A football club which embraces and supports the diversity of its community has never been more important to society, and as Wolverhampton Pride returns this summer, Wolves will be proud to play its part in the celebrations.
Throughout the past seven days, One Pack Week has highlighted some of the work that our staff, players and supporters carry out in ensuring everyone feels welcome and part of the pack, not only when they enter through the turnstile at Molineux on a Saturday afternoon but throughout our city.
Progress has been made, but we know we still need to do more for LGBTQ+ people to feel truly represented and included in the game we all love, and for Wolves fans who are also part of the LGBTQ+ community, being able to see their club supporting them as much as they support the club week in week out can have such a big impact on their lives.
Last year saw Wolves join forces with their fellow West Midlands outfits at the 25th anniversary of Birmingham Pride as the clubs took part as solo entities in their first pride march together for the first time.
In what was Birmingham Pride’s biggest ever event, crowds of an estimated 75,000 took to the city centre, staff and members from across the pack were there to represent Wolves with pride – proudly carrying the iconic One Pack rainbow banner.
Pride celebrates lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer (LGBTQ+) social and self-acceptance, achievements, legal rights, as well as liberation and pride. It is also an opportunity for anyone and everyone to come together to be a positive ally in love, friendship and unity.
As well as being part of Birmingham Pride once again this year, Wolves are also proudly participating and marching in a Pride event closer to home.
Wolverhampton Pride returns bigger and better on Saturday 10th June – from noon until 10pm – in the Old Market Square, with “a Festival for Everyone” to celebrate equality and the diversity of the City of Wolverhampton.
Taking place in the heart of the city centre, Wolverhampton Pride will feature a pride parade, followed by a main stage with live music, drag artists and DJs – including Scott Mills, The Fizz and Ru Paul’s Drag Race UK contestant Baga Chipz – along with plenty of community stalls.
Wolves will be marching in the Pride Parade and an invitation is open to supporters and allies to be part of the club’s float, please email: fanservices@wolves.co.uk
Gurpri Bains, equality, diversity and inclusion manager for Wolves, said: “We are proud to be supporting both Wolverhampton and Birmingham Pride this year.
“As we saw with our participation in Birmingham Pride last year, Pride events provide a great opportunity for people to come together and celebrate who they are.
“Football, like Pride, has always had the power to bring people together, celebrating history and legends, and Pride is no different as we march on the foundations of LGBTQ+ trailblazers remembering history and being curious in our minds as to where it all began and why.
“As a football club in one of one of the most diverse cities in the country, we have supporters from all different identities and backgrounds, as we have seen throughout One Pack Week, we celebrate the diversity and strength of our pack.”
Tickets for the main stage event for Wolverhampton Pride are now on sale, costing £3 for adults, £1.50 for concessions (12-17 year olds, over 65s, disabled and carer) and under 12s are free, and can be bought by clicking here. With all proceeds going directly to Wolverhampton LGBT+ partner charities including Wolverhampton LGBT+, X2Y and Gorgeous Radio.
As Wolverhampton prepares to host its own Pride after a few absent years due to the Covid-19 pandemic, Wolves supporters are once again getting behind the club’s backing of the event.
“I’m proud to be part of the LGBTQ community and I’m proud to be part of the Wolves community, so it was lovely to be able to bring the two together on the day,” said Helen Albanese, a lifelong Wolves supporter and member of the Wolves EAG (equality advisory group).
“What was really nice about representing Wolves at Birmingham Pride last year was that it was so inclusive. It didn’t matter what label you give yourself, or what anyone else gives you, it was just a really lovely event to be a Wolves fan and celebrate that with fellow fans and other members of the LGBT community.
“It was an absolutely fantastic day. There was obviously a bit of banter with the West Brom fans, the Birmingham City fans and the Villa fans, but it was all love. There was the harmless rivalry we have, but everyone was really welcoming and supportive of us.”
Helen hopes that having celebrations closer to Molineux will encourage other fans – regardless of whether they are part of the LGBTQ+ community or not – to get behind their cause and show that we are all One Pack.
“I think it’s really important for Wolves to be involved in these events, especially Wolverhampton Pride,” she said. “Last year we were at Birmingham Pride and people were surprised that we were there, as a big football club and as Wolves representing our city and region.
“But I think people who are from the LGBTQ+ community, are from Wolverhampton and are Wolves fans, it’s lovely that we’re giving that message that if you can’t get to Birmingham Pride or the big Pride events, you can get to the community ones.
“We haven’t had a Pride event in Wolverhampton for quite a few years, but I remember going to the first or second one and it was nice because it was small and very community based. In its infancy, it was over the ring road from Molineux, on the car park near the registry office. Although I heard that this year’s is going to be bigger, I think it will still have that community feel.
“Being part of the EAG, I know it's important to the club that everyone feels welcomed at Wolves and they are supportive of everybody from all kinds of backgrounds, no matter what that background it.
“That’s why I feel it’s vitally important that the football club, as a big public figure, organisation and establishment that Wolverhampton is built around, come together with Wolverhampton Pride and they’re putting out that message of, ‘We want everybody at the club and we want everybody supporting the team because the team is supporting everyone from various backgrounds’.
“It’s great that Wolves are going to be involved in that as much as we can because that’s the sort of feeling we want around the club, because we’re all a community, no matter where you come from, so it will be nice to bring that back in whatever capacity we’re involved.”
One Pack Week has allowed the club to celebrate how people from all backgrounds. Many whom would never socialise in the same circles outside of football can come together for 90 minutes each week and go through all the emotions which come from watching their beloved football club.
The diversity of Wolves’ fanbase and the work which goes on behind the scenes to make Molineux a welcoming place for all was on display for all to see in our dedicated One Pack Week fixture against Brentford 10 days ago, but that doesn’t mean that there isn’t work still to be done, especially when it comes to ridding homophobic or transphobic abuse – whether it’s conscious or not – out of the game.
“In the world that we’re living in now, there is always room for improvement,” Helen explained. “The club is actively listening. They’re listening to fellow LGBTQ+ members and they are committed to being the support that we need in the community. If things do happen, especially at the club or at games, they are committed to having the reporting line and they’re trying to stamp out any problems. There is still work in progress.
“It’s a big commitment that the whole Premier League is making to try and get people behind and try to get rid of this archaic language which is used at clubs, especially at certain clubs where songs are being sang or there are certain chants that have now become illegal, so it is a big focus at the moment for all Premier League clubs. That’s a move in the right direction.”
One of the main tools that supporters can now use to report any kind of discriminatory language or behaviour they have witnessed inside Molineux is the Not in Our Pack text service.
Those inside the ground who witness any act of hate, discrimination or abusive behaviour can confidentially report it by telling a steward, or texting 07723 479887 and start the message with the word WOLVES before providing as much detail regarding the incident as possible. For example, where the incident has taken place, where the offender is located, where the reporter is located.
This service is prominent around Molineux every matchday and has already helped many fans, including those who are part of the LGBTQ+ community, to raise their concerns to the club, which have since been acted on, and Helen feels the service is another step in the right direction.
“There’s always more work to be done when it comes to reporting abuse inside stadiums, but the Not in Our Pack text service that was launched by the club this year has been brilliant.
“The number now goes round the stadium every few minutes throughout the game and it’s pleasing to see the club are committed to using commercial space that people pay for over to this number that we think is vital for people to be able to report things.
“We’re going in the right direction, but as with everything, there is always work to be done. Getting people confident enough to report things and text that number, albeit being anonymous at the start, unless it needs to be carried forward and then the club would have to get in touch with that person.
“It takes away the fear of if you say it to a steward, am I then going to be a target of whatever language someone might be using. But if you text the number, it goes off into the club and you get a message that they are looking into it.
“It takes away that fear of having to put yourself in danger of reporting it, but again, that’s something that shouldn’t happen. You should be able to speak out openly and challenge unacceptable behaviour, but many people can’t – especially if you are from a marginalised background.”
Homophobic abuse and archaic language is still prevalent in the game, and more still needs to be done to eradicate discriminatory behaviour from the stands, but Helen believes that education will have a big impact on ensuring every supporter feels part of the pack.
She said: “I’ve heard stories and testimonies from other fans that certain language was used and it was reported, and those people had then been escorted out of the ground. I’m not here to take anyone’s entertainment away from them and I don’t think stadium bans should even be a thing, because I feel what’s more important is education.
“If we want to move forwards, rather than bans, supporters need education around what language should and should not be used. If you explain to people why things shouldn’t be said, hopefully we live in a society that can get behind that and fans can learn from that.
“I hope Wolves being involved in Wolverhampton Pride this year can help this education, because off the back of Birmingham Pride last year, we had a lot of positive responses saying, ‘This is great’, ‘It’s great to see the club is supporting’.
“But as with everything, on the flip side of that we had probably 20 per cent of comments being negative: ‘Why do we need to know about this?’, ‘Why is this even a thing?’, ‘You should stick to football’ – the old standard things that get put on social media.
“It’s great if you’ve not had any discriminatory language thrown at you, that’s a great thing, but a lot of people have had that. Whether it’s homophobic, or racist, or whatever discriminatory language it is, a lot of football fans have had that abuse directed at them.
“This is why it is so important that the club supports events like Pride and go out of their way to show that events like this are important to the club, because it’s important to our fans.”
If you would like to be part of the club’s float at the Pride Parade, an invitation is open to supporters and allies, please email: fanservices@wolves.co.uk
You can also read more about our social media values and commitment to tackle online hate by clicking here.
