One Colossal Issue
By White Ribbon Ambassador David Giles
What is it about football? It reduces grown men to tears. It draws together the people of a nation. It divides cities and is often the identify of a community.
What does it mean to you? What do you love or hate about it?
Here’s what I see: Football is about tribalism. It provides something to identify you by, something to get passionate and fired-up about. The actual game itself can be secondary, it’s that feeling of connection to something, to a wider group of people — a mob who think, act and even look like you with a patched-arm uniform.
The ceremony of pre-match is equally important — discussing which players are in contention; what happened last time “we” played that team; a pint before the game; a bounce in your step; the club colours.
A win makes for a happy weekend where tribalism is reinforced with predictions of promotion or winning the cup, and trash-talking the rival club. A loss draws out a primordial reaction, where the tribalism is reinforced with a need for more passion from the players, sacking the manager, or a more positive atmosphere in the ground.
How the mob act is complicated, they copy other fans. They sing nearly all the same songs, wear the same clothes and mock the same things — yet they believe their club is truly unique to them. The behaviour of the mob is self-governed. The mob sets the rules of discipline. It’s a culture of behaviour, activity and dress.
There are clear links between the wider social issues faced by a nation or community and the football mob. The culture of football has often been a breeding ground for appalling abuses, behaviour and attitudes. Football clubs and associations, and fans themselves, have been slow to call out racism and sexism. There have been some steps forward but there is still a long way to go.
When societal issues are tackled with real purpose and from many directions, change occurs. The behaviour of the mob changes. They re-write their own constitution, not because they’ve been told to or because laws are in place (they are self-governed). It’s because the mob have decided to change how they behave. The external conscious and sub-liminal messaging and education eventually penetrates the mob and culture change occurs.
Whilst we can celebrate some successes of culture change within the game of football and within the mob over recent years, there is one colossal issue which remains unchallenged. It is tolerated and, at times, it is endorsed. Sexism and misogyny are prolific within football, its roots penetrate into the very heart of the game and it is present at every level.
Without exception each week the football mob deliver a chant from the terraces which subjugates women. Female spectators are made to feel like second-class citizens with sexually explicit chants within stadiums and “yobbish” behaviour of the mob, which results in a reaction of tolerance or a refusal to attend games. This behaviour has the net effect of isolating women, causing division and reinforcing the rule of the mob.
Now is the time for it to end.
I see far more women at football games now. I see and am extremely proud of our very successful national women’s team. I see women officiating games and commentating on games, and yet we’re still unable to challenge wholly unacceptable sexism that is cursing the sport.
It is crucial, if we are to progress as a footballing society, to put considerable effort into ending violence towards women and girls. Through a sustained program of education, the constitution of the mob can be changed, leading to sustainable culture change where all forms of sexism and misogyny are eradicated.