Football v Homophobia

How to be an FvH Hero! Hayley Wood-Thompson on coming out at school, LGBT+ History Month, and making football fun

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Episode notes

It’s the annual Month of Action for Football v Homophobia - clubs, leagues and county FAs are stepping up to be campaign champions, while people at all levels of the game are finding ways to celebrate LGBTQ+ inclusion.

On this episode, the winner of the 2022 FvH Hero Award - Cheshunt FC Women’s Hayley Wood-Thompson - joins Sports Media LGBT+’s Jon Holmes to discuss the stand-out contribution that led to her success.

Hayley, a P.E. teacher from Hertfordshire, channelled the power within her own personal story to come out via an assembly, making a significant impact in not just the school she teaches at but more widely as well.

The video she made combined LGBT+ History Month with football and was shown to pupils as far away as New Zealand. Hayley’s conversation with Jon is full of good advice for teachers and coaches who are either LGBTQ+ themselves or strong allies, and there are plenty of football anecdotes in there too, from cheering on her beloved Watford at Wembley to scoring against Arsenal in the FA Cup!

Also in this episode, we recap the launch of the 2023 FvH Month of Action which was held at Leicester City FC. Two of the event speakers - Ramsgate player Jahmal Howlett-Mundle and Wolves’ ED&I manager Gurpri Bains - pass on some useful tips that others can draw upon to make a difference in February and beyond.

Show your support! Activate the campaign in your football space - just head to footballvhomophobia.com for info, or contact the FvH team. And join us for the 2023 FvH Awards at the National Football Museum in Manchester on February 24!

Links

Miss Thompson PE on Twitter at @HWT_PE - https://twitter.com/HWT_PE

Watch Hayley’s original video - https://www.nonchalantmagazine.com/teacher-comes-for-lgbtq-history-month/

Her acceptance speech - https://www.hertsschoolsfa.co.uk/single-post/winner-fvh-hero-hayley-wood-thompson

Her op-ed on the Lionesses’ Euros win - https://inews.co.uk/opinion/womens-football-explode-euro-2022-generation-girls-talented-1768042

What happened at the Month of Action launch event (Sports Media LGBT+) - https://sportsmedialgbt.com/courage-is-celebrated-as-football-v-homophobia-month-of-action-2023-launches

FvH Awards Night tickets - https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/football-v-homophobia-awards-night-tickets-510646215577

Thanks for listening - please subscribe, rate, review and share on socials. We're at @FvHtweets on Twitter; @football_v_homophobia on Instagram; and you can like us on Facebook too.

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