Kick It Out, football's equality and inclusion campaign, is uniting the football family this autumn as the game, from park pitches to the Premier League, pledges its backing to the One Game, One Community weeks of action.

With over 1,000 activities nationwide taking place between two weekends, the weeks of action is widely considered sport's largest equality and community engagement initiative. Synononmous with many supporters for the iconic Kick It Out t-shirts worn by high-profile players, the weeks of action exist to mean much more. Kick It Out founder and Chair, Lord Herman Ouseley, explains:

'Coordination of the weeks of action is quite an undertaking. Each of the 92 professional clubs dedicates a home game to the campaign, so, close and regular consultation with each of them is key. There are a number of ways clubs can demonstrate their commitment. Players warming up in our t-shirts often provides the primary visual focus, but clubs are becoming more imaginative, some organising pre-match flag parades, fan mosaics, on-field presentations for pioneering community projects, and post match discussion evenings and seminars.'

'The overarching idea behind the weeks of action is that the coming together of clubs, their fans and surrounding communities provides a focused, highly visible message of anti-discrimination. But, over and above this, it's about helping clubs understand how crucial diversity is to our game and to maintain this mindset all year round.'

With 16 years of campaigning under its belt, Kick It Out has witnessed, and contributed to, a many changes, both attitudinally and policy wise since its formation during the fledgling days of the Premier League.

As well as continued support from some of the biggest names in football, the scope and scale of Kick It Out's work has shifted with the footballing landscape. Matters concerning gender, sexual orientation, religion and disability are now as much a part of the campaign's remit as race and skin colour were back in 1993. This is reflected in the recently revised Equality Standard, a framework devised for clubs to help with their equality and diversity practices and policies.

On these shores, such incidents are now rare. However, Kick It Out's European remit as a core founder of the FARE (Football Against Racism in Europe) network means it's exposed to the slightly less rounded attitudes to race of some fans in eastern Europe. 'The issues with certain supporters in some of the former eastern bloc countries gives us cause for concern', said Ouseley, citing Croatian fans' baiting of Emile Heskey in Zagreb as recently as last year as an example.

As UEFA's partner on its anti-discrimination programme,FARE is already looking to the Euros in Poland and Ukraine in 2012 and advising the governing bodies involved on ways to keep the focus on football, and not the behaviour of the fans.

The immediate task in hand, however, is to ensure this season's weeks of action is as successful as ever. Some of football's star names have already signed up to Kick It Out's ambassador programme; Michael Essien, Glen Johnson and Ashley Young to name just a few. They'll join seasoned campaigners like Luther Blissett, Danny Wallace, Viv Anderson and Paul Elliott in delivering the One Game, One Community message beyond football stadia and into schools, universities, places of worship, grassroots clubs and youth organisations.

Kick It Out's One Game, One Community weeks of action take place 15-27 October. To find out how you can get involved, call Kick It Out on 0207 684 4884 or visit www.onegameonecommunity.org