“RFC Lions Ska Football Club” was born in Caserta (Italy) in 2011, from an idea of a group of boys and girls sharing the passion for sport and ska music. It is not just about a ‘normal’ football team, but it is a free association of people, open to everybody who agrees on the principles of the project (both in- and outside the field): to carry forward a different understanding of what football should be, open and accessible for everybody, grounded on the values of antiracism and pursuing the eradication of every kind of discrimination.
The project is open to everyone without limits concerning gender or age. At the moment about 30 people are actively involved both as players and as supporters: students, self-employed as well as unskilled workers, salaried and unemployed people, peddlers, etc.
The team is supported by the “Gradinata Antirazzista”, group founded by some “veterans” of the project that decided to move from the field to the stands. By the time the group has grown in number, relying on several boys and girls of Caserta and migrants. The “Gradinata Antirazzista” is a fundamental part of the project RFC Lions Ska and based on the anti-fascist and anti-racist ideals, going against all forms of discrimination
RFC Lions Ska played and won the “Trofeo Libertadores” in Arzano (Naples). The tournament, organized by Stella Rossa Napoli, was aimed at promoting aggregation forms, networking and solidarity through football across Naples’ hinterland, a neglected area by the institutions. RFC Lions also took part in the Antifascist and Antiracist Tournament of Quarto (Naples), organized by another interesting team A.S.D. Quartograd (based on the same understanding of football as a common good and accessible for everyone), reaching the finals. The participation at the last two editions of an international event called “Mondiali Antirazzisti”, organized by UISP (Italian Union of Sports for All), has been a growing success for the project: during the 2013 edition RFC Lions Ska achieved the second place in the football tournament and won the “Mondiali Antirazzisti Cup”, which gives recognition to the best project against each form of discrimination of the whole year.
As an antiracist team, RFC Lions Ska project understand football as a tool for social inclusion against discrimination and social isolation. RFC Lions Ska firmly believes that every individual must have the possibility of practicing sport; this is why the project want to spread our message about the need of an effective “sport citizenship”, asking for a revision of norms and rules which are frustrating and preventing the free access to sport for a lot of young - but non-Italian - people. The project aims at using football as an effective mean for struggling against fascism and every kind of discrimination inherent in its ideology: racism, sexism, homophobia. RFC Lions Ska are anti-nationalists and act in favor of a multiethnic and multicultural society. For this reason, RFC Lions Ska do not ask for sport talent or capabilities as a prerequisite for joining the team but it is enough to share the values and ideas of the whole social project.
The team is at the moment consisting of players from Italy, Ukraina, Senegal, Ghana, Peru, Burundi and Ivory Coast.
