Dragons Rubgy have been helping to drive home Welsh Governments major anti hate campaign, Hate Hurts Wales.
The winner of a schools competition to design anti-racism posters, sponsored by the club, was announced during their game against the Stormers on Friday.
And members of the West Gwent cohesion team were on hand to give out free merchandise promoting support for victims of hate crime.
Kieron Porter, Dragons Rugby equality officer, said: “It’s good to be working alongside the local authority and Victim Support to tackle all forms of hate in rugby and the wider community. We want to promote that rugby is for everyone and that there is no place for hate in our game.”
Mike Morgan, Community Cohesion officer, added: “Rugby is a big part of our culture in Gwent, you don’t have to drive far to see the next set of rugby posts across this region. Gwent local authorities and the Dragons Rugby will continue our partnership to end discrimination and ensure that everyone feels safe and has a sense of belonging in their community.”
Competition winner Spencer Knight, from St Albans RC School, received complimentary tickets to Friday’s match and was presented with a signed Dragon’s Rugby shirt at half-time.
National Hate Crime Awareness Week is a week of action that encourages local authorities, key partners and communities affected by hate crime to work together to tackle local hate crime issues. Hate crimes are any crimes that are targeted at a person because of hostility or prejudice towards that person’s disability, race or ethnicity, religion of belief, sexual orientation, or gender identity. This can be committed against a person or property. A victim does not have to be a member of the group at which the hostility is targeted; in fact, anyone could be a victim of a hate crime.
If you are a victim of hate crime, you can get support from Victim Support by calling the national hate crime and report centre on 03003031982.
