Baroness Doreen Lawrence OBE and club legend Paul Mortimer will be leading the annual Charlton Athletic and Charlton Athletic Community Trust (CACT) Red, White and Black Day, taking place on Saturday, April 2nd at The Valley.
Red, White and Black Day is an initiative that has been part of the Charlton fabric for over 25 years. This year the parade from Charlton station to The Valley will include over 300 people from the Charlton family for a day that celebrates diversity and inclusion. This year’s event tagline is ‘All Together, All Different, All Charlton’.
Baroness Lawrence, the most high profile equality campaigner in the UK, will be leading the parade alongside Dr Michael Bennett of the Professional Footballers’ Association and David McArdle from the EFL. Among them will be Charlton legend Paul Mortimer and a leading representative from Royal Borough of Greenwich, as well as CACT’s Chair of Trustees Marilyn Toft, CACT Trustee Dr Martin Griffiths and representatives from Charlton Athletic.
Accompanied by a steel drum band, the rest of the parade will be made up of local school children who have been learning all about equality, diversity and inclusion through workshops with CACT in preparation for Red, White and Black Day. They will be designing their own banners and flags to showcase their support for the Red, White and Black Day initiative.
There will also be a variety of local community groups, organisations and faith groups joining for the parade to The Valley including Charlton U23 players; Charlton Women’s team players; members of the Young Greenwich youth service; University of Greenwich; Proud Valiants; NCS participants; Charlton Invicta and CACT-affiliated pan-disability team Ability Counts.
The parade will continue into The Valley and around the pitch ahead of kick-off for all fans to celebrate the diversity of Charlton’s family.
Dr Michael Seeraj, CACT and the club’s Head of Equality, Diversity & Inclusion, said: “Charlton has a long, proud, unique history of promoting equality and tackling discrimination, and Red, White and Black Day is our flagship themed match, established over 25 years ago by our progressive, trailblazing Charlton fans.
“This year we are delighted to be welcoming local schools, Young Greenwich, and local community groups, who will be taking part in a Charlton parade to celebrate diversity, based on the RWB theme: All Different, All Together, All Charlton.”
Tracey Leaburn, Charlton Athletic’s Head of First-Team Player Care, added: “Red, White and Black Day is an incredibly important campaign which celebrates the diversity of Charlton and its surrounding community.
“We will have the Academy's U23 players and Women’s team players joining us for the parade alongside former Charlton player Paul Mortimer.
“The first-team will be wearing t-shirts during their warm-up to show support for the campaign whilst the parade will continue around the pitch.”
Charlton Athletic Women’s team will be continuing the celebrations the following day by wearing t-shirts during their warm-up to support the campaign.
Join us on Red, White and Black Day to celebrate diversity and inclusion by lining the streets from Charlton station to The Valley!
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