More than 40 pubs in England have signed up to This Fan Girl’s World Cup pub charter, committing to supporting female fans in watching matches as the nights draw in.
Amy Drucquer, who co-founded the not-for-profit digital platform in 2016, has long had to tackle winter nights as a manager of a grassroots club. When the Qatar World Cup was rescheduled from the summer, she had concerns about the impact on female fans of watching evening games in pubs.
“One of the biggest things that I’ve had to deal with as a manager of a grassroots club is the change in season,” Drucquer said. “When the lights go off we have so many issues with where we play and train. When it gets dark it’s a very, very different situation. We’ve had abuse when we’ve been playing in the dark.
“We know, as women, that we have to think about our journey to the courts quite differently. We know that we must avoid taking certain routes to protect our safety. When I was working out where we were going to play throughout the winter this year, I realised that there is going to be an issue for anyone who wants to watch the World Cup as well, because so many of the games are going to be played when it gets dark.”
According to research carried out in the UK by the End Violence Against Women campaign, one in two women feel unsafe walking alone after dark in a quiet street near their home, compared with one in seven men; one in two women feel unsafe walking alone after dark in a busy public place, compared with one in five men; and two out of three women aged 16 to 34 had experienced a form of harassment in the previous 12 months – with 44% of women aged 16 to 34 having experienced catcalls, whistles, unwanted sexual comments or jokes, and 29% having felt they were being followed.
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This Fan Girl, which aims to create a space for women and non-binary people to connect with football and organises meet-ups for them to watch football together safely, has launched a charter for pubs to sign up to.
Included in the charter are commitments to demonstrate they are welcome to all fans on their websites and social media channels; to provide the option to book tables before games and to consider table service, or the sale of beer buckets, to limit bar trips; to clearly display a code of conduct and ensure it is understood by all staff; to ensure complaints are taken seriously and to use de-escalation methods (switching on lights, playing music, serving water) at full time to prevent aggressive behaviour. Pubs that sign up are listed on the This Fan Girl pub finder.
“Everyone that’s been working in football for the last year or so has been conflicted about this tournament for a lot of reasons,” said Drucquer. “But a lot still are getting excited about it. So as much as in a perfect world it wouldn’t be where it is, the reality is it is still going to get shown and it’s going to be enjoyed by people around the world and we want to provide support for those that are going to be watching it.”
This Fan Girl has also teamed up with the safety app Help Me Angela to provide free support for women travelling to and from pubs to watch the World Cup.
“Pubs can only go so far; they can’t necessarily help you on the walk there or back,” said Drucquer. “We’ll be posting a code that will provide free access to some unreal features like location or getting connected with a ‘guardian angel’, people that walk you home or talk to you on the trip.”
