On June 7th, the new S 2 took part in  a ‘Show Racism The Red Card Event’, which was organised by East Lothian Council. The event coincided with National Sports Week , as well as the  Anti – racism Day planned for Friday 10th June in PLHS.

Pupils were  firstly asked to define racism. There were many excellent answers to this. The group then watched a documentary which used football to highlight how common, and  destructive, racism is . The film included many prominent footballers, including Craig Levein, the Scotland football manager , and members of Hearts, Rangers, Celtic,  Man U and  Hibernian, all who spoke out  strongly against racism. The most moving partof the  film was a 13 year old  Scottish boy – a talented footballer – who was about to give up playing because he faced racial abuse every time he played a game.

Two ex- footballers – Mickey Weir of Hibs and Derek  Ferguson  -  then asnswered questions about racism in football :  what they felt caused racism, what the impact of racism is on people  and what we can do to stamp out racism. Both ex- players were very impressed by the quality of the questions asked by the pupils.

Comments were also made about how well behaved pupils were and how they listened attentively to what was being said. Let’s hope that PLHS pupils will help  make a difference by challenging ,and not accepting, racism.

Thanks to Mr Johnstone  and Mrs Christie in PE  for their help.