Proudly Working Class & Politically Independent

By F.L.A.F. admin, September 17th 2018

FLAF Statement: We Are Working Class & Politically Independent

 

Football Lads & Lasses was founded 6 weeks ago and in that short space of time we have gained a following of 10,000 on Facebook. Our founding statement, which emphasised the need for working class unity against fascism, has a resonance with football fans that surpassed even our own expectations. We are now ready to move to the next stage of organising against the far-right and we will be announcing a mobilisation in the next day or so, however, before we do so it’s appropriate to restate our position regarding the use of our name and logos.
We would like to make it clear that we are not aligned to any other organisation or political party. We are a grass roots working class organisation made up of folk fed up with the hijacking of our game and culture by the far right.
We welcome the support we have had from football fans from across the country and beyond, helping to spread the word about this grass roots campaign. When sharing our logo and graphics on social media we would also appreciate a message of support as well as a direct link to the group.
We would ask that other groups/organisations don’t claim, or imply, that FLAF supports their campaign work or initiatives without prior discussion with us, or unless explicitly stated otherwise. We welcome the distribution of FLAF merchandise but this should be distributed by football fans supporting FLAF and not distributed alongside other groups/organisations’ political literature as this could cause confusion about the aims and objectives of FLAF.
We would politely request that other organisations be respectful of the aims and objectives of FLAF as a standalone group. If we are made aware of groups that ignore this guidance/request we will contact them directly to reiterate this position and ask for their co-operation. If the misuse of our logo and merchandise continues we will be forced to publicly distance ourselves from the activities of the individuals or groups responsible.
We have stated that we are open to working in co-operation with other anti-fascists, but we are not and have no desire to become an affiliate or stewarding operation for other political organisations. We will treat others as adults and equals and we expect to be treated with the same respect in return.
FLAF will be announcing our public activities in the next few days – watch this space.