This year’s anti-discrimination workshops have just begun, with Brentford FC Community Sports Trust committed to helping end racism in football and in wider society.

The Trust, working alongside the Club and the Premier League, are looking to highlight the negative impacts of racism and what we can do to tackle it by visiting schools and educating students about such issues.

The 45-minute sessions are delivered by Club ambassador and ex-Premier League footballer Marcus Gayle and Salma Mahamud, former Brentford Women’s player and BBC Young Reporter of the Year.

During Black History Month last year, the Trust delivered 19 workshops to schools in Ealing, Hillingdon, Hounslow and Richmond, reaching more than 400 children.

Gayle explained to us how important the workshops are: “There's clearly an issue that starts from an early age and then people grow into that normality thinking it's totally fine.

“Education is a key component of how people are with this sort of information. The children of today see their friends as just friends, no matter what background they are from.

“They only start seeing discrimination with behaviors towards their friends and now they start challenging it: ‘Hold up, this doesn't match up, this is just my friend - I like how they dress, I like what foods they eat, it's different from mine’.

“It impacts everybody. It's vitally important that we start with schools, give them that support system and make them ask questions as well. Let them question and challenge absolutely everything.”

Brentford striker Ivan Toney visited Rabbsfarm Primary School in West Drayton earlier this year to take part in a No Room For Racism session to talk about his career and dealing with discrimination.

And Gayle discussed how that visit impacted not just the students, but Toney himself.

"Ivan's impact at the school was incredible,” said Gayle.

“We sat down at their level on the day, just so it felt personable and the kids loved it. Ivan loved it as well.

“I think they surprised him with the sorts of questions they gave him as well. He learned a lot from them as much as they learned from him.

“Just to have someone from our senior team coming into a school was so valuable.”

As well as primary school students, Gayle expressed the importance of all Brentford fans educating themselves on what behaviour is acceptable when visiting the Gtech Community Stadium, but also in their daily lives.

"At Brentford, we've put together fan education presentations,” Gayle continued.

“My previous work was at Kick It Out and we were doing things like this with supporters and I thought, ‘Let's try and use it here’.

“It’s a case of making our supporters aware that discriminative behavior is not tolerated and it has a deep impact on people around them.

“We have to look in the mirror and try to make those improvements from within so we can have a bigger impact on people around us.

“We've got a really good fan base, they’re so passionate and we all need to be role models and ambassadors on a matchdays, and on non-matchdays, more importantly.”