YORK City are gearing up to take a more pro-active anti-racism stance and help lift a lingering shadow cast over the club and its supporters.

Club director Sophie McGill will meet with representatives from football's Kick-it-Out campaign later this month in an effort to step up the club's anti-racism initiatives for next season.

City gained unwelcome notoriety in the 1990s as the only club in the country that refused to sign up to the Kick Racism Out Of Football charter.

Despite widespread supporter condemnation, former chairman Douglas Craig defended that decision by insisting the campaign was flawed, pointing out some clubs joined but then did nothing to fight prejudice.

Craig always maintained the Minstermen acted on incidents of racism as and when they occurred at Bootham Crescent.

In recent seasons, there was a softening of the club's solitary stand.

An anti-racism message adorned at least one advertising hoarding at Bootham Crescent and was also printed in the match programme. Anti-racism announcements were also made via the club's public address system on match days.

However, McGill described the improvements as "token" gestures and admitted it was time for the club, now in the control of its supporters, to take a more positive position in the fight against bigotry.

"The club had developed something of a reputation because we were the only club not to sign up to the Kick Racism Out of Football campaign," she explained.

"Since then, messages have been printed in the programme but we want to adopt a stronger anti-racism policy, one that is active rather than something rather token, and to help make clear racism has no place in football or society at large.

"We need to make a bold statement and show, as a community club, we genuinely want to embrace all elements of the community at Bootham Crescent."

There is no longer an anti-racism charter for clubs to actually sign-up to.

However, McGill will meet Alison Vaughan from the Kick-It-Out campaign, when the policies and initiatives used by other clubs to promote equality will be discussed.

"Hopefully, we will be able to adopt some of the more innovative schemes and develop ideas of our own," said McGill

"We want to engage the help of the club's Football In The Community programme and the commercial department of the club to cover all aspects.

"We not only want to implement schemes and ideas from a community point of view but internally as well."

Updated: 11:31 Wednesday, May 07, 2003