Just Eat partnered with the non-profit organisation, Football V Homophobia, to launch the campaign
BY DIVA STAFF, IMAGE BY JUST EAT
Football V Homophobia is an international initiative that works to challenge discrimination against LGBTQIA communities in all levels of football. Recently, for Pride month, Just Eat partnered with the organisation to launch a new campaign called Allies United, which will support grassroots football clubs in showing allyship and making their fields inclusive for queer communities.
This campaign was launched after research commissioned by Just Eat revealed that 78% of people in the LGBTQIA community would not consider playing grassroots football. Despite the fact that 9 in 10 football clubs are vocal about welcoming all individuals regardless of gender identity and sexuality, 18% of queer people were concerned about being faced with homophobic and transphobic language, 15% worried that they would not feel truly welcomed, and 14% thought that there was not enough conversation about LGBTQIA allyship.
Although it is clear that grassroots football clubs do want to be welcoming, there is currently a lack of understanding about what allyship looks like in action. In fact, almost half of grassroots football leaders and players said they were unsure about what being a good ally involves. Allies United is addressing this issue by offering training sessions to football clubs, in the hopes of helping them to take the first step in learning what it means to be an ally to the LGBTQIA community.
Allies United is backed by Conor Coady, the England defender and LGBTQIA ally.
These training sessions are being designed by Football V Homophobia and are funded by Just Eat. Their goal is to create hundreds of “ally clubs” by the end of the year, so that LGBTQIA people can feel more comfortable entering these spaces.
The courses are free, and require teams to attend online workshops, complete self-assessments, and demonstrate actions that show a genuine commitment to allyship.
The campaign director for Football V Homophobia, Lou Englefield said, “For so many LGBTQIA+ footballers, poor experiences at the very start of their football journey affect them negatively for life. While tremendous strides have been made in tackling homophobia in football, if even one player feels unwelcome at grassroots level, there is still work to be done. That’s why we’re excited to be creating this programme with Just Eat and making a tangible difference at grassroots level. The creation of Allies United is a powerful message to LGBTQIA+ players that they are always welcome in the game.”
Visit footballvhomophobia.com/AlliesUnited for further details.
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