Still I Rise by Carina White

“What’s the offside rule then?” I used to get asked this all the time when I’d tell people I worked in football. As an eager, young woman just trying to forge a career in the football industry, it was always an assumption I didn’t have a clue about the industry I was employed in. 

There were always many fly away comments aimed at me, normally banter about a female sitting in the player’s lounge so I must be a wife or girlfriend of a player, it couldn’t possibly be because I worked with their agent. Or when people visited our offices they expected me to be the one to make the tea for meetings & that that was my sole purpose of being there. 

In the beginning I didn’t take offence, I would laugh it off as typical football banter, something that was inevitable when working in a male dominated industry. Something that I should “get used to” and deal with, because that’s how things are. I came to realise, actually the “banter” wasn’t funny, it was at my expense and quite frankly I would need to stand up for myself or constantly be undermined in spaces where I was just as good and competent as my male counterparts.

When I first started working in the football industry, there weren’t many women working in the business side of the sport. I found it incredibly difficult being in certain spaces, not only because I was usually the only woman there, but also the only black person. 

In 2010, I found solace in a chance encounter with Samantha Johnson who at the time worked freelance at Sky Sports and Al Jazeera and Olympic athlete Jeanette Kwayke turned broadcaster, who now I’m lucky to call them two of my closest confidants. Attending industry events became more bearable knowing I would have two allies there to support me and vice versa.

Even now, with Sam being 1000s of miles away in Turkey working for TRT World and Jeanette working and juggling motherhood, we often share our frustrations of being Black women working in Sport and how there’s still a long way to go despite there being considerable change since we all first started in the industry. 

This is one of the reasons why when I was asked recently to join the board of BCOMS (The Black Collective Of Media in Sports) I jumped at the chance. 

If I can help change the landscape of those working in sports to be more representative of the society we live in, I can leave the door open for the next generation of BAME women to enter the industry without having to encounter the negative experiences I did.

Just recently I attended an event and I was the only black female in a room of over 500 people. Let that resonate. 

Don’t get me wrong, the number of women working in football has risen steadily and the amazing Women in Football organisation has pretty much been a catalyst for this. I am lucky to work in an all female office with some of the most amazing and supportive women I know and women in leadership positions at sporting organisations is also on the rise. Women in Football have helped this by delivering leadership courses to equip us with the skills and knowledge we need to excel in the industry. That’s definitely a sigh of relief.

BAME figures for women in Sport is slowly increasing and I’ve helped contribute to those statistics. But I’m not trying to be just a statistic. I want to be instrumental in encouraging and paving the way for women and young girls like me who have a passion for Sports and want to work in the industry to be able to do so without having to endure the sexist or racist banter that was once “part of the culture”.

Someone once told me “Always remain authentic and fight for what you’re passionate about.” 

So on this International Women’s Day, I’m passionate and willing to fight for women having their voices heard and having the opportunity to work and be successful in typically male dominated industries such as football. But also even more passionate about recognising that black women are so often marginalised and discriminated against on a different scale, and in order to truly #BalanceForBetter we need to ensure their battle is also recognised & fought. 

But to answer the question, yes, I do know the offside rule & I’ve probably got balls bigger than yours.