SEASON meets: Hannah Dingley on being a ‘preacher’ and game-changer with Sports Direct
It’s 2021 but perception and visibility are still hurdles that women have to overcome to see lasting changes in football. So, following its epic Equal Play Initiative, a long-term initiative to accelerate diversity and make the sports industry more equitable, Sports Direct has upped the ante by partnering with the Forest Green Rovers (FGR) women’s team on a trailblazing new sponsorship deal. The aim is to provide support and access for young women, and who better to spearhead this partnership than FGR Academy Manager, Hannah Dingley?
The first woman to become an academy manager of a men’s Football League club in 2019, and someone SEASON zine featured in the sustainability issue (07), we won’t stop giving her all the flowers that she deserves. Her personal drive to challenge perceptions, push for visibility, and break down barriers in the women’s game makes her an important catalyst for change.
Hannah Dingley
Forest Green Rovers is based in the Cotswolds town of Nailsworth. The small-town club’s pioneering sustainable initiatives like their solar panel-powered stadium and vegan menu in the better part of the past decade have seen them dubbed ‘the world’s greenest football club’ and ex-Arsenal defender and fashion plate Hector Bellerin became the second-largest shareholder in 2020.
With the ‘Sports Direct’ logo emblazoned on their chests, over the electric green and black zebra print, the Forest Green Rovers Women will take pride in wearing their new football kit in the South West Regional Women's Football League. Naturally, it’s eco-friendly and made out of coffee beans. ‘It’s always great to have a new kit with a new design which reflects us as a club. It’s even greater having the Sports Direct logo on the women’s kit,’ Hannah says. “It’s the same design as the men but has a completely different sponsor which is a really big statement.’
Some of the Forest Green Rovers Women team in their new kit
Perception
Growing up in a rural area, Hannah was used to watching Match Of The Day on Saturday nights with her family and playing football with her brother, but the opportunity to progress in football was scarce. ‘When I got to the secondary school age, there weren't many opportunities for girls in football,’ she remembers. ‘That’s when my journey in coaching began – work experience trips at my two local league clubs, Swansea City and Cardiff City – and I loved it. I remember spending all week making cups of tea and stuffing envelopes, but on Saturday I'd go into the full stadium and listen to the singing. I thought, “Wow this is awesome… This is something I want to get involved in”.’
Hannah’s journey to the top defies the status quo. In an industry largely dominated by white middle-aged men, she was previously the head coach of Burton Albion F.C. Academy, smashing the glass-ceiling perception that it is impossible to find a woman in a leadership role within football. ‘It’s the biggest hurdle that I had to overcome as a woman in my profession,’ Hannah confirms point-blank. ‘To this day I will go to a game and someone will think I’m a physiotherapist because the perception is, if there’s a female at a football game on the touchline, she’s got to be a medical member of staff.’ To all the women reading this, how many times have you had to work ten times harder just to get just an inch of recognition in a male-dominated industry?
Hannah in action
Hannah stresses the importance of growing the women’s game and Sports Direct’s Equal Play initiative has become another avenue, giving young women residing in rural areas rather than the city a chance to fulfil their footballing potential. ‘Before Sports Direct got involved, the women’s team was more separate from the club. We’ve now bought it in-house, giving the team a lot more support with sports science to allow them to reach their potential and be elite performers.’ A self-confessed ‘preacher’ on the subject, Hannah continues to passionately spread the word.
“It’s so hard for women’s sport because only the very top portion of the game are full-time athletes. We hear the stories about female athletes who are still having to work jobs and go out training in the morning and at night. This is why Equal Play is so crucial; the sponsorship is giving our girls and so many others the opportunity to excel in their sport.”
Visibility...
Is the key to change in Hannah’s opinion, given her lived experience and career trajectory. ‘I’m probably a little bit passive-aggressive,’ she laughs, ‘I introduce myself like, “Hi I’m Hannah, I’m the academy manager, how are you?” and they take a few steps back. We need to see more female coaches and more females in management roles so that it becomes more normalised.’
This new partnership with Sports Direct gives Forest Green Rovers Women incredible exposure. As a result of the partnership, the ladies were able to host their first FA Cup match in the main Forest Green Rovers stadium, which they won 5-1. To reach and inspire the next generation, they invited young women from various local grassroots teams to watch. You cannot want something that you cannot see, right?
Forest Green Rovers Women vs Torquay United Women on 26th September 2021
The pandemic has been an eye-opener for clubs across the country in terms of the lack of racial diversity. ‘We are not as diverse as we’d like to be in our women’s academy because, in the Cotswolds, it’s very white-oriented, 98 per cent white in the area that we are,’ admits Hannah. But despite their geographical challenges, Hannah is clear that everyone is welcome at FGR. ‘We’re not far from Gloucester, Bristol, areas that are a lot more diverse. We’re trying to build our brand to encourage more girls from different areas to come and play for us.’ The same message applies: you need to see it to normalise it. ‘We want women and girls, players from different backgrounds to see that they can do that because there’s somebody out there doing that.’
A new chapter begins for Forest Green Rovers Women. Working side by side with Sports Direct, Hannah and the club look to galvanise the game. They will use this season to change the perception of their women’s team, create more visibility to inspire the younger generation, and continue to knock on doors to break down the barriers.
Words Anita Abayomi
Images courtesy of The Romans
Hannah Dingley also shared her own #galvanisethegame pledge.
‘Our pledge is challenging people’s views. That’s what we would always pledge to do because we do it and we know we do it but it’s challenging other people with that message; so that when they see the things that we are doing, they are inspired to go away and make changes in their own clubs. We are a leader in those areas to inspire and encourage and to educate others to be able to push that out in their own clubs and in their own communities.’