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The player-manager of a multi-nationality football team is backing a season-long anti-discrimination campaign in the North East Wales Premier Division.
Delwyn Derrick, of Bellevue FC in Wrexham, says the campaign will launch at the start of the 2018-19 season and will involve several workshops for club managers and players.
“I’ll be running one of the workshops myself and the likes of Wrexham AVOW – the Association of Voluntary Organisations in Wrexham – have promised to send a speaker,” said Delwyn, 30, who lives in Bersham.
He was one of the founders of a football team at Bellevue Park in the middle of Wrexham which boasts a squad packed with migrants and refugees from so many countries that the list reads like a league of nations.
And for his efforts over the last 18 months or so he picked up the Equality and Diversity Award at a ceremony hosted by North Wales Police and Crime Commissioner Arfon Jones at the Celtic Royal Hotel in Caernarfon.
Everyone involved with the Bellevue team is very proud to receive this award,” said Delwyn. “For me personally it is a massive achievement.”
The award citation said it was being made to someone who has embraced community engagement to reduce tensions and fear of crime.
Arfon Jones said: “Delwyn has given an opportunity to people of many nationalities to come together and play football.
Their recent award ceremony at the Saith Seren in Wrexham showed the rapport and camaraderie they have built up as a team and Delwyn has done so much to break down barriers between nationalities in Wrexham.
It’s an excellent example of a bottom up approach to an issue and not the usual top down.”
The multi-national Bellevue team was formed in 2017 when Delwyn, along with fellow Sunday league players James Wright, Jon Davies and Damian Walker, spotted French and German students living in the area while they were at university or college coming down for a kick-about with their mates.
We thought to ourselves that it would be a good idea to start a team that would be for people of all nationalities,” said Delwyn. “We knew there was a Portuguese-only team and a Kurdish team as well, but there was nothing for mixed nationalities.
So we set about forming one and the reaction from players was very positive. I find it difficult to believe no-one had done it before.”
The 30-strong Bellevue squad is made up of players aged from 14 to 40 from Poland, Romania, Albania, Portugal, Syria, Eritrea, Sudan, Libya, Iraq, Germany, Angola, England and, of course, Wales.
With help from Sport Cymru, the team played in the North East Wales league last season and in 26 matches there was only one incident of racism.
An opposing player used a racist term to one of our lads,” said Delwyn. “The league itself and the club we were playing against took swift action against the offending player.
I know stuff goes on outside the club and it makes me very sad and angry. One of our coloured players said racism exists in many forms, but it doesn’t bother him anymore because he’s used to it. It shouldn’t be like that in this day and age.”
Delwyn says Bellevue is going through a bit of a transitional period. “Players have come and gone,” he said, “some of them because they found the North East Wales league too competitive.
Damien still plays for us, but James and Jon don’t anymore because of work and other commitments.”
Last season Bellevue took one solitary point in a 2-2 draw against Acton: “They needed a 90th minute equaliser to draw level,” said Delwyn: “And they were second in the league at the time!
You have to make the most of the small victories when you manage a club like ours. The World Cup is showing the minnows of football can beat anyone on their day.
We actually won the Wrexham Community Cup when we beat Wrexham Inclusion team. It was 2-2 after 90 minutes and we went on to win on penalties. I put our centre half in goal and he saved four out of five penalties!
We’re very excited about the coming season. Normally players at our level take a month off, but our squad only took a week and are training every Tuesday and Friday night. We can’t wait for the kick-off.”
Bellevue will once again be joining forces with North Wales PCC Arfon Jones to highlight National Hate Crime Awareness Week in October, but this year several other teams in the North East Wales league want to get involved.
Cooperative North Wales are again backing us and putting in a team, but we’ll have to change the format because of the increased interest,” said Delwyn.
He admits he is so keen to learn how his Muslim players are affected by the Ramadan 30-day fast that he and a couple of colleagues have volunteered to follow the religious festival.
I just want to know how my players are affected by a long fast, what impact it has on their bodies,” said Delwyn.
I and two or three other members of the Bellevue squad have volunteered to join the Ramadan fast next year so we can learn what its impact is on our fellow players. It’s sure to be an interesting exercise.”