Foot Fire x uNDERRATED x Basketball England “Together We Are Basketball” BLM Campaign
We have joined forces with uNDERRATED and Basketball England to refresh the #TogetherWeAreBasketbALL hashtag to unite the sport against racism. The social unrest from the Black communities in America has seen the rise of yet more Civil Rights marches in the wake of COVID-19 in response to the death of black individuals in the hands of Police enforcers, George Floyd’s being the highlighted impact.
While we understand that the UK has its own version of these particular types of cases our motive of this campaign is to investigate, and highlight concerning areas around the topic and show how it impacts our own basketball community. All 50 states and 18 countries participated in the protests making it the largest Human Rights protest experienced globally. As these statistics have shown to be inspiring in collective solidarity, we face yet another great example of how institutionalised and systemic racism impacts Black people internationally.
The collaboration aims to draw on the strength of our basketball communities to elevate individuals’ voices within the game to show solidarity, raise awareness and urge people to speak out against inequality and all forms of racism.
Foot Fire CEO Anthony Ghatt took a stand on #BlackOutTuesday by focusing on ways in which Foot Fire can be used as a platform to combat racism.
“I’ve been torn to think of how can i support and use the platform I’ve made to show support to voice and get messages across” Link to Twitter video found here.
“Our goal at Foot Fire is to #BeTheChange in #BritishBasketball and with recent events has lead us to focus on Being The Change PERIOD. As a black owned business operating in a sport & culture prominently created, contributed & influenced by Black people we have always felt the need to empower those around us who continue to do great things” Link to IG post found here.
Sophia Rooke, lead writer of uNDERRATED and owner of Blacktop, has written a letter to Secretary of State for Education Gavin Williamson about providing a more comprehensive programme on Black History in UK schools.
It is an open letter which members of the public can email to Mr Williamson individually to highlight the role reformed education policy could play in fighting racism. Link to the letter found here.
Basketball England CEO Stewart Kellett said: “Basketball England has been listening to and supporting recent conversations around racism in society and within the game, consulting with numerous individuals and organisations and this joint work with Foot Fire and uNDERRATED, two respected organisations that are highly active within British Basketball culture, is another strand of that.
The campaign will also provide a platform, through each of the participants’ social media channels, for people to come together from across the game to discuss their issues, share ideas, knowledge and resources and will culminate with a day-long takeover of the BE Instragram channel featuring live and recorded contributions on 8th August 2020.
All the campaign participants will donate to and promote two charities of interest to the Black community.
Further information will follow in coming weeks.
Both the owners of Foot Fire and uNDERRATED are Basketball England ambassadors for the #AllGirls campaign and are involved in both youth and senior basketball activities.
About uNDERRATED https://www.underratedgb.com/our-story
A sports media network focused on the promotion of young talented prospects in the junior pro level of basketball. Our brand is a motor for the cross culture and lifestyle that exists in British Basketball. We also offer basketball training and filming services including basketball camps, tournaments, games and training workout filming.
About Foot Fire https://www.footfire.co.uk/
A marketing, networking and events company that focuses on putting on basketball events and spotlighting affordable basketball footwear and apparel. Foot Fire is the number one basketball product information platform in Europe and has put on events across the country. Foot Fire has collaborated with brands such as Overtime, Pure Sweat, Starting 5, Nike, Adidas and on digital advertising, social media campaigns and events.
About Basketball England https://www.basketballengland.co.uk/about/
The national governing body for basketball in England. Our vision is to create a sport that’s valued in every community and accessible in every school, college and university, and inspires the wider population to be engaged in the game.
More than ever we are engaging, listening and adapting to the needs of all communities in our great game, recognising that everyone has a voice and can influence the future.
Together we want to grow the game and bring out the inherent qualities and diverse appeal of basketball at all levels and roles in the game. We have a huge opportunity to promote equality and diversity more broadly as we create new opportunities leading up to the Commonwealth Games – Birmingham 2022.
Together we are basketball.
Photo Credit: uNDERRATED