with a lot of the young people they supported as it was “too far for them” to travel.
In 2013, FURD moved to its current home, at the U-Mix Centre in Lowfield.
Mehrun said: “It was really exciting to move to a brand new centre and a place that we could call home.
“Belonging for me, and I think for a lot of people - it doesn’t necessarily come from the building. It comes from the people within the building. It comes from the relationships you build with young people and how they feel comfortable.”
Despite the changing of locations over the years, Mehrun shared how the “biggest threat” to them is funding.
A lot of the time, their projects are funded on a short term basis, which “doesn’t allow for long-term strategising”.
Simon added: “We generate some income from the building in terms of hiring it out, we get small pops of funding from the local authority at times, and from places like the Country Football Association.
“It’s a bit of a mixed bag, a bit of a jigsaw puzzle.”
Despite their setbacks, their mission stays a top priority, which is to empower individuals with the skills, opportunities and agency to lead positive social change.
Both Simon and Mehrun agree that “the best way” to operate is by “bringing people together, breaking down barriers, and breaking down people’s negative perceptions of others”.
Looking ahead, they aim to work a lot more locally, and “not doing so much wider”. Simon said: “We’re working with our local communities a lot more, in terms of providing activities and support structures for them.
“We feel there is a need for us to get back into the political arenas, to work with local authorities, to maybe campaign a bit more, to try and work with the government more and influence those places where decisions are made.”
To celebrate 30 years, the charity is hosted a dinner on Thursday, October 15 at Bramall Lane where former participants, staff, volunteers, community organisations, partners and special guests from across football will all be in attendance.
It’s an event that aims to reflect on their remarkable journey and look ahead to the role of FURD in the future.
What began as a grassroots organisation, has transformed into an established, recognisable charity that has pioneered community work and social change in Sheffield and across Europe.
Demonstrating the kind of place FURD is, Mehrun said: “Working at FURD is not a job. You’re doing it because you believe in what you're trying to achieve.”