Team Attitude turns out for #CALLITOUT Manchester Football Symposium this weekend
By Ross Semple
Attitude
’s Sports Editor, the Sky Sports TV presenter Mark McAdam, and the magazine’s publisher and owner, Darren Styles, are just two of the key speakers at #CALLITOUT at the National Football Museum in Manchester this coming Saturday, 24th June.
Part of the Pride in Football Symposium that covers a series of special events across the entire weekend, Friday 23rd-Sunday 25th June, #CALLITOUT speakers also include the just-out gay racing driver Danny Watts and Amal Fashanu, niece of the late footballing legend Justin Fashanu.
A programme of workshops, panels, discussions and networking will draw an audience from the 30 LGBT+ fan groups representing clubs from across the Premier League and Football League that together form the Pride in Football alliance, themed at promoting inclusion and combating homophobia in the country’s stadia.
Given that just three years ago there were only two LGBT+ fan groups (the Gay Gooners and the Proud Canaries), this is a real movement in the national game – and the broad range of panelists across the #CALLITOUT agenda includes representatives of the church, the police, the media and the football authorities, including UEFA.
A particular focus on international competition hosts’ inclusion and diversity protocols should prove especially interesting, given the awarding of the next two World Cup competitions to Russia and Qatar respectively, destinations unlikely to figure on most LGBT+ travellers’ must-do lists.
Says Attitude publisher Darren Styles: “As a West Ham season ticket holder for the past twenty years, and a fan for another twenty prior to that, I’ve seen and heard most things in a football ground. So when I’m asked, as I often am, why there no footballers who are prepared to come out, I can share what I’ve heard said. And if it would terrify me as a member of the tribe, then what hope for those who’d dare stand in front of it? That’s why these brilliant LGBT+ fan groups and Pride in Football matters – they are about ensuring football is for everyone, and about finding the courage to #CALLITOUT. We are delighted to support the Manchester Symposium this coming weekend.”
Register free for #CALLITOUT here.
