Game over: Crimestoppers is looking to deal with hate crime at football matches

With discrimination and incidents of hate crime taking place at football matches across the country, Crimestoppers has begun a campaign urging London football fans to take action and report information about crimes 100 per cent anonymously.

The four-week campaign will be delivered mainly on social media will urge fans attending all matches to make a difference by speaking up to make hate crime a thing of the past.

With funding received from The City Bridge Trust, this campaign is part of the Hidden Harms project, a programme of work highlighting to the public the importance of reporting crimes often hidden in plain sight, such as domestic abuse, human trafficking and hate crime.

Alexa Loukas, a manager at Crimestoppers, said: “We believe that football fans of all clubs, regardless of age, disability, gender, race, faith, sexual orientation, or any other identifying feature, should feel safe and welcome attending matches.

“There is no place for discrimination in sport and we want to help make football a more inclusive place for all fans and we are encouraging football supporters to learn the signs to spot around Hate Crime, so that if you do see something, you can speak up and tell us what you know. 100 per cent anonymously – guaranteed.”

To pass on crime information completely anonymously, visit the charity’s website Crimestoppers-uk.org and fill out a simple and secure anonymous online form or call the 24/7 contact centre on freephone 0800 555 111.

Crimestoppers stress that when they have been contacted, no computer IP addresses are ever traced, while their phone lines have no caller display, no 1471 facility and the charity has never traced a call.

• Inside Croydon depends on regular subscriptions from our readers to enable us to continue to deliver exclusive, headline-making and independent journalism – the sort of scrutiny that Croydon Council would prefer did not exist. Please sign up today as a subscriber. Click here

• What’s on inside Croydon: Click here for the latest events listings, powered by Now Croydon

• If you have a news story about life in or around Croydon, or want to publicise your residents’ association or business, or if you have a local event to promote, please email us with full details at inside.croydon@btinternet.com
• Inside Croydon is a member of the Independent Community News Network
• Inside Croydon works together with the Bureau of Investigative Journalism, as well as BBC London News and ITV London
  
• ROTTEN BOROUGH AWARDS: Croydon was named the country’s rottenest borough in 2020 in the annual round-up of civic cock-ups in Private Eye magazine – the fourth successive year that Inside Croydon has been the source for such award-winning nominations
• Inside Croydon: 3million page views in 2020. Seen by 1.4million unique visitors