I’ll be honest, I’m sitting here absolutely gutted at having to write this piece, but I think it’s important for fans to know why we have cancelled the SheGulls Summit for this year.

There are multiple factors that go into organising a fan meet-up, probably more than people think.

First up we have the date. Due to Pride taking place in Brighton on the 2nd/3rd August we felt that weekend was unsuitable due to how busy the city centre becomes. On the 9th August Brighton play a friendly at home, and on the 16th August the Premier League begins proper with a home game against Fulham. Not only does this potentially split our audience, but it also affect things like the venue – as we wouldn’t want our civilized women’s game chatter to be affected by rowdy folks in the bar watching the Premiership. We therefore opted for the end of July, when no other game was scheduled, international, league or otherwise so that people – in theory – would be available.

Next up we have the venue. The Caxton Arms and landlord Brett have been extremely generous in allowing us sole use of their downstairs room without charge. It is spacious, has a stage, ample seating, a PA system, multiple microphones, lighting rig and a large TV. I have heard one or two people talk about accessibility, which is absolutely 100% valid as it is down a set of stairs – but equally the other options are having it in with the general public in a pub, having a room with zero facilities, or having everything, but at a cost SheGulls can’t front in advance or bear if it falls through.

So even if you’ve got a date and a venue – now you need guests, people that the general public will want to hear talk. I’m not here to name names, but I’m going to tell the truth. I asked the club for someone to represent them – anyone (a player preferably) but we’ll take whomever is provided – on April 28th. Sitting here as I write this on July 7th, three weeks from the event, I still haven’t been offered one. I made several attempts to make contact with former players outside of the organisation, but I didn’t receive responses from any of them. They don’t have to talk to me, I’m a stranger to them, but you will be able to appreciate it isn’t through lack of trying. I did ask friend of SheGulls and absolute legend of the club Julie Hemsley to talk to us – which she kindly agreed to do, but whilst Julie should be heralded as a pioneer, we are still working towards getting the women who played for the club pre-2022 recognised by the more casual or newer women’s team supporters.

We substantially cut the price of a ticket, because we knew that we were asking people to have faith in us and that if we sold a decent amount, the calibre or ‘name value’ of the guest wouldn’t matter so much because we’d all have a good time. Unfortunately this made little odds either way.

The fact of the matter is – there is a reason why this club didn’t have a supporter’s organisation before – it’s incredibly difficult, you’re going to get told no a lot, and you need the patience of a saint. Events like this one becoming a yearly thing would have been an awesome building block to continue the fantastic work so many fans have put in this year, but alas it wasn’t to be. I’m not going to say we won’t be holding an event again, because I’d love to solve the riddle of making them successful, but hand on heart I have no idea if or when the next one will be.

It’s nobody’s fault, this entire world of women’s football fandom as it relates to BHAFC is brand new and not everything is going to work – we readily acknowledge that. I think it’s just time to go back to the drawing board when it comes to our approach towards events and if they don’t happen going forward, it’s not for want of trying.

If there’s one thing I’d appreciate you all bearing in mind it’s that the most disappointing thing about cancelling is that the Brighton and Hove Albion Foundation would have stood to benefit from the proceeds of this event. We still wish to work closely with them this season, so if you feel inclined please still support them as much as possible, and when we fundraise for them in the future please consider donating to them through us.

Any queries or questions do get in touch, otherwise we’ll be back soon,

Duncan x