As part of a regular series of women and girls’ fans' forums, the club’s latest meeting focused on how Brentford can ensure that women and girls feel safe, welcomed and included on matchdays both home and away.
The forum was held after Brentford recently signed up to the Women’s Night Safety Charter. The Charter is part of the mayor of London’s Tackling Violence Against Women and Girls Strategy.
By signing the Charter, the club makes a voluntary pledge, reinforcing its commitment to taking women’s safety seriously. The club will also take a proactive approach to improving women’s safety and experience.
The forum heard from Sarah Walker and Eren Bessim of Safer Business Network, a not-for-profit community interest company, who provided an update on their work to support the mayor’s Women’s Night Safety Charter.
The Safer Business Network provides training and other resources to support signatories to the charter and also promotes the ‘Ask for Angela’ scheme for people who are fearful of their safety.
The club will continue to work with the Safer Business Network as it takes forward work on the Women’s Night Safety Charter – one key task will be to undertake a ‘walk and talk’ to review the different routes that fans take from the stadium and what can be done to make them feel safer.
Police support on matchdays
Representatives from the Metropolitan Police Service (MPS) and Safer Business Network also joined the forum to explain more about their role and how they can work together with the club to improve safety going forward.
It was the first time that members of the MPS have been invited by a football club to take part in a women and girls’ fans' forum. Brentford’s dedicated football officer PC Paul Wright along with PC Abi Mayer joined the group
PC Wright provided an overview of the work undertaken within the Football Policing Unit including providing intelligence to all London teams and Wembley Stadium, managing football supporter groups on matchdays and monitoring risk groups. They also oversee the application and administration of football banning orders in the area.
Members of the forum heard about the additional police officers now being deployed at games, with one officer per stand on matchdays.
Questions from fans covered the recruitment of more female officers to attend both home and away fixtures. PC Wright shared a commitment to increasing the number of female officers, as far as possible towards a 50:50 ratio, but acknowledged that this is a longer term aim as recruiting female officers into public order roles is challenging.
Both male and female fans at the forum shared some of their experiences at both home and away games that have made them feel unsafe. PC Wright encouraged attendees to speak to officers on matchdays, particularly if they have experienced any issues.
Joanne Surgeoner, Brentford's fan engagement manager, said: “The forum was a great opportunity for some of our female fans to hear from the police and other organisations who are working to improve matchday experience and safety.
“The group had previously raised concerns about the matchday experience for women and girls, particularly at away games, so we wanted to bring everyone together to listen to their concerns, understand more about what support is available and continue to work together to make improvements.”
Reporting incidents
If you experience or witness an incident during a matchday, please report it using one our processes below:
Speak to a steward
Report the issue using the Brentford FC app
Text BFC plus your message, including location, to 62277
Submit a report by scanning our QR code found on the back of seats and in toilet blocks
Email us at [email protected]