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Successful Black History Month Event

West Riding County FA held its first ever Black History Month Event last week with over 30 people attending the evening’s activities.

The event was part of a series organised by the FA Coach Mentor Team around the country to celebrate Black History Month in October, and events were a resounding success.

In West Riding, guest speakers included former Leeds United striker Brian Deane, who grew up in Chapeltown, Leeds and had a distinguished professional career which included representing England.

Brian spoke about his local roots and growing up as a young player and the challenges he faced as well as his idols and inspirations that included players such as the late Cyrille Regis.

Philip Zulu, a Leeds based football coach, originally from Zimbabwe detailed his journey within the game and the work he currently does with local young people encouraging them to fulfil their potential on the field and away from it.

The evening was concluded by John Francis, FA Coach Mentor, who delivered a workshop around dealing with and reporting racism, and he hopes to develop the workshop so it can be utilised by those involved with grassroots football.

West Riding County FA would like to thank Brian, Philip and John for their contributions to the event and also the many people who attended and supported an excellent evening with some good honest discussion.