Midfielder Billy Mitchell is frustrated by Millwall’s negative off-pitch reputation and is desperate to showcase the best of the club after winning the EFL’s Championship Player in the Community award.
Mitchell, a lifelong Millwall fan who came through their academy, has been recognised for his work in supporting a number of projects, including working with the club’s affiliated LGBTQ+ team, Millwall Romans, and helping with food donations during the pandemic.
The south London club retain something of a tainted reputation based largely around historical hooliganism, but also some more recent high-profile incidents, such as the booing of players taking the knee when fans first returned to stadiums in December 2020.
Mitchell is hopeful, however, that his award and broader coverage of the club’s community work can gradually shift the narrative.
“I think of all the clubs Millwall have got to be right up there with the amount of work they do,” he told Standard Sport. “I wanted to try and make as big an impact as I possibly could.
“Millwall as a club does have a reputation and that’s probably unavoidable and will probably never change, despite the efforts of the club. That frustrates me because I know that there is a lot of good that goes on behind the scenes and a lot of really hard-working people who care deeply about the club and the community.
“If we can get a bit more of that out there - not for the recognition, because that’s not what it’s about - but to help people and then that perhaps will create a better reputation for Millwall, which I do think it deserves.”
Mitchell picks out his work around the club’s dedicated Rainbow Laces fixture as his most rewarding experience. The 20-year-old joined Romans player Jehmeil Lemonius and Millwall Lionesses’ Kelly Webster for a recorded conversation discussing their experiences and the challenges facing the LGBTQ+ community within the game.
💙 Football is a game for everyone.
— Millwall FC (@MillwallFC) December 4, 2021
🌈 Today's match against @BCFC is our dedicated #RainbowLaces fixture...#Millwall pic.twitter.com/DC5KhItGF8
“These topics can be - not that they should be - quite difficult to talk about,” Mitchell said. “It was really good, an important piece with two people who obviously experience these issues first-hand and to be able to have - I don’t mean this in a cocky way - but to have a first-team player join that chat and shine more light on the subject was really helpful for them.
“I’ve had people on social media since message to say it was really nice to see that being talked about, it made them feel more comfortable.”
There are currently no openly gay male players in the top four divisions of English football, but Mitchell believes that players’ support of projects like the Romans is playing a vital role in breaking down dressing room taboos.
“The lads will see on Twitter or news avenues the causes that the other boys have been involved with and they’ll ask how it was,” he added. “So, it does get talked about semi-regularly in the changing room.
“The conversational topics in the changing room in the youth team or the reserve team are very different to the first team. In the first team you’ve got grown men who begin to have families, get married, have these things come up in their lives or with their families, so they’re topics that are a bit more important to them personally. In general, we’ve got a pretty good, screwed-on dressing room.”
