Survey Reveals Over Half of Female Huddersfield Town Fans Have Experienced Some Form of Sexist Behaviour
Brady Frost, Feature Writer
Twitter: @brady0894
Half of the women surveyed have experienced some form of sexist behaviour at a Huddersfield Town Men’s match
Nearly a quarter of women feel uncomfortable when they’ve witnessed/experienced something sexist at a Huddersfield Town Men’s match
43% of female Huddersfield Town fans would feel uncomfortable challenging sexist behaviour at matches
Over half of women describe their online experience as a Huddersfield Town fan as positive
95.4% of those who attend Huddersfield Town Women's matches describe their matchday experience as welcoming, compared to 62% of those who attend men’s matches
Over half of female Huddersfield Town fans have experienced some form of sexist behaviour when watching matches of the men’s team, according to a new survey by fan podcast, And He Takes That Chance.
The Huddersfield Town Female Fans Survey, which collated the accounts of over 125 female Terrier-supporting football fans, measured the experience of women attending football games, their online experience and supporting the West Yorkshire club’s men’s and women’s sides. 50.7% who attend matches of the men’s team had witnessed or experienced some form of sexist behaviour, but 57% of those surveyed would feel comfortable challenging this behaviour themselves.
At matches watching the men’s team, 62% described the matchday experience as welcoming, with 26.6% describing their experience as positive. In contrast, 95.4% of those who attend Huddersfield Town Women’s games described their experience as welcoming.
“I was the victim of sexism and was told to just put the kettle on. I didn’t feel I could challenge it and others didn’t challenge it at the time.” - Female Huddersfield Town fan, aged 46-54.
70.3% of those surveyed said their online experience as a fan was positive or welcoming but nearly one in five had a mixed or negative experience online. Over a quarter of women had seen sexist comments online, with one in five having personally experienced some form of sexist behaviour online.
#HerGameToo ambassador and Huddersfield Town fan, Georgia Cook, said:
“First of all I’d like to say thank you for creating this survey for our female fans to fill in, it’s definitely highlighted what I need to do as the Her Game Too Ambassador to reassure new and existing female fans that they are welcome at Huddersfield Town.
“Going forwards, myself and the club want to try and make sure that ALL women can come to games and feel safe to share their opinions - both in the stands and online. This has motivated us, even more, to keep challenging any sexist behaviour and make football a safe space for all.
“If anyone has any concerns about something they have witnessed, I hope as your Huddersfield Town Ambassador you feel you can come to me to report it as there is no room for sexism at our club. In doing this we can raise this with club and you will be listened to and supported, and it will be dealt with accordingly. We all need to remember, it’s Her Game Too!”
When it came to reporting sexist incidents, 56.3% were confident that the club would be able to deal with it if it occurred while watching a men’s game, while that number rose to 68.6% if a sexist incident occurred at a women’s game. In comparison to their online experience, 57% of fans surveyed were not confident that online platforms would be able to handle a sexist incident if it happened.
When asked what should happen to people who behave in a sexist way at matches, over half of those surveyed said the offender should receive some form of punishment and 43% said offenders should be ejected from the ground, while 10% said nothing should happen.
If a sexist incident occurred online, 70.3% of those surveyed said the offender should have their account suspended, with nearly half wanting some form of punishment such as a ban being introduced.
Of those who participated in the survey, 99.2% identified their gender as female and 0.8% preferred not to say. When it comes to female fans who follow the men’s game, 85% are second ticket holders and 95.3% attend at least five games a season. Of those who said they support the women’s team, 0.8% were season ticket holders and 11.7% had attended at least one Huddersfield Town Women’s match.
The Female Fans survey also asked women about their relationship supporting Huddersfield Town, with 68.9% supporting the club because of a friend, family member or partner and 50.8% following the side because they are/were their local team.
Huddersfield Town Football Club said:
“The Club would like to thank the ‘And He Takes That Chance’ team for sharing the results of this survey, which is something we requested when we saw the survey had been launched.
“Through our ‘Terriers Together’ initiative and our work on the Premier League’s Equality, Diversity, and Inclusion Standard, eliminating all forms of discrimination and abuse from our environment are core principles of who we are and what we stand for.
“That commitment is demonstrated through our published sanctions guidelines and policy, our established reporting procedures, our education programmes, and our continued work with organisations such as Kick It Out, the EFL, Her Game Too and others, as well as the Police in events of potential discriminative behaviour.
“We urge any supporter who is subjected or has witnessed to any form of discrimination to report the incident via our reporting channels so that we can take definitive measures.
“We also encourage supporters to contact the club via supporterservices@htafc.com if they have any suggestions on how we could improve our reporting services, or for any other feedback on this subject.”
Further Info:
The Huddersfield Town Female Fans survey collated the experiences of 128 Terrier-supporting football fans. The survey ran between 24th February and 31st March 2023.
99.2% of respondents identified as women, with the remaining 0.8% preferring to not identify their gender.
Of those who follow the men’s game, 85% are season ticket holders and 95% attend at least five games a season. Of those who said they support the women’s team, 80% attend matches with friends or family.
To see the full report, please click the link here.
Notes:
And He Takes That Chance would like to offer a huge thank you to Francine Gorman, Alice Broome and Georgia Cook for their support in the creation, collation and comments on the survey.
We'd also like to thank:
Caz May, founder of #HerGameToo
David Threlfall-Sykes, Marketing & Communications Director at Huddersfield Town
Robyn Kennerdale, Head of Supporter Services at Huddersfield Town
All the survey respondents that took the time to fill in the survey and share their experiences
