West Midlands Police officers will be at the Molineux on Sunday for the Women’s Continental Cup Final between Arsenal and Chelsea, to deliver a violence against women and girls event to promote the work they and the club are doing to make the sport a welcoming and safe space.
West Midlands Police will have officers at the turnstiles and throughout the ground talking to supporters raising awareness of the things that make women feel unsafe and issues such as drink spiking.
Following the successes of its first Football Hate Crime Officer PC Stuart Ward, the force recently appointed PC Catherine Clinton to its football unit to deal with offences specifically against women and girls.
These include offences against players, officials, fans, police officers and stewards too. All women and girls involved in football.
The role will include investigating complaints of misogyny, which is not currently listed as a hate crime, but there are offences, such as those under the Public Order Act, which behaviours such as this falls into.
A survey carried out in 2023 by Her Game Too – found that 91.9% of the respondent women have seen sexist abuse towards women in football, with 63% having experienced it themselves, and 58% of those women had experience it whilst attending football grounds.
Wolves facilities, safety & security director Steve Sutton said: “We are extremely supportive of West Midland’s Police’s increasing focus and hard work to tackle violence against women and girls in our area, and we are delighted for them to have a presence at the FA Women's League Cup final this weekend.
“The appointment of PC Catherine Clinton is another milestone as we all try to work together to make football a more inclusive environment, free from misogyny and hate crime, and we look forward to working with her closely in future.”
PC Clinton said: “I do however want to make it clear this is not an argument of girls versus boys, this involves us all and we need everyone to drive social change and behaviours together. We want all women and girls to feel safe and included in football, and we want all our colleagues who work in football to be allies for this initiative.”
She added: “My role involves going into clubs, speaking with players, player liaison officers, safeguarding and diversity leads - this includes grassroots clubs too, along with schools – with the aim of education.”
West Midlands Police head of Operations, Chief Superintendent Sarah Burton said: “We’re delighted to be at this Cup Final at Molineux, which we hope will be an exciting match for everyone.
“We want to be able to encourage conversations among supporters about what is acceptable and what isn’t, and how we can make football an inclusive sport for all. There is a national focus on Violence Against Women and Girls and others forces are also taking up this initiative to influence change on a national level.”
