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Women and Football Fandom

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A new report is calling on men’s professional football clubs to tackle pervasive sexism and misogyny in the sport. It also recommends that a national hotline is set up so women can report incidents safely and action is taken.

The report was written by Dr Stacey Pope from our Department of Sport and Exercise Sciences. Dr Pope is a leading figure in the area of gender, sport, and inequality. Her ongoing work examines women’s experiences as fans of men’s football. She is also examining international women’s football, as well as the increased visibility of women in sport and how men are responding to this ‘new age’. Dr Pope is author of The Feminization of Sports Fandom and co-editor of Female Football Players and Fans: Intruding into a Man’s World. 

Dr Stacey Pope
Dr Stacey Pope

Dr Pope’s report has been shared with all men’s professional football clubs in England as well as football governing bodies and key politicians.

Its publication coincided with a Women and Equalities Committee meeting on 18 January to discuss sexism and inequality in football, as part of its ongoing inquiry on this topic.

Dr Pope’s report suggests that men’s football could learn from the women’s game and the positive and inclusive fan culture around the UEFA Women’s Euro 2022 tournament.

The study follows research by the team at Durham which has shown that men’s professional football in England remains one of the last bastions of male domination and that misogynistic attitudes towards women are rife within football.

The issue is already being considered by Government through two select committees, on safety at major sporting events and on sexism and inequality, to which Dr Pope has given evidence.

Dr Pope argues that addressing sexism and misogyny in men’s football could lead to growth in the game, significantly increasing attendances and interest. She says it is not only the right thing to do, in terms of equality, diversity and inclusion, but could have financial benefits for clubs too

The report makes five key recommendations:

  • All football clubs should be required to sign up to a charter to pledge their commitment to tackling sexism and misogyny.
  • Establish a national hotline to provide a safe and effective outlet for reports to be made with data collected across all football clubs. Many women fans do not feel confident that stewards and clubs can deal with complaints appropriately.
  • If an Independent Regulator for English Football is established as part of the recommendations set out in the Fan Led Review of Football Governance (2021), sexism and misogyny need to be part of the Equality, Diversity and Inclusion Action Plans within each club. This should be regularly assessed as part of the annual licensing process.
  • Redesign stadia to create inclusive environments. This should include improvement of basic facilities and provision for young children, potentially including childcare.
  • Close working between researchers, football clubs, football governing bodies, the Government and women fans to drive forward changes and test the effectiveness of any changes implemented.

Dr Pope said:

Sexism and misogyny in the men’s game must be challenged and eradicated. Doing nothing means that men’s football will continue to operate in the dark ages, failing to cater adequately for 51 per cent of the population.

“Football has seen the introduction of campaigns to tackle issues such as racism and homophobia in the sport. Yet to date there is no mechanism to tackle sexism and misogyny in football. This needs to change.”

Dr Kevin Moore is a research associate working with Dr Pope at Durham and the former CEO of the National Football Museum. He said: “The recent success of England hosting the UEFA Euro 2022 tournament and the triumph of the Lionesses offers lessons to men’s football. It showed that football fan culture can be a positive and inclusive experience.

“The contrasting images of fans at UEFA Euro 2022 with the disturbances at the men’s Euro 2020 final at Wembley Stadium illustrates this. During and after the UEFA Euro 2020 final at Wembley, 86 people were arrested and 19 police officers were injured. At the 2022 Euro final at Wembley, no arrests were made.

Tackling sexism and misogyny in men’s football can help to make the game safer for all fans.

The changes called for by Dr Pope follow on from her recent study, funded by the Arts and Humanities Research Council, which showed that openly misogynistic attitudes towards women’s sport are still common amongst male football fans.

A related study looking at women’s experiences as football fans revealed that they are routinely asked to ‘prove’ their status as ‘real’ fans. There were numerous accounts from women describing men who thought that: “Women in football is a bit of a joke,” and hostile experiences in the stadium, with comments such as: “Shut up, you’re a woman, what would you know?”

 

 

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