Monitoring racist and discriminatory incidents has been a key element of the Fare programme since the Euro 2004 in Portugal. In order to tackle issues such as racism and discrimination in football it is an important tool to understand the scope of the problem.

Fare believes that tackling racism and discrimination in football requires a multi-facetted approach combining educational activities, disciplinary measures and encouraging self-regulation amongst fans.

Monitoring discriminatory incidents plays an important role in tackling this problem by providing a way to collect evidence and conduct a thorough analysis of the scope. The data collected may be used to focus stakeholders’ attention on particular issues and incidents and stimulate proactive debates and measures among NGOs, clubs, FAs and fans themselves.

We want to make sure that football fans, governing bodies and other stakeholders are doing everything they can to prevent racist and discriminatory incidents from occurring and react appropriately when discriminatory incidents occur. Match day observers are a key element within this system with the necessary knowledge and experience to make reports when incidents occur during a game.

For the UEFA EURO 2016 in France, Fare will dispatch two observers to attend each of the 51 games.

Observers will be selected on basis of their expertise of the football culture in the countries, which are competing in the particular fixture and the observers’ understanding of issues of racism and discrimination. The Fare observers will receive training prior to the tournament during which they will learn about the protocol that has been put in place for the reporting of discriminatory incidents and other relevant topics.

Each observer will receive a match ticket as well as a specific accreditation.

The Role of the Fare Observer
• The observer will attend and monitor the game and draw on their own experience of fan culture and behaviour to note discriminatory incidents such as chanting, displays of far- right banners/signs and other examples of overt discriminatory activities.

• Observers will be expected to draw on their own experiences, and to monitor fan networks to help analyse and anticipate whether any incident is likely to take place at a particular game (or has been planned for a game) and to pass this information on.

• Observers will submit a written online report about the match that they monitored and provide evidence in case they witnessed any discriminatory incidents.

Fare will cover the cost of travel and accommodation in shared rooms. This will be a hotel/bed and breakfast in the host city or a shared flat, which has been rented by Fare to accommodate several observers at the same time. Observers will be equipped with cameras but will need to bring their own laptops or tablets to complete their tasks.

The newly recruited observers will be deployed at UEFA EURO 2016 finals. Fare is particularly looking for candidates who have the expertise to cover matches of those country that already have qualified for the EURO 2016 competition and those that are going to play in the play-offs. Preferably, candidates have the expertise to cover more than one country.

Observers will need to be highly motivated and have knowledge and experience of anti-racism/anti-discrimination issues and manifestation of discrimination in the football context (through symbols, chants, etc.) in their country/countries of expertise.

All observers will need to be able to speak and write in English. Knowledge of other languages is an advantage.
Observers must be available to attend EURO 2016 matches between 10 June – 10 July 2016. Specific dates of availability can be detailed in the application form.
Further, selected applicants must be available to attend training for Fare match day observers in early spring 2016.
Apply to become an observer if you:

• Are an antifascist and antiracist activist
• Agree that racism and discrimination has no place in football and society
• Are ready to contribute to positive change
• Are well acquainted with, and follow developments of the football fan scene in a particular or several countries.
• Are able to recognise and analyse specific displays of racism and discrimination in your country

Get involved!

What Fare can offer

• Training for the role of Observer on behalf of Fare
• The opportunity to become part of an international network of activists committed to fighting discrimination
• The chance to develop your expertise in anti-racist work
• Cover travel and daily allowance to cover related expenses,
• To join the team of Fare match day observers, please complete the application form by 14 December 2015. You will be informed about the outcome of your application within two weeks of this closing date.

Application form