HER GAME TOO APPOINTS FIRST NON-EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR

“Everybody who goes to football should enjoy it and nothing should stop you from going.”

Delivering meaningful change for football fans is something Sash Patel has dedicated many hours of his time to over the years.

Now he is bringing his knowledge and experience gained from involvement in fan boards and supporters’ groups to Her Game Too, as the campaign’s first non-executive director.

An avid Tottenham Hotspur fan and dad of two daughters, Sash has witnessed first hand the challenges and difficulties females can face in football stadiums and on social media.

He started attending Tottenham games with his dad in the late-1980s and, in his early days of following the north London side, the likes of Gary Linekar and Paul Gascoigne were entertaining the crowds, before David Ginola, Darren Anderton and Teddy Sheringham came along.

“I fell in love with football and, at that point, Tottenham had the likes of Lineker and Gazza, and it was a really exciting period for Spurs.”

His younger brother joined Sash and his dad as a regular at White Hart Lane, but fan behaviour eventually put the trio off going and they gave up their season tickets to avoid it.

“I fell out of love with it for a little bit because of the experiences on matchdays. 

“As you grow older, you start to see and hear things more and you get an understanding of the environment that you're in.

“That put us off and we stopped going for a while until it came to a point, eight or nine years ago, when I thought ‘I want to go back, nobody should stop me from enjoying something that I really love and enjoy doing’.

“Me and my brother made the decision to go back, we got our season tickets back again and we’ve been going ever since.”

Sash’s six-year-old daughter has been attending games with him since she was two and his younger daughter will start going once she turns two.

“Everybody who goes to football should enjoy it and nothing should stop you from going - that’s what drove me into getting more involved in EDI (equity, diversity and inclusion).”

Sash attends football matches with a group of mixed genders, ages and ethnicities, and he has witnessed sexism and misogyny in stadiums first hand, including comments towards women like “what do you know about football?” with the attitude of “you’re taking up a seat for a real fan”.

“These women have been going to football since they were six years old and, for me, it's disheartening to see that some people feel football is just for men of a certain age, who act in a certain way.

“It's not just in the stadiums, it's online as well, where people are targeting football fans and behaving abhorrently because they think that it's acceptable, or that they can get away with it.”

He became a Football Supporters’ Association board director, National Council member and is an active member of the Fans For Diversity guidance group - a network aiming to make football as inclusive as possible.

He also co-founded and co-chairs Spurs REACH, which is  the official Tottenham Hotspur Race, Ethnicity and Cultural Heritage supporters’ association, and is a Fan Advisory Board Member at Tottenham.

“When we put together our vision for what Spurs REACH wanted to achieve, it was really clear that the fans didn't really have a voice that was represented by the different ethnic communities in the fanbase.

“So we wanted to create something to be that voice and ensure that the experience that people from those communities have is the best one, so they keep coming to games.”

Sash’s passion for inclusivity in the game mirrors Her Game Too’s mission to make football a game for all.

He attended the campaign’s third birthday party in London last year, when Her Game Too’s volunteers, partners and supporters came together for a celebration and networking event, and the occasion gave him a real insight into the “purpose” that drives the team.

“What Her Game Too has achieved in its first three years is brilliant, I’ve been following the campaign really closely and have got to know some of the Her Game Too Ambassadors.

“Values are really important to me and I think our values do align, so, for me, it’s not just the fact that I have daughters, becoming involved in Her Game Too is just the right thing to do.

“I saw something David Beckham put on his social media recently about making sure we have a level playing field - with the right tools and engagement for women - and that's really important to me.

“I believe true allyship means more than just support — it requires action. 

“Challenging sexism and misogyny isn’t just women’s work; it’s a responsibility we all share.”

Sash is keen to use his experience and knowledge to help define the direction of Her Game Too’s strategy, and how those ambitions will be delivered in practice over the next two to three years.

“For me, it’s about making sure that we see significant change and that we deliver that change.

“The first three years, for me, are always around building a brand and stabilising relationships.

“Now Her Game Too is coming up to its fourth anniversary in May, the focus has now got to be on delivering meaningful change, what that looks like and holding people accountable.”

With 76 of the Premier League and English Football League clubs now partnered with Her Game Too, Sash is keen to delve into how those partnerships can deliver positive change.

This will include looking at key areas such as - what are partner clubs doing to support female fans? How are they delivering what’s in their partnership agreement? How can Her Game Too’s progress be measured?

“Having 76 of the 92 partnered already is brilliant, now it’s a case of seeing what those partnerships look like, what they are delivering, and not being afraid to challenge the clubs and pull out from partnerships if you don’t feel their actions align with the campaign anymore.”  

Sash feels it is important Her Game Too reflects the community of female football fans it represents, through having a range of ages and ethnicities visibly involved and also engaging the trust and insight of those who might think Her Game Too “isn’t for them” for whatever reason.

He wants women today, and his daughters’ generation in the future, to be able to access football without concerns about whether the environment will be safe and welcoming.

There are still some games he doesn’t feel comfortable taking his six-year-old to, due to the “aggression that’s shown and me not being comfortable she’s going to be protected or safe in that environment”.

“That's disheartening for me, because I want her to experience all of the games.

“As she grows older, I don’t want her, or any girl, to have to worry about the journey to the game or the journey back from the game.

“I want them to feel safe that, if they go up by themselves, they are not going to have issues both from a physical and verbal point of view, with comments or wolf whistles or things like that.

“I want them to go to games and be their true selves in terms of what they wear and be comfortable in their own skin.”

Sash now sees more women attending games than he did in the ‘80s and ‘90s, with a wider age range present.

“There are groups of women at Spurs who always meet up and come together, and there are men who join up with those groups as well - so it’s a group of fans going to a game, rather than a group of female-only fans, because it doesn’t need to be narrowed into a box like that, it’s a collective.

Caz May, Founder and CEO of Her Game Too, said: “We are delighted to welcome Sash to the team.

“After co-founding Spurs REACH and representing Fans For Diversity, Sash brings a wealth of much-needed experience to Her Game Too.

“We look forward to working with him to further progress as an organisation and ensure we are meeting the targets set out in our strategy.”