Creating a Female-Friendly Football Club
Sunday 18 June
Online
Zoom links to follow once registered
Building a fairer future for football
Opening remarks (12pm)
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Natalie Atkinson
CEO FC United
Fair Game Adivsory Council
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Sanja Bilic
Fair Game
Equality Standards Lead
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Niall Couper
Fair Game
CEO
Keynote speaker: Caz May (12.15-1pm)
Caz is the founder of Her Game Too. Her Game Too were one of the first partners of Fair Game. It is an award-winning campaign dedicated to tackling sexism in sport. As a passionate advocate for gender equality, she launched this initiative to bring attention to the persistent issue of sexism in football and create a more inclusive and welcoming environment for all, regardless of gender.
Workshops
We will be putting four different areas under the spotlight: Women in football roles, women as fans, club values and allyship.
The aim of each workshop is to explore the extent of the issues and to start the process of defining what needs to change to make that area truly inclusive and female-friendly.
Log in to one or all four, the choice is yours.
Workshop One: Women in Football Roles (1-2pm)
What is the experience of women employed by football clubs, or working at a football ground? We want to hear from you. Are you a member of staff at a club, a volunteer, or a steward? Do you report on matches, or part of an outsourced team? How could your experience be improved? What do clubs need to do?
Host: Aimeé Howells
Aimeé has a career spanning two decades of experience on the Global business stage whilst working for network agencies, rights holders, start-up and scale-up organisations. Aimeé’s passion for fan engagement led her to working most notably at Manchester United in global sponsorship. Aimeé is now applying her knowledge of both the business and fan engagement landscapes, to help business of underserved and underrepresented ownership in the world of sport and cultural relevance, to own their success by getting the framework of their business right, to unlock their full potential with her "Squad Goals" methodology.
Workshop Two: Women as fans (2-3pm)
How can the men’s professional game make the football experience more appealing for female fans? What’s missing on a matchday? Are fans’ forums a ‘safe space’? Is there a problem with online abuse? Are women singled-out more? Is sexist chanting and microagressions at matches an issue? We want to hear from you and your suggestions on what needs to be done.
Host: Sarah Greaves
Sarah Greaves is an ambassador for the Canaries Trust. She has been an Norwich City FC fan since the 1980s and has worked on sexism in football and promoting the Norwich City women's team to a wider fan base since joining the board. Sarah has appeared on Sky Sports, BBC Morning TV and local press discussing the issues of female fans, and female football, at a local and national level..
Workshop Three: Club values (3-4pm)
It is no good just talking the talk, football also needs to walk the walk. Fair Game are keen to get people’s views on whether the procurement policies and marketing policies of clubs actually reach our to female fans. Are advertisers at men’s football matches female-friendly? Is their merchandise in club shops that serves a female audience?
Is there provision for women’s football? Do clubs promote it?
Host: Sarah Galligan
Sarah Galligan works with sporting organisations to celebrate and increase diversity through their operations and communications and is a member of British Cycling’s external D&I advisory panel. She has worked in football, golf and cycling and having played football as a youth, she was proud to be Manchester’s Heritage lead on the WEUROS 2021.
Workshop Four: Allyship (4-5pm)
What do men in men’s professional football clubs and in stadia need to do to make football female-friendly? Is being an ally a ‘safe space’? Do allies face abuse? How should clubs help? What needs to happen?
Host: Doug Harper
Doug Harper is the chair of Leyton Orient Fans Trust and has been leading a campaign at Orient to tackle sexism. He is also the co-founder of @TheMensVMU, a free, online support resource uniting men affected by breast cancer. This monthly Virtual Meet-Up (VMU) is run by and for men who have/have had breast cancer.
Keynote Speaker: Lucy Powell MP (5pm)
Lucy is the Shadow Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, a post she has held for two years. She has previously help posts as Shadow Secretary State for Education, Shadow Business Minister, and Shadow Secretary of State of Housing. She has been Member of Parliament for Manchester Central since 2012, and is a Manchester City fan.
Closing Remarks (5.30pm)
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Natalie Atkinson
CEO FC United
Fair Game Adivsory Council