Hyde FC are the recipients of the first Manchester Credit Union monthly equality award.

The Tigers have received the award in recognition for the club’s exceptional work in becoming the first non-league team to sign up to the charter committing the football club to challenging homophobia and taking a zero tolerance approach to any anti-gay abuse or chanting within the game.

Manchester Credit Union sponsors the award as part of its recently launched partnership with the Manchester Football Association. The credit union sits on the Equality Action Group which was set up earlier this month to identify good work within Greater Manchester and ensure that equality is embedded into all that Manchester FA does.

Chris Smith from Manchester Credit Union said: “The credit union’s values and principles draw us close to projects such as this and we want to reach out to people in the Manchester area and bring ethical, low-cost savings and loans to help families through football. This is an excellent aware to launch.”

Pictured above are Allan Kenyon, the chairman of Hyde FC, Chris Smith, a director of the Manchester Credit Union, and John Hurst, the social inclusion coordinator at the Manchester Football Association.