As Black History Month comes towards its close for 2024, the latest episode of Football & Me featured former England internationals Anita Asante, Ryan Bertrand and Mary Phillip.
Hosted from Wembley Stadium by Sirayah Shiraz and Kyle Walker, the trio discussed their upbringing and formative years of playing football as youngsters before the conversation moved on to role models and how to keep progress going.
One topic for both Asante and Phillip was the importance of role models, something which young Black girls now have in the game in comparison to their own early years.
"There was no-one to look up to in football specifically, because you couldn't just flip a channel on and watch a [women's] cup final," said Asante.
"It was only when I physically met a female footballer, and that was Rachel Yankey, the first time she coached me in a small session locally.
"I was like, wow, women's football exists - there's a whole England team, there's a whole Arsenal team. It was so alien to my world, that I was like 'oh, I've actually got someone that I can sort of model myself on.
"I'd always looked to other avenues and that was in tennis, like the Williams sisters, or athletics for those kind of role models.
"It's great that's starting to shift now.
"To have people from my dual Ghanaian heritage come up to me and say they have their mothers and grandmothers [as role models] but watching Arsenal and women's games now, that for me is what we wanted to see to create that change and shift in societal perspectives about what women and girls can do."
Phillip, who was the first Black woman to captain England and enjoyed a career with the likes of Fulham and Arsenal, is currently a coach with Peckham Town.
And she added: "I was involved in every sport around and would just give it a go, but we didn't have those role models and I think seeing is believing.
"I'd think I can do this, and it's just something you wanted within yourself.
"You don't realise when you're actually in the game and doing your thing that people are looking at you and thinking 'oh, well, I'd like to be like that.'
"And for someone to come up and say that to you, that's heart warming and you've actually affected one person's life on a positive which is amazing."
For Bertrand, who represented the Three Lions through the age groups and into the senior set up, he spoke of his belief in improving life through the generations.
"I think as a Black culture, aside from sports, we can't get too dismayed about our own lives against somebody else's success and think I need to be something or nothing," said the former Chelsea, Southampton and Leicester City player.
"As a culture, and I was very fortunate to have parents and grandparents that did this, it's all about a generation game.
"If we're going to go from strength to strength, it's about raising the next generation to have a life that's ten per cent better than yours.
"And that's success regardless of money, fame, wealth, anything.
"As a Black culture, we just keep building slowly and investing in our youth. And if you manage to raise your kids to have a better life, that's success."
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 is covering a wider range of EDI topics, with LGBTQ+ to feature in the coming episodes.
