Fair Play

“We realised that there are a million and one different reasons why people might not have access to football,” Ellie tells me. “For me it was confidence, but there are many others. You might not be able to afford to play, you might do shift work so you can’t commit to play every week, you might have children and childcare issues.” “As a team, we tried to identify all the different barriers to access and then put policies in to remove them. The team is a force for good. It’s all about positivity, empowering people and everyone deserves to have access to that. That shouldn’t be exclusive, it should be 100% inclusive.” Brockwell is currently oversubscribed. However to ensure inclusivity across the board, the club introduced a Removing Barriers To Entry commitment whereby spaces are put aside for people of colour, non-binary people, people living on universal credit and people living with a disability. Those who qualify are automatically given access to the team.

“When I found Brockwell on Instagram, they had ‘for women and non-binary people’ in their bio, and I thought ‘that’s all I need!’ Just the fact that (they were) acknowledging it was cool so it’s definitely good to have those inclusive spaces.” To celebrate five years of Brockwell United, the club worked with a local illustrator to design a new kit, influenced by the inclusive environment and friendly ethos the Brixton-based club has developed. “I love that (the kit) is unique,” Sophie says proudly. “It’s got illustrations from a Brixton-based illustrator – that’s great. The depiction of the running figures is how we want our players to feel when they play football – carefree. I like that it’s got our ethos clearly represented on the shirt.”

“When I was moodboarding for the shoot, I wanted to show that it’s all about having a really good time but that we can also be competitive. Part of what I love about the team is the amount you can be really involved if you want to be. Everyone can bring their skills from outside the team to make this into an amazing thing. This isn’t anyone’s job but we all come together and it’s very cool.” Over the past five years, Brockwell has seen a huge shift in an increase of access and acceptance of women’s grassroots. “When we first started we were finding it hard to fill the slots and find leagues at our level,” says Ellie. “We did play in leagues but were getting absolutely battered because they were for more advanced players. But in five years, [women’s grassroots] seems to have really exploded, at least definitely in London. There’s so much more access to football, which is fantastic.”

“You have no idea if she, or they, were going to be amazing – you’ve just cut off someone’s football career,” they explain. “That’s the difference between America and London. I was allowed to play football from an early age. I was encouraged to play whatever sport I wanted to and that’s how we have these players in the international team that are so good because they have played since they were kids.” Sophie echoes Lucien’s thoughts and calls for the normalisation of girls in football. “Having better opportunities for younger people to explore is so important. A lot of our players played when they were younger, they were really good and then when they reached a certain age, there weren’t any more clubs for them. So that’s it, their talent has just gone.” Brockwell United aren’t at all naive to the challenges that they, along with grassroots teams across the world, face moving forward – but they certainly won’t be letting anything get in the way of their mission: to empower women and non-binary people through the true joy of football.