Bristol Panthers The club with one goal: to make football more inclusive
ABRISTOL football club is leading the way in inclusion for gay men in the sport. Bristol Panthers play in the only national LGBT+ friendly league in the country. This may not sound a big deal. But when you think there is currently not one openly gay professional footballer in the whole of the Football League, it is significant.
Football is still a place where people find it hard ‘to come out.’ But only if you are a man.
The club have recently created a formal partnership with Bristol City Community Trust, in the hope of trying to change hearts and minds.
They were paraded on the pitch at Ashton Gate during Bristol City’s recent Championship match against Millwall FC, as part of the national Rainbow Laces campaign. The club and Trust hope to form a partnership to challenge some of the perceptions in the game.
They have also previously attended the Memorial Stadium for a Bristol Rovers match, as guests of the Rovers Community Trust.
The Bristol Panthers came into being in March 2009, when there was an advert for interested gay football fans to get together and watch two international friendlies at BSB Bar on Corn Street. People then thought it would be a good idea to start a team, and the following week they began training. The club started a 5-aside team which played at Goals in Filton, then got invited to a tournament in Cardiff and Birmingham, and eventually played a couple of 11-a-side friendlies against teams outside the city. It then just grew and grew.
Today the team play against other LGBT+ teams from across the country at South Bristol Sport centre.
Club chairman Rob Parry-Hall says the team provides a safe space to play football together.
He said: “LGBT+ football clubs are important to provide a safe and welcoming environment for LGBT+ people to play football. A lot of players at our club would never feel comfortable playing football at a standard Saturday/Sunday league team. We provide a place for them to get involved in sport. We also provide a community space for people to socialise in the city outside of the usual nightlife/clubbing gay scene.”
Bristol Panthers now travel all over the country, playing teams as far afield as Saltire Thistle (Glasgow), Mersey Marauders (Liverpool) and Yorkshire Terriers (Leeds).
For players like defender Jonathan Downing, it’s the first place he has really felt comfortable playing football. He said: “I didn’t really get on with football in school, and because it’s such a popular sport, it’s actually quite hard to learn the game as an adult from the basics.
“So the Panthers gave me a supportive environment to learn how to play football, and also helped me feel rooted in the Bristol LGBT+ community.”
Acceptance is the key according to vice chair and player Pete Davey. He explains why it is difficult to play in a generic league as a gay man: “Many of our team feel more com-