Cath Dyer, Sian Davies and Di Hughes are all valued members of the Swans Trust Board and would love to engage more with our women Swans supporters from all over the world.
If you’d like to get in touch or have any ideas as to how we can do more please contact us at info@swanstrust.co.uk
The Trust needs a wide diversity of members from across the globe of all ages and gender to ensure the interests of all Swans supporters are well represented.
We also encourage our members and supporters to ask family and friends to join, thereby increasing our membership numbers, our strength and our voice. A healthy membership makes a stronger Trust. A stronger Trust can help ensure the best possible future for OUR football club.
Before every home game the Swans Trust release their Matchday Programme Notes which always form part of the club’s digital matchday programme.
The notes are also always available for members and supporters to download or read on our Trust website HERE
Our last home was against Blackburn Rovers and to help celebrate International Women’s Day our board members Cath, Sian and Di prepared the following programme notes which we thought we’d share once again:
Programme Notes – Blackburn Rovers, Saturday 2nd March 2024
Today we welcome Blackburn to the Swansea.com stadium for a fixture that recognises our celebration of International Women’s Day next Friday 8th March & also happens to coincide with the first time ever a female referee, Rebecca Welch, has taken charge of a Swansea City fixture. So, what better time for our women members of the Swans Trust Board to introduce themselves to you – Cath Dyer, Trust Board member & secretary of the Swansea City DSA, Sian Davies, Trust Board member & Diane Hughes, Chair of our Membership Group. Cath to kick off…
As the theme this year is “Inspire inclusion” I’m proud to encourage all women to stand up for what you believe in. It can be so difficult to be excluded from things, & it hurts. Showing that I care, want to help people feel included & involved certainly makes ME feel better. Being on the Swans Trust board, the secretary of the DSA, & the chair of the DSA support forum for DSAs everywhere has given me the confidence to share my experiences, care & love.
Experiencing the “Big Sleep Out” last November was a challenge, & it made me realize how vulnerable women must feel when they are sleeping out alone. I was fortunate to have company, but it’s important that we realize the impact this can have.
International Women’s Day is all about celebrating women everywhere, from each & every background, & ensuring we support each other. Now over to Sian…
Picking up on Cath’s theme of inclusivity, in football everyone’s views should count irrespective of gender, race, ethnicity, age, religion, disability, sexual orientation to name but a few ways in which we identify people but sadly this isn’t always the case. One of our main aims as a Board is to give more of a voice to women fans & to inspire & empower young women & girls to become Swansea City fans now & in the future.
As an example, last season I was elected by my fellow Board members as Supporter Director to represent the Trust on the Board of Swansea City Football Club. It’s the first time in the Trust’s history that a woman has held this position. I hope this will pave the way for more women to join the Trust Board & take on officer roles.
Swansea City FC should also be a safe place for all women fans, so please, if you experience any sort of abuse, or discrimination, or feel unsafe in or around the stadium, text the Club’s anonymous safe text number, 88440, starting the message with the word SWANS & provide details of the incident. Next, it’s Di…
As well as praising the inclusivity shown by our Club, Supporters’ Trust & DSA I would like to reflect on changes more generally over the past 50+ years. In the 1970s, my much-missed Dad took me to watch football matches in London; the number of women & girls in attendance was far fewer than now. I was seen as being different for having an interest that was traditionally the domain of men. Now many women & girls attend matches, & importantly, the women’s game is now flourishing. In the 1980s I was one of very few women across the whole of Wales in the organisation in which I worked; accountants were seen as ‘men in grey suits’.
So again, I was different, a woman in a man’s world. By the time I retired it was close to 50:50 women to men, with an increasing number of women in management roles. I was lucky to have felt included, in both football & work environments. But half a century ago that was sadly not the experience of many women.
There’s still a long way to go, but inclusivity for women is now the norm in many areas of life, not the exception.
And finally, from us all, as women & girls it’s important that our voices are heard & we make a contribution to the Club. A way to do this is by joining the Swans Trust & getting more out of being a fan rather than just turning up on a Saturday. For those of you who are already Trust members why not put yourselves forward for election to the Trust Board in the summer?
We would love to hear from you via info@swanstrust.co.uk And watch this space for further details.
Enjoy the game & let’s hope we can rediscover our home form to match that of our last 2 away performances.
Cath, Sian & Di
Swansea City Supporters’ Trust
