Over the past two years St Mirren Football Club has invested a lot of time and research into ensuring that we are inclusive to all, with zero discrimination. We firmly believe in supporting equality and diversity within St Mirren.
As a club we condemn all forms of discrimination in the strongest possible terms, including but not limited to, racism, sectarianism, sexism and homophobia. It is completely unacceptable, and has no place within football or wider society.
Supporters may have noticed signs displayed throughout The SMiSA Stadium this season that read 'Everyone is Welcome, We’re all Buddies.' This forms our campaign to promote inclusivity at St Mirren Football Club. We want to make the matchday experience at The SMiSA Stadium an enjoyable one for everyone.
The club has implemented action and training plans to ensure that we are on a journey with our learning and development, ensuring the club evolves as society changes.
From what seems like a simple action to display 'Everyone is Welcome, We’re all Buddies' posters throughout the stadium, to ensuring that the first team undertake mandatory Show Racism the Red Card training, we have considered our actions and have a plan in place to continue to learn and improve.
We have met with local groups over the past two years to learn about barriers to inclusion at our football matches, and to understand the steps we can take and what we can implement to improve the safety and inclusion of all supporters.
Our staff policies have been reviewed and updated and we undertake a fair recruitment process. We believe what we have implemented is working but will continue to make changes as required.
We are working with the local schools to include the younger generations and support deprivation and believe we are striking the right balance with these programmes, especially when teamed up with our Street Stuff programme, in conjunction with Renfrewshire Council, the police and fire brigade.
We are working hard in our community to support minority groups and provide tickets to matches and support through other avenues. We have also taken on a charity partner, Home-Start, to include families in our strategy to provide football for all.
Our official club strategy focuses on Paisley, People and Performance and this has a focus on diversity and inclusion, basing the decisions our club makes on what is best for the local community, the people who work for us and who are stakeholders in any capacity, and our performance to ensure that our team, on and off the pitch, feel safe coming to work, are included and are championed.
We firmly believe the changes that we have implemented, and our learning and development are supporting equality and diversity within the club. We will continue to improve our strategies, and to meet with minority groups to ensure that St Mirren FC is welcome to all.
Everyone is Welcome, We’re all Buddies
St Mirren Women's Captain Karen McCabe and Men's Captain Mark O'Hara promote 'Everyone is Welcome'
