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By Faye Hackwell Her Game Too is launching a new podcast covering topics relating to the campaign and telling some of our ambassadors’ stories.
It is hosted by Clayton Fernandes, a Her Game Too supporter and lifelong Arsenal fan, whose voice can also be heard on the Planet #FPL and Arsenal Bitesize podcasts.
Clayton had a ball at his feet from the age of three and has been hooked on football since his first in-person experience of watching Arsenal play Sunderland at the age of seven.
He has followed the Gunners through the highs of watching them end their trophy drought by lifting the FA Cup at Wembley in 2014, to the lows of widespread negativity at the club before Mikael Arteta took over as manager in 2019 and changed the club’s trajectory.
Clayton says podcasting became a natural way for him to share his love of talking about Arsenal, because his posts and threads about Fantasy Football often attracted good engagement on social media, but he describes himself as a “lazy texter” and prefers to chat than type.
He said: “I don’t really like typing my thoughts out in written format, so I thought it would be cool to have a verbal platform where I could scratch that itch of being able to discuss absolutely every detail that you can’t quite cover when having a casual conversation in the pub with mates or on social media.
“Her Game Too is doing amazingly well at raising awareness around sexism in football and I really believe in the mission of what the campaign’s trying to do, so in my opinion that’s something that deserves an audio platform.
“I think discoverability is one of the biggest things that will help Her Game Too in the campaign’s mission to raise awareness, and I think doing that in a podcast format is a great way to raise awareness and have fun along the way while doing it.
“I think if we get things right and continue to reach new audiences, it can be something that can be both fun, powerful and meaningful, while raising awareness in a different format to what already exists.”
Clayton and the podcast team have an array of ideas for what content will feature on the podcast, including interviews with Her Game Too Ambassadors, Advocates and partners, discussions on topical issues in football and features with guests in different roles in the game.
“Through the interviews with Ambassadors, we’ll get a real idea on their stories, why they’re part of Her Game Too and use some of their personal experiences to raise awareness of what is going on.
“We’re very open to different ideas and want to be led by feedback, but all with the goal in mind of raising awareness along the way and producing relevant content.”
Although his experiences in football stadiums have generally been positive, Clayton has witnessed gender discrimination on social media.
“I think the work of Her Game Too is important because awareness is one thing, but actually doing something about it is another.
“It’s not okay to just do nothing about it when you see something, so raising awareness on what can be done to report things is crucial because it’s a continuous reminder that it’s not acceptable and everyone has the power to do something about it.”
Clayton hopes the podcast will help the campaign to reach new audiences and spread the message that football is a game for all.
“If we can get one new person to be aware of Her Game Too through each new episode then I consider that a success.
“There’s a huge platform to be built here to help continue what Her Game Too is doing and the podcast will elevate the campaign’s message in a different format that doesn’t exist right now.”
