11 to 15 November 2024 is Anti-Bullying Week in the UK, and people come together to raise awareness of bullying and how we can help put a stop to it.
To mark the occasion, Manchester City defender R煤ben Dias, alongside a group of secondary school students, gave a speech in the House of Lords about the importance of the event.
大象传媒 Bitesize spoke to him, the students involved and director of the Anti-Bullying Alliance Martha Evans, to get their thoughts on how you can be an ally to someone affected by online abuse.
Kim: He might be best known for his leadership skills in Manchester City's backline, but on this occasion R煤ben Dias has led from the front - as he delivered a speech from the House of Lords as part of Anti-Bullying Week to highlight the importance of treating people with kindness.
R煤ben: At the end you can have all the power in the world, but if you don't know how to use it you're not as powerful as you could be. It's a little bit in that sense that I found it was, especially with the word respect that means a lot to me. I found that it would be useful in many ways for me to show up and do my bit.
Kim: How does it make you feel when you maybe see team mates who are suffering at the hands of online abuse? What does that evoke in terms of feelings?
R煤ben: I guess that one's a big one today, online abuse. It's a difficult one to stop. It's much to do with who you've got at home, your ability to have that tunnel focus of what is important, where you go and what's your purpose and who's around you and who matters. And be able to switch off when you have to.
Kim: R煤ben has a massive following and so many young people look up to him, if other footballers were to follow suit what would that mean?
Part of our message for Anti-Bullying Week this year is that actually adults need to act as role models to children and we can't expect children to act better than adults act. So we hope through this event and through R煤ben's involvement we can get that message out to adults that we've got to be what we want to see in children.
Kim: After the Man City star delivered his speech in parliament, I caught up with some of the young ambassadors who were also part of the event. Talk to me about what today's been like for you.
Young ambassador 1: It's been an amazing experience, just meeting people that I've looked up to for so long, like R煤ben Dias of course, amazing footballer. It was a great experience, loved coming here, speaking and spreading the message that we're trying to get out that.
Kim: Were you nervous at all? Because as you said you've got really well-known people, how was that?
Young ambassador 1: Of course, very nerve-racking. I had to go up there, say what I needed to say, and make sure the message we are trying to put out reaches as many people as it can.
Young ambassador 2: So, Anti-Bullying Week is important because it's a dedicated time for people to be aware about bullying.
Kim: You've been talking today in the House of Lords, what on Earth is that like?
Young ambassador 3: Overwhelming. Pretty nerve-racking because I got to meet some incredible people, but overall a really good experience.
Young ambassador 4: I loved it so much and I'm really really happy. It was really good.
Why it's important to speak out about bullying
Research carried out in 2023 by the Anti-Bullying Alliance showed that almost 1 in 4 pupils reported being frequently bullied in the weeks before the study, highlighting the importance of talking about the issue.
R煤ben echoed this sentiment, saying: "It's a big cause and I think it's important to stand by it and speak up," adding that he felt the platform his status as a footballer gave him was something he felt a responsibility to use for good.
For the students, Anti-Bullying week is an important time to speak out and allow people to share their experiences, so they don鈥檛 feel alone if they鈥檙e going through bullying.
They also felt that having a role model like R煤ben involved would help encourage more people to speak up about their experiences.
'There鈥檚 space still for respect and kindness.'
R煤ben told 大象传媒 Bitesize that, although he hasn鈥檛 experienced bullying himself, he has often witnessed it.
He said: "Even if you're not the one doing it or the one suffering it, you see it and you have a decision to make,鈥
鈥淢any times I鈥檝e taken the choice of trying to stop it because it鈥檚 one of them鈥 when you鈥檙e in a position of power, try and make sure you use it well.鈥
Many of the students mentioned the importance of letting your friends know you are there for them, and being someone they feel comfortable speaking and confiding in.
R煤ben also mentioned the importance of knowing the line between banter and going too far. He draws on the experiences of being in football dressing rooms, and the importance of creating an atmosphere in which people can feel comfortable to speak up if lines are crossed.
He emphasised: "In the end, we can be as competitive as we want but there鈥檚 space still for respect and kindness."
This resonates with what Martha named as one of the key themes of this year's Anti-Bullying Week - the importance of adults being good role models for children.
Online abuse
Bullying has stretched its way into the online sphere, and footballers are no strangers to this, with players who miss penalties or make 'mistakes' frequently being subjected to waves of online abuse.
R煤ben spoke about the importance of turning off social media channels when necessary. He said: "I'm always a big supporter of doing what we can do ourselves and when that comes up we need to be able to shut down."
He mentioned that keeping focus on the people who matter to you is a useful tool when trying to deal with online abuse and bullying, coming back to one of his key messages: "What you can do is what you control."
Helpful resources
You can find helpful tips on how to deal with bullying and other issues from 大象传媒 Bitesize Study Support and 大象传媒 Bitesize Parents' Toolkit.
More helpful resources can be found at 大象传媒 Action Line.
This article was published in November 2024
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