Four special guests were at Wembley Stadium this month for the latest episode of our Football & Me series, focusing on LGBTQ+ inclusion in football.
With the Rainbow Laces campaign in full flow between 16 November and 4 December across the game, presenters Alex Bailess and Liam Loftus were joined by Jahmal Howlett-Mundle, Liz Ward, Natalie Washington and Flo Lloyd Hughes who all shared their stories.
Jahmal is an LBGTQ+ ambassador and semi pro player, who started his career as a youngster with Crystal Palace before playing professionally in Scotland with Hearts and now with Sevenoaks Town as an openly bi-sexual man.
Liz is formerly from Stonewall and now works for the FA as a women’s talent and senior game EDI consultant coach developer, while Natalie Washington is a transgender grassroots player and campaign lead for Football vs Transphobia.
And Flo is an experienced sports journalist and broadcaster, who gave her thoughts on the football industry from a media perspective.
“When I look back on everything that’s happened over the last few years especially, I think I probably could and should have done this sooner,” revealed Howlett-Mundle.
“I’ve been fortunate enough to meet so many incredible people that do want me to be myself but also so many others to be themselves in whatever capacity that might be.
“So I can’t thank enough people for everything that they’ve done along the way for me.
“But being able to step into a changing room environment and into a club environment where everything is in place for you to just arrive and perform – that’s something I’ve been seeking and something that I didn’t necessarily have the confidence to ask for.
“I have to take accountability for the fact that I’ve waited so long, but I also have to understand that it’s my journey to speak about the real, deep intimate parts of ourselves and I’m very thankful that through playing football I’m able to be here today.”
Ward added: “When I think about the way football has changed in the last five, ten years, we now have real investment from clubs into wanting to ensure their environments are inclusive, whether that’s training their staff, their coaches and their players on what LGBT inclusion means.
“We’ve seen a real shift from it being something that football should do to being something that football has to do and so you’re getting actual business decisions being predicated on equality, diversity and inclusion.
“I always think what’s so beautiful about football is that it’s kind of ready-made for inclusion
“You might not think that because of the terrible sides of it often, but when you’re in a stadium and your team are on for a goal, with all your fans and everyone’s standing up together – it doesn’t matter where you’re from, what your background is, you’re all just buzzing for your team to score and the fact football can ignite that in people, for me just means that it’s a sport that is perfect for equality, diversity and inclusion.”
You can watch the full show below.
The Football & Me series initially highlighted positive stories from Asian participants across the game, with the aim of inspiring people within Asian communities to play a bigger part in English football on and off the pitch.
And it proved to be a very successful campaign, featuring players, coaches and match officials of Asian heritage discussing their inspirational journeys to date
Now, series three has covered a wider range of EDI topics, such as Black History Month, grassroots football and South Asian Heritage Month.
