Well I’ve just about recovered here writing this the week after a fabulous Saturday afternoon at our first ever SheGulls-produced Fan Meet-Up. I hope everyone in attendance will agree that it was a worthwhile endeavour , we achieved what we set out to accomplish and had fun in doing so!

We also raised a respectable sum of money and I am now pleased and proud to announce that 100% of ALL money raised will be divided between our two charitable beneficiaries!
* From proceeds of event ticket sales (£117.76) and raffle tickets (£104.67) our total donation to the Brighton & Hove Albion Foundation will be £222.43!
* From proceeds of event ticket sales our donation to Women in Sport will be £117.76!
* That is a total of £340.19 raised by SheGulls and those kind people who attended and took part in our raffle! Thank you for the support!

Here is a brief rundown of events, so people can see what they missed, or reminisce about what went down on the day. I’ll add some final thoughts and notes of appreciation at the end.

The event kicked off (pun intended) on time at 1.30pm with a short introduction from the SheGulls Podcast crew Claire, Ben, and I (Duncan). We talked briefly about our expectations for the season, some of the new signings – well mostly Fran Kirby – and how the audience was feeling as we approach our opening game. The response flirted with positivity, but hey we’d barely warmed up by then!

I was then pleased to welcome to the stage Angie Taylor-Banks and Jo Davis for our first panel ‘Origins’. Angie played for Brighton, Arsenal and England as well as a stint in Sweden, whilst Jo appeared in goal for the Albion in addition to managing Whitehawk Women. We started slightly early and had a Q&A session planned for the end, but we all sat enthralled for over an hour listening to these two fabulous ambassadors for the women’s game regale us with tales of self-sacrifice, bravery and work ethic. To hear what it was like for Angie to win a domestic treble, score the only goal in an FA Cup Final and score the first ever goal for Arsenal Women in European competition, was incredible, but it was also important to learn about her journey, from playing with fully-grown women at the age of 11, to spending months at a time abroad in her mid-to-late teens, to her courage in talking candidly about why her England career concluded much earlier than she’d wanted. Equally as important for everyone to hear was the experiences of Jo, how she approached the game as both a player and a manager, and perhaps most of all – how she felt as she walked out on the pitch as an Albion player after years of supporting the club. Quite honestly, I could have sat there and talked to them for hours.

Our next guest was Alice Botting who is the Her Game Too Ambassador for Brighton & Hove Albion Football Club. Alice delivered an excellent presentation, talking openly about her own background and demonstrating how Her Game Too spread their campaign via various forms of media to work towards their core aims of ‘tackling sexism and championing women in sport’. This led naturally on to a fantastic crowd-driven session where supporters could talk about their own personal experiences and issues present in the women’s game more generally. Of particular note was the discussion around the fact that the women’s team (and by extension it’s fans) should be treated differently to the men’s team, but in terms of logistics and administration rather than level of enthusiasm or support.

From one valuable presentation to another, as our next guest was Sadie Ashby from the Brighton & Hove Albion Foundation. She explained her role working as a football coach within the community as well as the value in providing a safe and structured environment for people to enjoy the sport. As someone who started off training with the Foundation and subsequently progressed to working for them, she was a fantastic source of knowledge and experience. Sadie also took some questions on how the Foundation and the BHAFC Women’s setup, or at least supporters of the women’s team, could work together for mutual benefit. Of particular note was the strong desire of the fans to see children provided the opportunity to fill empty seats or at the very least receive a small dedicated allocation to women’s matches – and whether that is something the Foundation can advocate for.

After a short drinks break we returned refreshed for our final panel ‘The WSL Years’ with two former Albion Captains, Dani Bowman (current Albion U19 Women’s Team Assistant Head Coach) and Victoria Williams (current PFA Player Services Executive). As with all good panels we started at the beginning discussing their earliest memories of football and their how they began their careers – before moving on to how they ended up down here on the South Coast. Given the fact they were established and well-regarded players before they joined the Albion, both were effusive with their praise for the club noting the ambition and positivity around the women’s setup – which Dani is still involved with now. They also took us back to their best seasons together and how former Brighton manager Hope Powell helped both of them develop as players. We then moved on to talk about their respective international careers, Victoria with Jamaica and Dani with England, as well as their current roles within football. We had just enough time to squeeze in a short Q&A where the fans in attendance were hungry for a tidbit of inside info, but Dani did fabulously answering with diplomacy whilst still encouraging people to be excited for what’s to come.

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So many people helped me put this event together so if I fail to mention your name below please do get in touch so that I can correct that and apologise!

As many people know this event was created with the aim of raising money for two charities – Brighton & Hove Albion Foundation and Women in Sport. I’d like to thank Sadie from the former for agreeing to talk to us, and Sakara from the latter for providing ongoing support in the development phase. Most of all I’d like to thank Isabel (Izzy) Panther from the Foundation who went above and beyond to help us. She’s a credit to the organisation and we’d love to work with her again to promote women and girls’ football down the line. I don’t have the current donation totals at this stage, but there will be a separate announcement post when we do. You can find out more about the foundation by visiting their website: https://bhafcfoundation.org.uk/

From SheGulls I’d like to thank Claire and Ben for being my sounding boards, about this event and just life in general. They also had to listen to me panicking about whether anyone would turn up – whether that be guests or attendees! Honestly, there’s a lot of work behind the scenes that I really couldn’t do without them. By extension, Joe Sayers of Albion Obsessed produces our podcast but is also an invaluable member of the team and long-time supporter of SheGulls, as is my great friend Steve Gibbs who does all our Instagram content from Munich (of all places).

To Jo Davis, guest on the first panel yes, but so so much more. If there is work to be done to improve the women’s game, our fan experience, or to lead the charge on a cause – it’s Jo. There were times I thought about cancelling the event, that I doubted myself and SheGulls, and Jo talked me round. She told me the cause was more important than the numbers and we can’t give up when things get hard – something I very much needed to hear. The fact a lot of people arrived on Saturday and their first question was – is Jo here yet – speaks for itself. We ALL thank you for everything you do.

Alice is the BHAFC Her Game Too Ambassador for both the men and women’s teams, amongst her many other endeavours, so for her to be able to carve out time to help organise this event was greatly appreciated. And it was Alice’s birthday the day beforehand so Happy Birthday from all of us! Please do check out the fantastic work of Her Game Too here: https://www.hergametoo.co.uk/

One thing I haven’t talked about so far is the venue. Brett Mendoza has been a popular and well-known figure amongst Albion fans for many years – but as the landlord of the Caxton Arms he also very graciously allowed us to use their function room downstairs entirely free of charge. This provided us with a private space, a built-in stage, lighting, audio and seating that we could arrange to suit. There are a lot of people that we couldn’t have done this event without and Brett was absolutely one of them, thank you. For your next event in Brighton do check out the Caxton Arms here: https://www.caxtonarms.co.uk/

Almost certainly our most popular guest was Angie Taylor-Banks. I contacted her on the recommendation of Kelly Simmons (thanks Kelly!) and she kindly agreed to attend. I asked Jo about her and her first words were “oh you’ll love Banksy, and what a player”. I don’t think I really appreciated how good Angie was until I researched her accomplishments, and that feeling was only magnified when hearing her speak at the event. So thank you Angie, thank you for your honesty, and thank you for sparking my interest in an era where players that were as good as you don’t get the recognition I believe they deserve.

Victoria Williams AKA Trev has been a long-time supporter of SheGulls, so hopefully she sees this! A bit of car trouble nearly put paid to her attendance, but thank you for making that extra effort to get down and see us – it means a lot that you’re behind what we’re trying to achieve.

Harry Hampton is my main go-to guy at Brighton & Hove Albion and he heads up the Supporters’ Group section for the most part. I’d like to thank him for working hard to secure us the appearance of Dani Bowman – and of course Dani herself for giving up her time to come and reminisce with her former teammate for our benefit.

All the photographs above come courtesy of Mariella Prew who gave up her own time to attend and provide a visual record of the event. Her sports photography is out of this world and I would encourage you all to check out her Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/prewcaptures/

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A couple of small things to address in closing.

It was very hot in the room so thank you for bearing with us. I did bring a few fans from home, but I’m not sure how much of a difference they made. We will of course bear this in mind for future events as much as possible. I also didn’t have a working knowledge of the lights which was my own fault, so apologies if at times we were a little dimmer than was ideal. I know that didn’t make it ideal for taking photos either – sorry Mariella!

Some people asked me about club involvement and why more wasn’t done to promote the event via official channels etc. Trust me it wasn’t for lack of trying and our relationship with the club, particularly with our ‘official’ designation is something we are trying constantly to build. We need trust and we need backing – so hopefully what we were able to achieve this time with the help of Harry and Dani is just the beginnings of an affiliation that has the power to go anywhere. Just look what teams like Arsenal and Chelsea do with their supporters’ clubs.

That being said this was a SheGulls event, planned by me, put together by our incredibly supportive network, for the fans – to raise money for charity and increase the profile of the BHA Women’s Team. I stand by that and I’m proud that it went as well as it did.

I’d love to hear feedback if anyone has any. We’d absolutely love to do more of these in the future, or use a large summer event to spin-off into smaller ‘in-season’ events, but this will be a work in progress and we have other projects in mind too.

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I’ve saved my final thank you for the fans. Particularly those who have supported SheGulls in some way during our existence. Honestly, a retweet here, a share there, even a cheeky comment is always appreciated. We are only as strong as our community and we must work together to develop our fanbase alongside the women’s game and Brighton & Hove Albion Women’s Team.

Hope to see you at a game sometime soon – Duncan x