It has come to Aston Villa's attention that today's Mail on Sunday (21.10.2012) contains an article suggesting that certain Aston Villa players were involved in a protest against Kick It Out at our match against Fulham on Saturday, October 20, 2012.The article states that there was "controversy at Craven Cottage" resulting from certain Aston Villa players removing their Kick It Out t-shirts "early" and throwing their Kick It Out t-shirts to the ground "in disgust".This story, as it relates to Aston Villa and our players, is inaccurate, misleading and distorted.All Aston Villa players took to the pitch for the pre-game warm-up on Saturday wearing Kick It Out t-shirts.As is usual practice the players were split into two groups during that warm-up to play possession football; in order to be distinguishable one group removed their Kick It Out t-shirts.The players who removed their t-shirts for this reason were Brett Holman, Joe Bennett, Fabian Delph, Darren Bent and Nathan Baker. This was not a protest. There was no controversy.No player threw their shirt to the ground "in disgust".Aston Villa are particularly disappointed with this irresponsible journalism, given that the journalist in question had the full facts of the matter at his disposal before this article went to press: he even asked a question regarding the issue at Saturday's post-match press conference.His question and the manager's response are below:-Mail on Sunday: Can you confirm they meant no disrespect to the Kick It Out campaign?Paul Lambert: No, not at all. We play a possession thing and that will only have been what that was…..There was no disrespect to it whatsoever. We train and then five lads wear one shirt and five wear another…….They backed it, the football club backs it to the hilt.Despite this, the Mail on Sunday proceeded to publish an article which is demonstrably untrue.Aston Villa take their commitment to embracing diversity and promoting equality very seriously.These efforts have been recognised by Kick It Out when Aston Villa became only the second club to achieve the highest level of the Kick It Out Equality Standard, an achievement which we are justly proud of.The club have written to the Mail on Sunday today, requesting that the article be corrected and an apology published.We have also suggested that the Mail on Sunday makes a donation to Kick It Out to help them continue with the excellent work they do.Finally, we have suggested to the Mail on Sunday that they may wish to highlight - in next Sunday's edition - some of the positive events and activities that all Premier League clubs, including Aston Villa, are taking part in as part of Kick It Out's Weeks of Action (which take place between October 18 and 29, 2012).
The club have written to the Mail on Sunday today, requesting that the article be corrected and an apology published.We have also suggested that the Mail on Sunday makes a donation to Kick It Out to help them continue with the excellent work they do.Finally, we have suggested to the Mail on Sunday that they may wish to highlight - in next Sunday's edition - some of the positive events and activities that all Premier League clubs, including Aston Villa, are taking part in as part of Kick It Out's Weeks of Action (which take place between October 18 and 29, 2012).
Somebody on Facebook has posted that she (and others presumably) kept calling the bar staff at Fulham 'Heskey'. Pathetic.
They should also mention that it is only us and Arsenal that have reached the top level of the kick it out equality standard. Would be a bit strange for our club to be involved in this!http://www.kickitout.org/422.php
Is the original article making these claims online?
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Topic: Kick it Out Campaign (Read 32323 times)
