“You’re a girl, you don’t know anything about football.”
Words like that are heard too often by women and girls going to football games across England, with sexism still prevalent in the sport according to a women’s rights ambassador.
Her Game Too is a campaign aimed at making women and girls feel safe at sporting events, including football, and will be marked by a dedicated fixture as Lincoln City host Bristol Rovers on Saturday, March 15.
This comes as over four in ten women experience sexist behaviour at matches, according to national Kick It Out data.
Dominique Thorley, 43, is the club ambassador for Lincoln City FC, and said: “My main role is that if anyone ever comes across anything within the game where they are made to feel uncomfortable, or they don’t feel good coming to a game, they can report anything to me, and I can be the go between with the club.
“You here things like ‘You’re a girl, you don’t know anything about football’. I had one the other day where someone was saying some not pleasant words towards a woman, so that’s the main issue. Football is very male orientated, if you’re a girl on your own at the football you can feel that.”
Of the 92 professional clubs in England and Wales, 77 are partnered with the campaign established in 2021.
Dominique, a life-long Lincoln fan, said her eyes have been opened by what she has heard from other club ambassadors, saying problems occur more frequently at the highest levels – the Premier League and Championship.
Female fans of the Imps, currently in League One, have had just one complaint since Dominique took on the role last year. However, Kick It Out data suggests 85% of women and non-binary people who experience abuse would not report it.
“There is still that perception that boys are better than girls. And, this is all about equality, girls being able to watch football if they want to, girls being able to go to away matches if they want to, girls playing football if they want to,” she said.
The campaign will be recognised in Lincoln’s next home game.
Dominique said: “This is to get our name out there, to say we are here, say who we are, and get our faces out there to say look, this is what we do. If you feel like you can’t talk to the club, come to us and we can do that work for you.”
She has also branched out to local grassroots teams, something that 65-year-old advocate Jayne Topliss thinks is a big coup.
The Imps season-ticket holder said: “Going through it with my son, when he was young, and now my grandsons, you see a lot of discrimination, and it’s not so much the players but the parents. It can be awful.
“I don’t think we’ll ever get rid of it 100% because people just won’t change, but if you are getting there with sort of 80 or 90% then that’s a good thing.”
Dominique has connected with the Kick It Out campaign and recruited ambassadors within the Lincoln City Women’s team. Her work is not done, though, as she now looks to add a men’s team ambassador in the summer.
A Lady Imps Supporters Association (LISA) spokesperson said: “Fixtures like this are so important to empower women and girls who support Lincoln City. We hope initiatives like this will inspire more women and girls to get involved with the club.”
Back with Dominique, she added: “Her Game Too is about making women feel like they can go to football, that they can go and enjoy watching a men’s game.”
