Football isn’t for everyone. The annual spending and cost of it seems to get higher every year and the sport doesn’t do itself any favors with recent cases of racism, Nazi salutes and managers punching their opponent in the tunnel. But when there are events like this, gathering people from various industries within the game to connect and discuss their own paths, it makes you remember why you love it in the first place.
That was the message throughout, as co-host Anne-Marie Batson said in a closing speech, mentioning how seeing so many people inside the Emirates Stadium who love the game after the issues surrounding football recently, just shows its importance. It was a privilege to be a part of.
I was on the tube towards Arsenal, and noticed three guys around me all in suits, so asked if they were also heading to the conference. From there, we began chatting about the game, our experiences and eventually Arsenal’s dismal away form, although they did beat Watford away later that day. No matter your background, job, location, football is a common tongue to all and brings people together as Raise Your Game did.
Troy Townsend, Head of Development at Kick It Out, introduced everyone and opened up the conference. Townsend was evidently proud with what Kick It Out had been able to do, bring hundreds of budding football enthusiasts to a Premier League ground alongside national professionals, it was a huge achievement for an event he said could barely fill the room years ago. Townsend is a great advocate for the industry and his care and love for it is obvious.
The morning brought networking opportunities, which dawned on me that I was actually about to discuss and interact with people thriving in their industries as I attempt to step into one myself. It was fantastic. I got The Times Chief Football Writer, Henry Winter, reading an opinion piece on Mesut Ozil, which he complimented my intro for and I still am pretty proud of that one. Discussed the importance of women’s football and the growth of the sport with Kadeem Simmonds from Morning Star and Ryan Skeggs from GiveMeSport. Whilst learning of Billie Graham’s journey to coaching women’s team Essex Colts and truly realising the evolution women’s football has had in the last decade.
Graham (@FCoachBillie) is Head Coach of West Essex Colts FC and is involved in the running of the SSE Wildcats centre, a football home for girls aged 5-11. A great initiative which she was evidently passionate about, as she told me of her enthusiasm for the Raise Your Game conference itself;
“This year, I was overwhelmed to be asked to be a mentor to young people trying to break into the industry,” said Graham
“Having a handful of mentors myself in football, I know how crucial they are to my success so I was extremely excited and somewhat nervous to be on the other side of the table.
“The Raise Your Game programme is going from strength-to-strength with around 300 delegates and 100 mentors; a hugely important event vital for a future of inclusion and diversity.
“Troy Townsend & the Kick it Out team have managed to create my favourite event in my hectic football calendar!”
Learning about her journey and how she hadn’t planned to get into women’s football in the first place, Graham was a great mentor to have to build motivation and drive to succeed.
“I had no idea how much of an impact my mentees would have on me; I’ve been in touch with every single one since,” she said.
“My advice was to help them individually become more of who they are. A mentor’s role should be to empower a person to see a possible future, and believe it can be obtained.
“Keep raising your game,” she eloquently put.
There was so much advice, good will, interest about my experiences and aims moving forward, everyone was welcoming and willing to help as much as they could in pointing you in the right direction. At times it has been difficult to persist with an industry which has such a vast pool of talent wanting to get the same jobs. Applying for jobs becomes tiresome and the amount of knock-backs can be hard to get up from sometimes, but if you want it enough you will side-step them like Eden Hazard and eventually find a way through.
I then listened to a workshop led by Louise Sutton, Hugh Woozencroft and Daryl Hammond all from the BBC. Hammond was particularly relatable to me, grafting through freelancing, even managing his money so much he’d plan his journies to make sure he was able to report on a game rather than miss out because it was too much hassle. Learning about Sands United, a charity football team for grieving fathers, was amazing and a great case of someone who loves the game to the point that it has brought people together who may have felt lost.
I believe Raise Your Game has helped motivate me to work my way into the media industry. A brilliantly run event, aiming to help inspire the next generation of coaches, journalists, physios, even agents. Darren Moore was a guest speaker, and was classy after to speak to many young coaches looking for advice and ways of developing their own methods. Moore’s knock-back was widely condemned and rightly so, but remains positive and said how he is ready to get back in the game, a fantastic role model.
Football does have its problems, it may be a game that has been overrun by the richest and the elite at times. But this conference proved as long as you love the game, football will always unite people from all walks of life. Kick It Out is a wonderful organisation which showed its commitment to helping make football a place where everyone belongs.
Sam Tonks 