Scholars and staff from the Sheffield Wednesday Academy have taken part in a one-off session with former player and coach Troy Townsend to help them understand equality and discrimination in football.
Facilitated by Sheffield Wednesday and ran by national organisation Kick It Out the course aims to work with academy players aged 16-18 to help educate them about social issues that may arise whilst working in football.
The session, held at Hillsborough stadium, talked through issues like racism, homophobia and discrimination. The aim of the workshop is to combat these issues and make young players aware of matters that may happen at times in their football career.
Session speaker Troy Townsend, who is the father of Tottenham and England Midfielder Andros Townsend, formerly played at youth level for Millwall and Crystal Palace and went on to coach various non-league teams.
Troy is now the Education and Development Manager for Kick It Out and oversees all of the organisations Education and Grassroots programmes.
Dan Potts, Head of Education & Welfare at the Sheffield Wednesday Academy, said: “It’s great for our youth players to experience sessions like this as it opens their eyes to issues that may occur off the pitch as well as on.
“The session was really engaging with the young players and I think everyone who attended the workshop will benefit from knowing more about the issues discussed. Thanks to Kick It Out for visiting the academy.”