Rovers were crowned winners of the EFL Diversity Award in recognition of their Ewood Express initiative.

The club are the first winners of the award that celebrates and recognises excellence in equality, diversity and inclusion.

Rovers were named winners at the 2022 EFL awards ceremony in London, having been one of three clubs shortlisted.

The club’s Ewood Express initiative provides a bus service for children to be collected directly from their school, mosque or community group to attend home matches.

The EFL say the service has ‘provided children from highly deprived and diverse areas the opportunity to watch a match for just £6, making it affordable and accessible for parents’.

Lynsey Talbot, Rovers' Head of Operations, was delighted for the hard work of the club to recognised.

She said: “It’s massive for the club. We made a strategic decision that we needed to be representative of our community, which is very diverse, with over 45 percent of the population being from an Asian background.

“That wasn’t represented in the stadium on a matchday and we made a conscious effort to make sure we’re at the heart of those communities.

“Blackburn is really proud of the community we have and our engagement initiatives.”

The work of Yasir Sufi, Rovers' Integration and Development Manager, has been widely praised.

And on the award, he said: “We’re a winning team at Blackburn Rovers, from our award-winning Community Trust right through to the club.

“One of the things that stands out at our club is that everyone, right the way from the top, wants to make a difference for the communities that we serve.

“The Ewood Express has brought over 2,500 kids from all communities to football matches and their reactions say it all.

“Those kids, when they’re walking into the stadium for the first time, seeing the smiles and joy on their faces makes it all worthwhile.”

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