Troy Townsend

Troy Townsend is the Head of Player Engagement at Kick It Out, football’s equality and inclusion campaign. In his 11 1/2 years at the organisation, Troy has worked tirelessly to promote inclusion and challenge discrimination across the game and beyond. An advocate for change over many decades. He also chairs Kick It Out’s Player Advisory Board, which has recently been set up to align the organisations' values and goals with current and former professional players.

 

Troy previously spent 15 years working in the education sector, predominately through his former Sports Development Company Ultimate Sports, which was set up to provide Physical Education provision to schools in North and East London. He also spent a few years as a member of the senior leadership team and a school governor in a School he became permanently based. 

 

Troy has received various accolades throughout his working life with the most prestigious amongst them all being selected as one of The FA’s 150 Grassroots Heroes, which included a visit to Buckingham Palace to receive his award from Prince William, the then Duke of Cambridge. Whilst also receiving two awards from The Football Blacklist, which focuses and celebrates the contributions of black people working in football.

 

His work with young people has included developing his own football academy to support the growth of boys and girls in the game. Creating mentoring events and opportunities through Kick It Out’s Raise Your Game program and as a patron of the youth-led organisation Football Beyond Borders. 

 

Troy has also ventured into the world of production and media by creating and narrating “It Was All A Dream, the Football Academy Journey”. A deep and detailed audio documentary into the English Academy system, which was shortlisted a the prestigious SJA Awards. 

 

Well known for his appearances and honest voice about incidents of racism in Football. Troy often appears on a variety of media outlets inc Sky Sports News, BBC and ITV News, TalkSPORT, and Radio 5 Live. He has also made significant contributions to Football Documentaries that delve into the issues of racism in the game in a much wider forensic detail, Anton Ferdinand’s Football, Racism and Me and Out of their Skin narrated by Ian Wright. 

 

Troy’s day-to-day work sees him travel around the English Football academies delivering education on racism and discrimination from under 9s through to under 21s, their parents and guardians, and club staff.

 

A well respected public and keynote speaker.