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We are delighted to announce a new Ambassador has joined the Her Game Too family, with Becky Taylor joining as an Ambassador for Stoke City.
From the memory of her first game at the Victoria Ground, to countless happy memories following The Potters and the love and support she has received since joining Her Game Too, it’s safe to say Becky is overflowing with anticipation about what the future holds.
Back in 1989, when The Potters played at their old Victoria Ground, a then three-year-old Becky went along for her first experience of a football game, and by her own admission, fell deeply in love with Stoke City.
”My first memory of enjoying football, and what made me fall in love with Stoke was in 1989. I was 3 years old. My dad took me to the old Victoria Ground for my first ever game. We were sat at the front of the Boothen End and it was bucketing it down with rain and we got drenched the entire game, but I fell head over heels in love with Stoke City instantly.
“From that day, I went to as many games as i could with my dad and his friends. They used to stand me on the red bars with me being so tiny and it being all standing in that end. There’s video footage on an old VHS that my dad recorded the match on when Stoke were on the telly in a cup game, the camera pans across the huge old Boothen End and you see tiny me in a little coat on the bars.”
With every football club, the highs and lows are part and parcel of the beautiful game, with Stoke City going from a competitive Premier League side and also in the Europa League, to relegation and not being able to bounce back.
Becky has been through every single experience you possibly imagine being a supporter of Stoke for thirty years, from cheerleader and mascot, playing for the Ladies' side and watching her club in Europe. Becky has been through and seen it all.
“I’ve done everything you can imagine to do with Stoke. My work experience was with Stoke, I’ve been a cheerleader, a mascot, played for the ladies' team, used to spend every single 6 weeks school holidays at Clayton Wood watching the first team train (before it was all improved and fenced off).”
One of Becky’s highlights, one of many from her own omission came from meeting her favourite player, Nigerian Striker Peter Odemwingie and how she won Fan of the Year back in 2014, she recalls it for us in fantastic detail, whilst touching on a terribly tough few years for herself and family, but how she never let it get in the way of her beloved Potters.
“Winning Fan of the Year in 2014 was so, so special. Peter Odemwingie was my favourite player, and the club arranged for him to give me my award. I cheekily asked him for his match shirt afterwards for the upcoming last game of the season, and he kept his promise and ran over to me in the away end at The Hawthornes and gave me his shirt.
We’ve frequently stayed in touch ever since, that man has been so good to me, and is a friend for life. I balled like a baby that night watching my VT, because of what my family and I had gone through in those couple of years, and the huge sacrifices I made health-wise to still be able to watch my team. I was so, so poorly. I had over 50 surgical procedures in about a 5 or 6 year period and arranged many of them around the season so I didn’t miss too many games.”
Becky then touched on why she wanted to become an Ambassador for Her Game Too, and how she aims to improve representation and the experience beyond just female fans.
“The reason that I wanted to become an Ambassador for Her Game Too is because I’ve experienced a fairly long time as a female football fan.
“All the way from very young, to now being almost 40, and experiencing everything that comes along with that. I’ve also experienced life as a non-disabled female football fan up until my mid 20’s, and I’m now experiencing it as a disabled football fan, so I’d love to be a proud voice and advocate for both. I also love my football club more than I can put into words, they have been incredible to me throughout my time as a Stoke fan, but especially with everything that happened to me, so for me to represent and be the voice for my club and all of our female fan, it makes me very proud.”
Becky then informed us about how the appointment of Simon King, as new Chief Operating Officer at Stoke City back in 2022 has helped the club connect with its fanbase, and how she hopes he will help her idea processes with the club.
“I’m still very much in the infancy of the role and the expectations of me from Her Game Too and Stoke, and how my role will look in regard to the club. What I can say is that I will give my Ambassador role my all as much as I can for both Her Game Too and Stoke City, and I’ll do it with pride.
“Stoke brought in Simon King at the club as Chief Operating Officer in 2022 and he has had a hugely positive influence off-field, especially with everything that he’s done with the fan base at the forefront of his priorities. Just one example is that there have been so many different Fan Assembly Events that have been put on this year by Simon and the amazing staff at the club such as Naomi Parton and Anthony Emmerson (the most recent event was for our female fans last week) As a fan base, I don’t think we’ve ever felt so included and appreciated like we have the past couple of seasons. I’m really looking forward to batting ideas back and forth with these 3 people in particular, and I know they’ll give myself and Her Game Too their full support going forward.”
Speaking to Her Game Too on the announcement, Stoke City’s Equality, Diversity and Inclusion Manager, Naomi Parton had this to say.
“It’s amazing that we have Becky in the role of our Her Game Too Ambassador.
She is an incredibly passionate and confident woman, who I know will represent Stoke City and Her Game Too brilliantly.
Becky has been an active member of our fanbase for many years and truly loves the club. She is Red and White through and through and we’re all looking forward to working with Becky in the next steps of enhancing the experience for our female fanbase."
Finally, the welcoming and warming nature of the Her Game Too community has struck a chord with Becky, who details how it has made her feel, and how she would like the campaign to keep growing.
“From what I have seen from Her Game Too, it is going from strength to strength.
“In five years I just hope that it keeps rapidly growing the way that it is and lots more Ambassadors and clubs are a part of the journey. I genuinely I have been blown away by how supportive and welcoming the Her Game Too family have been towards me. I can’t wait to get started!”