Charlton Athletic have been named the London Checkatrade Community Club of the Year due to their excellent community engagement.
The club will receive the famous English Football League award at the House of Commons this week. Other recognised names to be on stage during the event will include Sports Minister Tracy Crouch, EFL Chairman Ian Lenagan and also host and BBC Presenter, Collin Murray.
Breaking Barriers
The Addicks’ ground-breaking work throughout the year was recognised by the judges after they became the first professional football club in the United Kingdom to launch a LGBT friendly team, CACT Invicta FC, in dedication to the LGBT community.
The team formed has played a huge part in raising awareness through key projects such as the Charlton vs Homophobia tournament, which had a total of 600 participants, and also the Stonewall One Goal rainbow laces which were worn by the players and members of staff.
CEO of the Charlton Athletic Community Trust, Jason Morgan, spoke to the club’s website, “Last year was a landmark year for CACT. We celebrated our 25th anniversary since the launch of Charlton’s community scheme with a series of fundraising events, generating over £88,000 to invest back into local community projects.”
He then went on to tell the club’s website, “We published our first organisation-wide impact report that found our work has a social value of over £31m and we were proud to be the first Community Trust in the country to formally establish and affiliate a LGBT friendly football team.”
Praise
Addicks manager Karl Robinson was quick to praise the efforts of his club’s work and Jason Morgan, as he told www.cafc.co.uk, “Jason and his team are unbelievable at what they do. I’ve been at a lot of football clubs and I’ve never seen so much detail going into the community, trying to help so many people with so many different issues. There is a real belief at this football club in the sense of the community.”
2018 marks the 10-year anniversary of the EFL trust, commemorating the incredible work clubs in the EFL have done in transforming and helping their local communities, improving health, education and also reducing the crime rate.
There will be no doubt as to the positive impact this will have on other clubs and communities around the country, inspiring to improve not just their communities but also their standards of living.