#HERGAMETOO

#HerGameToo

By Jodie Boast, HerGameToo ambassador for Accrington Stanley Football Club

HerGameToo is a campaign aiming to eradicate sexism in football and encourage females to come to football games and share their opinion on football without fear of sexist abuse. Football is a game for all and we want everyone to feel comfortable coming to a football game, striving for a positive change. At Accrington Stanley, we are one big family and we are known for being so welcoming, we want to continue that and want everyone to feel comfortable coming to support Stanley. 

I am sure most of you have seen me walking around the ground on match days, recently with a huge frame! I have been a Stanley fan for around 5 years. Following a break-up I decided to start coming to the football with my Grandpa and Nana and instantly fell in love with the atmosphere, the club, the sport and never looked back.

Since then, I’ve had a season ticket, I’ve encouraged my friends and family to attend, I got an ASFC tattoo and ASFC became my biggest hobby. The club are incredible; every single person does their bit to make you feel so welcome and one big family. Following the passing of my Nana, life-long Stanley supporter, the club did everything they could to help not only my Grandpa, also a life-ling Stanley supporter, but support our whole family. 

Unfortunately, none of my friends follow football, which is sadly quite common in a group of female friends. Many of my friends thought it was strange that I was getting a season ticket for football but I think now, with HerGameToo and the rise of women’s football, we are breaking the stigma.

I was approached by the Accrington Stanley Official Supporters’ Trust to ask whether I would be interested in getting involved with them and be on the Supporters’ Trust Board, I of course said yes. We then soon established that my role on the board would be to drive the HerGameToo campaign for the club. I have really enjoyed being a part of such a fantastic campaign and interacting with fans. 

We have already achieved so much throughout the campaign such as announcing our two player advocates from both the male and female teams, Michael Nottingham and Sanah Mehdi. We also have Rebecca Shaw who is our HerGameToo advocate for ASFC.

We have raised money through HerGameToo badge sales for local charities including Lancashire Women. We had a fantastic dedicated fixture celebrating women in football, which encouraged the free sanitary wear on all match days. We have ASFC X HGT social media accounts, which promote and engage with fans for both ASFC and ASFC Women. 

Looking forward to the future, we have a lot of plans working with the club and the campaign. We are aiming to have an Instagram account, run by advocate Rebecca Shaw, to further communicate with our fans. We are also looking to get a female fans forum/WhatsApp which will enable us to connect with female fans or anyone may attend matches alone, or wants to start coming to matches. 

Thankyou to everyone at ASFC, ASFC Women, OASST, Coleys/1968 and everyone who keeps helping me and supporting the campaign. Football for me is everything and the fact that I can enjoy it and make a difference makes me so proud.