Proud Lilywhites, Tottenham’s official LGBTQI+ supporters’ group, has changed lives and the law since their inception a decade ago, but have no plans to call it a day any time soon.
Tuesday marks the organisation’s 10th anniversary and co-founder Chris Paouros acknowledged an early aim was to “put ourselves out of business” by improving equality in football and changing homophobic attitudes.
The achievements of the group include helping a member seek asylum in the UK and contributing towards the Chelsea rent boy chant being deemed a homophobic hate crime, with this past month full of activities to celebrate their milestone.
Recent men’s and women’s matches with Wolves and Aston Villa respectively were dedicated to Proud Lilywhites’ 10th anniversary with the club’s 62,850-seater stadium lit up in rainbow colours and again on February 15 when a celebration event was held at the ground, with first-teamers Ben Davies and Ellie Brazil in attendance.
“Walking down the High Road (before Wolves), I can’t even begin to tell you how I felt,” Paouros told the PA news agency.
“I come from Seven Sisters way and seeing the stadium saying celebrating 10 years of Proud Lilywhites, it almost took my breath away and I feel emotion now talking about it.
“We just made up this thing 10 years ago and thought this is a good idea!
“As a LGBTQI+ fan, you don’t always feel football is for you. And I always say that feeling when the ball is about to hit the back of the net and everyone rises in unison, you don’t get that anywhere else. For that reason I don’t want to deny that for anybody.”
Proud Lilywhites’ celebration event was attended by several key allies with Spurs’ executive director Donna-Maria Cullen, Troy Townsend of Kick It Out, Women in Football’s Jo Tongue and Olympic gold-medallist Helen Richardson-Walsh all addressing the three-figure audience, while symbolically Ledley King was also present.
Ex-Tottenham captain King has supported the group since the beginning after being in their first ever photo ahead of a Europa League clash with Dnipro on February, 27 2014.
View this post on InstagramIn the Bill Nicholson Suite, Proud Lilywhites declared their three key principles would be community, education and campaigning and with it the pathway to changing lives and the law had been set.
Later that year Proud Lilywhites put up their rainbow-coloured flag at White Hart Lane for the first time, which has been the catalyst for fans like group co-chair Lee Johnson to give football a second chance.
Paouros added: “When we first put a flag up at White Hart Lane, there was a huge hoo-ha about it.
“Now it is a permanent fixture and people are proud of it. You can say it is just a symbol to say you are inclusive, but actually that flag has brought so many people back to the game.”
The homophobic rent boy chant – aimed at Chelsea, its players and fans – had forced Johnson away from football, but the Crown Prosecution Service in 2022 recognised it as a homophobic hate crime after Proud Lilywhites alongside Chelsea Pride co-chair Tracy Brown gathered evidence through victim impact statements to ensure the law was changed.
Proud Lilywhites also work alongside Kick It Out to provide fan education, but a real source of pride revolves around helping a now-committee member to be granted asylum in the UK.
“One of our members, she is a committee member now, was seeking asylum in this country for persecution for her sexual orientation,” Paouros explained.
“And as you know if you seek asylum, you have to prove it and how on earth do you prove your sexual orientation? It is unthinkable.
“However, in 2016 or 2017, we did a stall before the north London derby where we made rainbow rock sweets, talked about Proud Lilywhites. She helped and it was photographed.
“So, that evidence of helping with the stall along with a letter we wrote supporting her case meant she was granted asylum and it is one case, but I am really proud of that.”
There are countless other examples of Proud Lilywhites’ impact with the group recently singled out for praise by Angharad ‘Haz’ James upon her departure from the women’s team, while Ashleigh Neville described them as “amazing” earlier this month.
Proud Lilywhites have twice been recognised at the Football v Homophobia awards and were the fourth LGBTQI+ football group to form in England. Now they are one of more than 50 linked to the Pride in Football network, which they helped form.
However, the groups’ work is far from over with homophobic abuse targeted at Proud Lilywhites on social media earlier this month, which means a one-time assertion no longer rings true.
“We’ve always said we want to put ourselves out of business and not be in a position where we’re doing this forever, but Donna (Cullen) said, ‘Do you really? Because look at all these people who love being part of this group’. There is something in that because it’s about how you bring people together to feel a sense of community,” Paouros conceded.
“Last year we saw an increase in homophobic chanting and abuse in professional football.
“So, we need to encourage a culture of reporting that doesn’t feel like people being grassed up.
“While we are not safe on our phones, not safe on our streets and while football can sometimes send us signals that we don’t belong, the Proud Lilywhites remains a beckon for the positive change fans can make alongside committed clubs like Spurs to ensure football really is for everyone.”
Real Madrid hit Twente for seven, five-star Wolfsburg also win big
Real Madrid had six different goalscorers as they trounced Twente 7-0 in the Women's Champions League on Wednesday, while Wolfsburg beat Galatasaray 5-0.
Signe Bruun opened the scoring three minutes into the Group B encounter at the Estadio Alfredo Di Stefano, then Maria Mendez's header gave Madrid a 2-0 half-time lead.
Madrid, who had won one and lost one of their opening two games in the tournament, got a third through Naomie Feller five minutes into the second half, then Caroline Weir made it 4-0 with a brilliant free-kick.
Mendez headed home her second of the encounter shortly after the hour mark, while Oihane Hernandez and Carla Camacho got on the scoresheet late on to complete the rout.
The victory took Madrid second in the Group B standings ahead of Chelsea's trip to Celtic.
Wolfsburg were also convincing victors in Group A, getting off the mark for this season's competition as Rebecka Blomqvist scored a hat-trick in their 5-0 thrashing of Galatasaray.
The Bundesliga side – who failed to pick up a point or score a goal in their opening two matches – had a narrow 1-0 lead at half-time through Joelle Wedemeyer, before Blomqvist took centre-stage in the second period.
She tapped home after Janina Minge struck the crossbar, then added her second goal in the 77th minute and her third six minutes into stoppage time.
Vivien Endemann powered home a fifth for Wolfsburg one minute later, as they provisionally moved within three points of Lyon and Roma ahead of their meeting.
Taylor pleased with City's physical test during Hammarby win
Manchester City head coach Gareth Taylor was pleased with how his team stood up to the physical challenge of Hammarby in their 2-0 Champions League victory on Tuesday.
City's win extended their unbeaten start to the season, having won every game in all competitions following a 2-2 draw against Arsenal on opening day.
“Difficult game for us, physical challenge, a physical team in Hammarby. I think they outnumber us a little bit in terms of size, considering when you look at our midfield. But I thought the girls handled it really well," Taylor said after the game
“I thought we dominated the game. In the early parts we were just a little bit off in our final action. We just needed to speed up a little bit in terms of being on the end of it, and we spoke about that at half-time, and we score with Laura getting into that type of position we’d been talking about.
“[The physicality was something] we were prepared for, but dealing with it is a different thing. Having Bunny [Khadija Shaw] and Alanna [Kennedy] on the pitch, two of our more physical players, is really important, particularly for set-plays.
“At 1-0 we were defending a couple of scenarios like that, Yama [Ayaka Yamashita] making a really good save at one point. Then Aoba [Fujino] got the goal that maybe allowed us to change things up a little bit more, get some people off that we’d like to manage.
“I think the girls have dealt with it really well tonight. We expected it, we thought it would be difficult, and they rose to the challenge.”
The victory leaves City top of their Champions League group with a 100% record after three matches, three points above second-placed Barcelona.
Taylor had made changes to City's starting XI, with Lauren Hemp among the trio to drop out from the weekend and she did not feature in the squad. Ahead of their weekend game against Chelsea, who are second in the WSL, Taylor explained the reasoning behind Hemp's absence.
“We’ve just got an issue with Lauren that we just need to analyse a little bit further, that’s all," he said.
“It’s something that potentially happened in the Palace game [on 3 November]. She was able to play in the Tottenham game [last Friday] but wasn’t able to tonight, so we’ll just take a little bit longer to assess and find out more.
“Hopefully [she can play against Chelsea]. There’s an opportunity there, we’ll just have to take a moment tomorrow, have a good conversation and find out where we’re at with the medical staff.”
'It's been a long time,' says McKenna after Ipswich stun Tottenham for first league win
Ipswich Town boss Kieran McKenna said it was a 'special' moment for the club after they earned their first Premier League win of the season by beating Tottenham 2-1.
Sammie Szmodics and Liam Delap scored for Ipswich before half-time at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium.
Though Tottenham reduced the deficit through Rodrigo Bentancur in the 69th minute, the Tractor Boys held on for a famous win.
It was also Ipswich's first win in the Premier League since a 1-0 victory over Middlesborough in April 2002, ending a run of 12 away games without a win (D3 L9).
"I am so proud. It's been a long time for the club, 22 years since the supporters saw a win in the Premier League. The journey to get to here has been a big one," McKenna told BBC Sport after the game.
"It feels a bit special today. We believe we’ve been improving. We had picked up five out of 10 results but were waiting for the first win to validate the work and improvements. It’s a massive moment, one to cherish."
The result was extra special for an Ipswich side, who were denied a win by Leicester City last week through a 94th-minute equaliser from Jordan Ayew, who made it 1-1 at Portman Road.
But Szmodics and Delap – the latter with his sixth Premier League goal of the season – struck in the first half to give Ipswich a two-goal cushion.
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