1:41 Highlights of Charlton's 1-0 home win over Brentford in the Sky Bet Championship on Saturday
It was an evening game and we went together straight after work. Walking into the stadium, floodlights on, seeing the players warm up re-ignited that thrill of watching live football.
Though my support of Liverpool FC never wavered, my trips to Anfield had become fewer and further between, and my time at university was spent watching professional games with an analytical eye rather than for pleasure.
Charlton’s community feel
I spent more and more time at The Valley, living the lows of relegation and highs of promotion, and falling in love with a new club. Being a far smaller club than Liverpool but still having a rich history, there was much more of a community feel to Charlton, and I looked forward to weekends catching up at home games with fellow fans we sat near, fans who became my football family.
Football has a unique way of being able to reflect the attitudes in society; my experience is a game visibly dominated by middle-aged white men, more so in the lower leagues, with a distinct lack of diversity within the supporters I saw attending matches with lesser-known teams.
I couldn’t help but wonder why. There are times when I have felt acutely aware of my otherness in the football sphere, which additionally includes being a member of the LGBT community.
About four years ago, I came across a group called Proud Valiants on social media, a Charlton-affiliated LGBT group that worked to tackle homophobia in football. I cannot hide my skin colour, but I have the option to hide my sexuality, which I did for a long time, and so it did not take long for me to become involved in Proud Valiants, eventually becoming Women’s Officer.
Charlton has been a club committed to its community, being, for example, at the forefront of the fight against racism in the game.
When a club is willing to share with, and provide resources for, a whole host of other branches of the club, such as the women’s team, Charlton Invicta (LGBT-inclusive football team), Upbeats (young people with Down Syndrome), and more, it is hard not to want to be part of their cause.
‘Fighting for football without fear’
When you keep aspects of yourself hidden, the impact becomes normalised until you are able to liberate yourself from it, and only then is the true burden relieved – that moment when you can truly be yourself.
I remember trying to dissuade my now-wife from coming to watch football with me because being that visible felt frightening, not so much with my football family, but other fans in the stadium.
I felt sad that I couldn’t share the joy I got from football with the person I most cared about, and I can understand why some people would stay away from watching live football, no matter how much they love it.
Football has grown into a global phenomenon with such a wide audience; and it has the potential to affect real change as a game inclusive for all, regardless of gender, ethnicity, sexuality, beliefs, or disability – that is the future of the game I am fighting for.
Football has the power to lift us above our differences and unite us. Someone once said to me, in that moment when your team scores a winning goal, you will celebrate shoulder-to-shoulder with the person next to you, regardless of how different your backgrounds are. This has stuck with me because it is true.
Despite the current unstable outlook for many in the world, in recent times I have felt so much more positive about the way football is moving forward – the interest generated by the recent Women’s World Cup, the Charlton’s women’s team being managed by a member of the BAME community, female referees being in charge of prominent men’s matches, and so much more.
We live in a diverse, culturally rich society and we should all be allowed to enjoy the beautiful game without fear of discrimination. I want football to be a place where my story is the norm and not the exception.
The latest installment of our ‘Tackling Racism’ series on Sky Sports News can be seen on Monday September 2, hosted by Dharmesh Sheth and focusing on British Asians in football.
Sourse: skysports.com
