Club celebrates Diwali in support of Kick It Out

Saturday’s game with Bournemouth will kick off a range of activities celebrating the annual cultural festival of Diwali, engagement with the South Asian community around Wembley and promoting inclusion for fans of all backgrounds.

Our work is being recognised by Kick It Out, football’s equality and inclusion campaign challenging discrimination and encouraging diversity within the game, and our players will warm up in campaign t-shirts before the match.

This season has seen the birth of Punjabi Spurs, an Official Supporters’ Club based in the UK that aims to celebrate diversity within our global fan base and welcome fans from all backgrounds.

Punjabi Spurs is being backed by Kick It Out and the Football Supporters’ Federation’s ‘Fans for Diversity’ fund and will be delivering a coaching clinic for young people in the Punjab region of India next year with the help of Spurs legends Clive Allen and Micky Hazard.

Its chairman, Josh Sandhu, will speak during the half-time interval, followed by a Spurs-themed Diwali performance from VP Bhangra - a renowned Punjabi dance troupe that has performed at events including the London 2012 Olympics Closing Ceremony.

Our celebrations will then continue next week with Ledley King a special guest at the Gurdwara Sri Guru Singh Sabha temple’s Diwali event in Southall on Thursday 19 October.

The Club has also sponsored Wembley’s festive lights this year that will be switched on the following day to mark Diwali and remain throughout the Christmas period until the New Year.

Meanwhile, the Tottenham Hotspur Foundation will next month launch a groundbreaking health and inclusion programme in partnership with BAPS Shri Swaminarayan Mandir, commonly known as Neasden Temple, and its community groups.

The programme will provide activities and awareness, including health checks and a 10-week weight management course, to inspire young people and adults that visit the Temple to lead healthier lifestyles.

It is in response to research showing that people from south Asian communities living in the UK are nearly twice as likely to develop diabetes compared with people from white European backgrounds, with conditions such as Coronary Heart Disease also more prevalent.

For more information on Kick It Out, visit: http://www.kickitout.org/

For more information on Punjabi Spurs and our global network of over 150 Official Supporters’ Clubs, visit: http://www.tottenhamhotspur.com/supporters-club/

For more information on Neasden Temple and its outreach work, visit: http://londonmandir.baps.org/