Release Date: 19/11/2007

The IFA’s Head of Community Relations, Michael Boyd, is set to win a prestigious award tonight (Monday 19 Nov) in Dublin at the 2007 Metro Éireann Media and Multicultural Awards (MAMA) for designing and implementing the IFA’s highly innovative Football For All Community Relations Programme.

Michael, an experienced Amateur League Footballer with East Belfast outfit Sirocco Works FC was at one time the IFA’s youngest ever European A Licence Coach. He has studied both sport development and conflict management extensively in the United States and Israel .

He is a founding member of the new UKand Ireland wide Football Without Frontiers anti-racism and anti-sectarian body and has given talks at UEFA and FIFA anti-racism conferences in Buenos Aries and Barcelona . Belfastborn, he is a Sport Studies Graduate from the University of Ulster who also completed a Masters in Communication and Advanced Diploma in Strategic Management from the same university. He is an Alumni of the prestigious US International Visitor Programme, Business Education Initiative and Community Builders Programme. He designed the IFA’s first Football For All strategy back in February 2000.

“Football For All is guided by three basic principles, Education, Support and Communication. Training is an important part of our Education and each member of IFA Staff receives Community Relations training from external Facilitators on an annual basis. It is important each member of our Staff signs up to the Football For All ethos. Support is all about working in partnership with key stakeholders to create a more fun, safe and inclusive culture throughout the game."

"The best example of Support is our highly successful partnership work with the Amalgamation of Official Northern Ireland Supporters Clubs to give sectarianism the boot. Underpinning all our Football For All work is open and honest two way communication process where we do our best to shine the spotlight on the Fans and Volunteers who make such a meaningful contribution to the sport of football. Two members of the Amalgamation of Official Northern Ireland SupportersClubs sit on our IFA Community Relations Advisory Panel and have had strategic input into our new Football For All strategy 2007-2012. An important aspect to our work as we look ahead is building on the success of our World United football programme which promotes positive Interculturalism through the sport of football encouraging greater participation of people from ethnic minorities in the sport”.

“I am delighted to pick up this MAMA award in Dublinon behalf of the IFA Staff and all our partners who work on our Football For All Programme. In particular I would like to thank the Northern Ireland Community Relations Council, UEFA and the Special EU Programmes Body for providing us with the funding to make this work possible. Finally I would like to add that we dedicate this award to all our Football For All Volunteers and in particular the Fans who are the lifeblood and unsung heroes of the entire Football For All Programme”.

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