Refugees welcomed as mascots

, 13 September, 16comments  |  Jump to most recent
Everton welcomed a group of refugees as mascots to Saturday’s Premier League visit of Chelsea.

For a number of years, Everton in the Community has supported the plight of refugees through a range of programmes and initiatives.

Working with local action groups, Asylum Link and Refugee Action, while also forging close links with British Red Cross, Everton’s multiple award-winning official charity has offered assistance to these families and the wider community in which they are based.

The Club teamed up with with local action group Asylum Link to invite a group of refugees to accompany the Everton players on to the pitch ahead of the eagerly-anticipated clash with Jose Mourinho’s side.  

Reader Comments (16)

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Albert Perkins
1 Posted 13/09/2015 at 19:51:11
Hey, that's MY club Everton! Couldn't be prouder.
Malc Kitchen
2 Posted 13/09/2015 at 20:33:23
Well done Everton in both the community work And of course the game!!! Roll on Saturday.
Jay Woods
3 Posted 13/09/2015 at 22:39:41
Well, it's mine too, and I do not support this at all. Yes, it's a tragedy out there in Syria, but these are people from a culture that is existentially hostile to ours. Any help we offer them - and as a country we must, of course - should be occur in situ at the first safe place they reach upon leaving Syria, i.e., war-free Turkey.

Everton FC has fans adhering to many different political stances so for it to take a view and present it as consensually representative of all of us is intolerable. Then again, Bill is a luvvie and most luvvies are lefties...

So I say, leave it out of football altogether.

Trevor Lynes
4 Posted 13/09/2015 at 22:48:59
Jay, having spent almost 30 years working around the Middle East you will find that politics has caused a lot of the problems and I must say after working in Yemen for over 12 years and Iraq for a year after the toppling of Saddam, most people are basically good!

Refugees are a problem after every war and they were far worse after both World wars. These are mainly innocent people caught up in a terrible upheaval and every country needs to give help. Germany for example are taking far more than we will be expected to.

I cannot agree with your comments at all!

Gavin McGarvey
5 Posted 13/09/2015 at 22:57:14
You could say helping the disabled was a political stance; some people believe everyone should just look after themselves. I guess you're one of them.

The club is showing compassion and that is to be applauded. I don't see how this is different from our other initiatives.

Saying that they should stop in Turkey, a country more or less in league with ISIS, seems a bit naive to me. These are people. How can their culture be existentially hostile to us? They are just people who want to get on with their lives.

Ste Lewis
6 Posted 13/09/2015 at 23:02:31
Well said Gavin. The club has shown itself to be a class act on and off the field and we should be rightly proud.
Gavin Johnson
7 Posted 13/09/2015 at 23:09:05

Well done Everton. We can all knock the board for not appearing to have direction, but we really are in a league of own for projects like this and bringing the community together. We really are first class!

Jim Jennings
9 Posted 13/09/2015 at 23:43:56
Jay Woods #2

This is not a political gesture. It is a humanitarian gesture. But feel free to enlighten me as to the so called hostility these particular refugees have towards "our" culture, whatever "our" means in that context.

Si Cooper
10 Posted 13/09/2015 at 23:51:36
Well done EFC. It isn’t politics, it’s humanitarianism.

Not that it matters a jot, but not all of the refugees will be Muslim anyway.
Nicholas Ryan
11 Posted 13/09/2015 at 23:57:51
The office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, Anotnio Guterres, recently released a report, suggesting that approximately two-thirds of the Syrians crossing the Mediterranean are Christians; and that about 40% of those, are young, single, male, English-speaking university graduates; i.e. the people most likely to be able to fend for themselves financially, and least likely to be a burden on the State.

Quite how, educated Christians are 'existentially hostile' to the UK beats me, I'm afraid... but never let the facts get in the way of a good rant !!

I recommend a quick read of: 'Grahl-Madsen - The Law on Refugees' by the [Norwegian] Professor of International Law at Harvard .... it really is an eye-opener!

What I.S. do to Chriatians is literally, unspeakable. They recently decapitated a Jesuit priest, because he fed Shia Muslim children, from a soup kitchen [IS are Sunnis].

Surely, Everton in the Community, means Everton in EVERYONE'S community.

Andy Crooks
12 Posted 14/09/2015 at 00:17:13
Jay, whatever your views, and I accept this is a complex problem, it seems to me our club did something good and we do good stuff a lot.
Phil Sammon
13 Posted 14/09/2015 at 00:46:42
It was a nice gesture to the kids and I'm sure they had a great day.

However, the wider message is Everton believes we should welcome refugees into our community. I'm not so sure it's right for a football club to be getting involved in politics in that manner.

Mark Riding
14 Posted 14/09/2015 at 00:53:21
I bet they couldn't believe Roberto replaced Besic with Naismith either..
Patrick Murphy
15 Posted 14/09/2015 at 01:02:40
I don't believe that Everton FC are the only club to make such gestures Phil I believe that those clubs playing in European competitions are also donating a percentage of their ticket revenues to aid refugees. I tend to agree that in general football clubs shouldn't align themselves to political viewpoints but that depends on your definition of politcs, some would argue that every aspect of life is political whilst others would define it more narrowly.

My own view on this particular situation is that it is a humanitarian issue and any form of solidarity - no matter how insignificant - with those unfortunate people who find themselves blighted by war or having their lives put in danger by despots and fanatical regimes would be welcomed by those people and should on the whole be applauded.

Phillip Lupton
26 Posted 14/09/2015 at 06:22:45
"And if you know your history..."

It's quite probable that no one will read this, but it makes me feel better writing it. Naming no one, as I do not wish to be disrespectful, may I humbly offer a different perspective...

The horrendous realities that refugees suffer around the middle east on a daily basis:

http://www.bbc.com/news/world-middle-east-34196629

If that human perspective doesn't sway you; you can always rest that financially, you personally and we as a country are actually better off by accepting refugees:

"...studies find that immigrants around the world are more likely to start businesses than the native-born and less likely to commit serious crimes, and that they are net contributors to the public purse. The fear that they will poach jobs or drag down local wages is also misplaced. Because they bring complementary skills, ideas and connections, they tend to raise the wages of the native-born overall..."

http://www.economist.com/news/leaders/21662547-bigger-welcome-mat-would-be-europes-own-interest-let-them-and-let-them-earn

Someone on here talked about Islam not being a culture and they couldn't be more correct. Just as the British view of Christianity can be markedly different from those around the world...a tiny example of this being Christians in many Middle Eastern countries will fast for lent. Fasting here by the way is not the "I'm giving up chocolate" sense of the idea, but the exact same no water and no food from dawn till dusk that their Muslim neighbours comply to for Ramadan.

My wider point here is that we can't generalise and say those Christian, those Muslims, those (Syrian) immigrants, because your existential understanding of what 'they' are is different to how 'they' feel about themselves. From my experience having travelled extensively particularly around the Middle East, people are people.

NB* This argument obviously excludes the radical like of IS, who I simply can't comprehend!

My final point, which brings me back to our great club and the history we proudly sing about each week. We have always been welcoming to immigrants:

"Along with neighbouring Vauxhall, Everton traditionally housed the city's Irish, Italian and Polish immigrants..."

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Everton,_Liverpool

From all areas of the world, far and in this case very near:

http://www.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~irlmayo2/irish_liverpool.html

(If you can't be bothered reading this it's about Irish immigrants coming to Liverpool during the potato famine and working themselves out of poverty).

Having contemplated our history, I hope you think about this when you sing our song, and I hope like me you are proud that our club opens its arms to all those in need.

With respect,

Phillip.


Tony Ateman
28 Posted 14/09/2015 at 14:15:12
Anyone knew why each Everton player had two refugee mascots and Chelsea had none?

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