On 17 March, the Embassy of Italy in London visited Millwall Football Club and the Millwall Community Trust.
The Embassy was represented by The Minister Riccardo Smimmo (Deputy Head Mission) and by The First Councillor Umberto Bernardo.
The event was attended also by Neil Coyle MP (Bermondsey and Old Southwark), by the CEO of the Millwall Community Trust Sean Daly, by the MCT Safeguarding and EDI Lead Jason Vincent, by the MCT Media Officer Kai Bennett, by the Managing Director of Millwall Football Club Mark Fairbrother, by the Director of Millwall Football Club Peter Garston and by prof. Gianluca Sardi (Director of the Institute for Research on Anglo-Italian Comparative Law and Bioethics, that co-organized the visit).
After the arrival in SE16, the group had the pleasure to attend a presentation at the Lions Centre about the most recent activities of the Millwall Community Trust in Lewisham and Southwark.
During the aforementioned presentation, that was given by the MCT CEO Sean Daly, the guests were able to hear the absolutely impressive impact of the Trust programmes on the local people, especially as far as the younger generations are concerned. A particular attention was paid to the Pan Disability Football, to the Divert Officer project - that is organised by the MCT in partnership with the Metropolitan Police, the Youth and Employability Hub and the academic partnership between the Millwall Community Trust and the Lewisham College.
Neil Coyle MP highlighted the importance of the Trust in the local area and its initiatives for children, while Peter Garston mentioned the Trust initiatives in its first years and remembered that Millwall FC was one of the first professional football clubs in England to create a charity, aimed to use the football club badge to improve the lives of the local community.
Gianluca Sardi talked about the impact that Italian people had on Millwall FC and on the MCT along the decades, and he gave a special mention to Peter Martinelli (a Director of Millwall Football Club during the 1970's and the 1980's, who was also a huge supporter of the Trust during its first years) and Sharna Giordani (a current player of the Millwall Lionesses, that is very active in the local community and that won the PFA Community Champion in the 2024/25 season).
After visiting the Millwall Community Trust headquarters, the group went to The Den, where Kai Bennett organized a special tour of the ground and talked about the history of the venue. A visit to the dressing rooms and to the legendary tunnel was followed by a tour of pitch, where the people in attendance took a picture and Minister Smimmo and First Councillor Bernardo were given two personalized Millwall shirts, that they absolutely loved.
It was an amazing day to remember for everyone involved, that showed once again the tremendous impact that Millwall Football Club and the Millwall Community Trust have on the protection of fundamental rights of people.
