International Women's Day: The Value of Inclusive Football
We spoke with Queen's Park Strangers and Glasgow Community Football to understand how they have fostered a culture of inclusion within the community football space, and why it is so important.
To steal a wedding speech cliché… the dictionary definition of inclusive is “not excluding any of the parties or groups involved in something” but it really is more than that. It’s a sense of belonging and community, it’s acceptance, it is being able to truly express who you are and know that you are safe and supported in doing so. It is so many things that are crucial to bringing more positivity into the world. As has been repeated by hundreds, if not thousands, of people before us - football can be at the heart of that. This International Women’s Day the theme is ‘inspire inclusion’, so we’re shining the spotlight on two incredible community organisers that are doing just that in the Scottish football scene.
We spoke with one of the founding members of Queen’s Park Strangers, Shana Lord, and Julie Richard of Glasgow Community Football to understand more deeply what inclusivity in football really means, how it can be a force for change, and why they dedicate so much time and effort into making sure it exists.
Starting with a bit of background to who we are talking to, we want to note here that both of our guests are based in Glasgow but that doesn’t mean that there aren’t amazing people working to further inclusive access to football outside of Scotland’s second city. LEAP Sports have a map of LGBT+ inclusive clubs on their website, while not a conclusive list it is a good start. Alternatively get out in your community, chat to your barista/bookseller/whoever, look out for flyers around your local area, and if all of that fails go into the nearest fives facility to you and ask. Yes, it can be scary to talk to strangers, but we were all strangers to people that have changed our lives at some point. A simple ‘hello’ can lead to great things (or it could lead to a Scottish women’s football media outlet that takes over approximately half your life).
Glasgow Community Football offer a space to help people find their communities. As Julie told us, inclusivity is at the heart of their purpose and is something they value highly.
You come in, you feel welcome, you feel you're part of something bigger, you're part of the community. When we started we wanted to make sure it was inclusive in terms of age, gender, sexuality, race, religion, it was just, you know, just human beings wanting to play football, and just feeling welcome, feeling supported, you know, competing, but in a friendly, supportive manner. Although we do want the games to be challenging, we still want it to be super inclusive. We've opened it to trans men, as well as trans women, because we feel in terms of marginalised gender, a lot of players may not have a safe place to play football. And for us, it's really important for them to come in and feel safe and have somewhere to play. It's more than just football, it's a community. It's making your friends feeling supported.
I think that's what inclusivity is, it's building communities, building bridges, making sure everybody in society is kind of feeling supported. A lot of the teams that we have in a tournament, they do more than just football, they raise money for different charities, they organise different events, etc… they're making sure that voices are heard, and I think that's quite important.
Queen’s Park Strangers are one of many iconic fives teams in Glasgow, never mind Scotland (Camp Hellcats and Cathkin Blazes we love your vibe), but unlike their contemporaries they run mixed sessions alongside a women and non-binary team. As Shana tells us, that’s how they were founded.
It was completely by accident, it wasn’t really a club it was a group of pals that actually met in Frankie [Glasgow Southside café, an HYT regular visit] to have a kick about and it just grew from there… It was literally strangers I was sat here having a coffee and Jack [Queen’s Park Strangers co-founder and Frankie co-owner] was talking to another customer about playing football, and it was that way where it was like ‘well I want to play but you’re two guys, is that okay?’ There wasn’t really the space for that.
As the saying goes, ‘build it and they will come’ and with over fifty members now something special has clearly been happening in Shawlands. With the ‘machismo’ that can come with football, especially with the stereotype of grassroots men’s football being more… ‘rowdy’… there is some hesitancy over mixed spaces. But, on the topic of inclusion, that is something that Shana thinks is a positive to the Queen’s Park Strangers vibe.
We understand the barrier that that [mixed football] creates, we have had people message us and say they’d love to play but they don’t want to play with the guys and that is totally understandable but our biggest thing come along and see. I think mixed football attracts a certain type, like if someone wants to go and play fives effing and blinding and all falling out then there’s the opportunity to go and do that, but Queen’s Park Strangers isn’t about that. I think the guys learn a lot from us and we learn a lot from them. At the end of the day, they’ve had the opportunity to play from a very young age and have a much larger skillset that a lot of the women and non-binary players. So I think what’s really great is we’ve learnt from their experience but also it’s a space for them that football doesn’t need to be a rager constantly, you can just have fun with it.
Glasgow Community Football host a variety of teams, all of whom treat inclusion differently. It is important to remember that inclusion isn’t just social and that many clubs are trying to plug the gap to offer football to lots of different communities.
There's so many teams that are trying to be financially inclusive. We'd love to be there, we're not there yet, so we still have to charge teams, but we're not for profit. So, that means we're trying to keep the cost as low as possible, so that we can provide a good value for money experience. I know a lot of the team like [Glasgow] Pride, for example, that the players pay what they can. So, if they can't pay, that's fine and they fundraise on the side. So we're always mindful of that, that there's a lot of teams that are offering financially inclusive sessions.
Inclusive football is an opportunity for people to widen their own communities, whether it is mixed or women and non binary. It offers a chance for many to find friendships with new groups of people and learn more about themselves in the process. Julie told us how that has manifested itself in her own life.
That's the thing, when I joined my team I know that there's people I would never have met because we're in different circles, it's just different backgrounds. Yet you form friendships and you learn from them. I think that's what's nice is when you’re on a pitch you’re all players at the end of the day, but when you're chatting, you're meeting so many different people. I've made so many friends over the years that I would never have met otherwise, there would never have been an opportunity in my working life or my social life. But, they've brought so much to me, and educated me so much. And just, like altogether, widening my view of the world as well.
Shana concurs that inclusive football has been the driver in new friendships forming that otherwise would never have had the chance.
Absolutely, there’s people in the team that 100% without Queen’s Park Strangers would have never crossed paths. I think we’re a team of 50 plus now… we are all different and without the team we wouldn’t have met each other but actually through the team there are these beautiful friendships forming. In a community where we all live so close it is nice to be able to call on those people where you have the common interest of football but you’re not necessarily in the same work fields or have had a similar upbringings.
At the end of the day that is what it really is all about. We might think a good season for our team will improve our lives, (and it does, but we’re still going to make a deep philosophical point… we have to earn those oat mochas you know?) but it is the community that football brings that really adds value. The more inclusive we make the game, the bigger our community can be, the more diverse experiences can be shared. All of that adds to our own lives, even the little things like an appreciation for a new cuisine can change the course of our lives. Julie shared an example of how one of the teams that have competed in Glasgow Community Football tournaments have changed over the course of competing in inclusive competition.
Yeah, I mean, we've got a team that travels in and was quite traditional, and they've become much more inclusive in terms of who they welcome. It's nice to know that they're kind of creating their own community and they've got more and more players every time I see them so it's been quite good to know that it's not just happening in Glasgow. Obviously, travelling to Glasgow sometimes is not super practical. So, they're starting to take their ideas and developing it which I think is great. It's like ‘spread it all over Scotland’ so that we create many communities.
The older we all get (mind when stuff was on discs?) the harder it becomes to meet new people and to find that community. Especially in the age of remote working. Shana highlighted how big of an impact something as small as a one-hour fives game can have on that part of our lives.
The social aspect of it is really, really, important. We are all of an age where making friends gets more difficult. You end up just hanging out with people you work with, or people you’ve known for a long, long, time. But, the big thing we’ve noticed since starting Queens Park Strangers is the average age is 30-35 and the social aspect is huge. It is great for physical fitness, health, wellbeing, but the mental wellbeing is probably the most important side of it.
It is sometimes hard to make time to meet new people, or to find time to exercise, football is a chance to do both. Julie told us how it had impacted her busy schedule.
As an adult, you can be in a narrow bubble. So, if your bubble is really small and narrow in terms of who you interact with, then you don't get to know other people's struggles, or how other people are doing, or how they're living. What brings us together football. Like, I'm a mum, I'm working full time, so it was pretty much kids, work, dinner, bed... So not that you don't make friends at my age, but you sort of have your circle so, it was nice to meet more people.
Inclusive football can be such a powerful movement to bring people into the sport. But, just as important as getting new people into the game, is bringing people back. The Women’s Sports Foundation estimate that girls have 1.3 million fewer opportunities to play high school sport than boys. Starling Bank research claims that a third of girls who play football quit by the time they are teens, and 39% have never played to begin with. It is a conversation that comes round every few months, and one that inclusive football has a huge role to play in for adults that are no longer having a kick about.
When I got to high school it wasn’t even an option [to play football] so I stopped playing but I’ve always loved it, love watching it. Being English [boo] supporting Liverpool. Going for that [playing fives with strangers] has been such a life changing moment for me because at the time I wasn’t doing much sport. I don’t just play football with these people, they’re my best pals, we hang out all the time, we’ve been on holiday together. It’s turned into so much more than football and I think my mental health has just absolutely sky rocketed. Taking away from the fact I organise it all, that’s maybe more stress so we wont go into that! We’re at a point now where it is growing, we’ve got people asking to play all the time, and I just hope we can keep doing that because it would be a real loss if we didn’t have the capacity anymore. Without sounding too cliché it has been lifechanging because the last two years have just been non stop football in the best way possible.
Inclusive football is amazing, mixed and women and non-binary groups offering the opportunity for a huge portion of the population to feel safe playing, and fall in love with, football is huge. But, we wouldn’t be doing our job if we didn’t take a moment to talk about the shadow cast by sexist experiences during this celebration of joy. We have all seen the stories, the tweets, the TikToks. Inclusive teams, often women and non-binary teams, being kicked off pitches that they have booked by men’s sides. Spaces being taken away from thee communities and the good they bring to the world. Being locked out of football by outdated views.
It is important that we acknowledge this exists, especially on a day such as International Women’s Day. If we don’t acknowledge it, we can’t fight it. If we don’t fight it, the negative culture is emboldened.
We’ve definitely faced it [being kicked off by men’s teams]. I don’t want to name facilities, but, where we play fives we don’t experience it because I think they’ve created a really amazing community. But, where we play sevens on multiple occasions we’ve been literally playing and a man has come up and been like ‘we’ve got this booked’ and its like you haven’t because we’re here? This’ll be when we’re playing mixed as well, they don’t speak to any of the guys they come straight to me as a woman on the team and anything I say isn’t taken seriously to the point it’s like me running up to reception to try and figure it out. We’re always right, we always know where we are, and they always walk away with their tails between their legs. It’s frustrating.
I think visibility will make a huge difference, the more women and non-binary teams that play at these facilities and get themselves seen is really important, so it becomes the norm, but its on the facilities themselves to stand up for the teams. One time it was a lovely lady sat behind the reception and she was like ‘no you’re on there, don’t let them give you any shit’ and that’s what we need but it shouldn’t fall on that one woman that works behind the desk, it needs to be right up to the top. Encouraging and helping to facilitate more inclusive football so the typical arsey guys’ teams that play there day in day out dont feel like they can walk over everyone else. We’re quite lucky where I can hold my own but there’s some teams where they’re just starting or are beginner players, that’s intimidating. You don’t want to argue with people like that, a lot of teams would just move which isn’t fair. It needs to become more normal so people like that don’t feel they can take over women’s games.
Football is the most beautiful game, and it is only improved by everyone having the opportunity to play. We think access to inclusive, community, football is really special in that and are very grateful to those putting in the work to make it a reality.
To find out more about Queen’s Park Strangers you can find them on Instagram here. For Glasgow Community Football, here.
If you are looking for an inclusive club in Scotland, LEAP Sports’ club finder is the place to start your search. Can’t find your community? Consider starting a new team, we’d love to see more grassroots sides popping up. It might sound daunting but 10 (reliable) people, a group chat, a ball, and a fives booking is all you need!