Kian Gadsby
Football is the world’s game. Almost everyone around the country, and indeed across the globe, has a team who they support, and they revel in their successes and suffer through their setbacks.
However, in recent years, many have either become disillusioned with the game, or have been unable to fall in love with it at all.
One cause of this is that football has been plagued for many years by problems of violence, racism, sexism and homophobia. These abhorrent issues cause many to feel unsafe whilst in stadiums watching matches, driving many away from the sport as they wrongly feel that the game isn’t for them.
Further, football was once universally seen as a game that was played and followed by both the working class and the wealthy alike. However, since the revolution of both the Premier League and the Champions League in 1992, the game has arguably become more and more elitist, with fans feeling ignored and undervalued when big decisions are made.
With these problems all approaching a breaking point, Impact investigates if football actually is for everyone, and whether or not that effect will change in the near future.
Why do People Still Feel Unsafe in the Stands?
A major reason why many people do not support football is that they feel it would be unsafe to do so.
This is often due to discrimination, as even in 2025, that is still in abundance throughout football environments.
Indeed, according to data from a 2024 Kick it Out survey, almost a quarter of female football fans say that they feel unsafe at football games, and that figure rises to 43% for LGBTQ+ supporters.
That may be because of the sheer quantity of fans who have experienced abuse on the terraces. Around half of female fans had seen sexist abuse at games, with 42% having been targeted themselves by that behaviour on matchdays.
Kick It Out Chief Executive Samuel Okafor said, “the level of abuse in English football has reached a crisis point,” in an interview with the BBC in February 2025. In another report, his organisation documented that they received more reports of racism in the 2023/24 season than they had for any previous campaign.
These statistics are frankly alarming, and based on this data alone, it is no surprise that many are not falling in love with the beautiful game.
Of course, these raw numbers do not necessarily reflect the full scale of these issues, as many people simply don’t report the instances they see for fear of making a scene.
Unfortunately, many fanbases still regularly sing chants that are homophobic or racist. Such incidents are never acceptable anywhere in society, yet somehow they appear to be okay and are even a regular occurrence in football stadia.
Only 6 out of the 44 clubs across the Premier League and Championship did not receive a complaint of racist abuse from their fans across the 2023/24 season. Appalling behaviour like this means that it is inevitable that many people feel marginalised from the game, with some hearing stories about this behaviour and avoiding the sport from fear of association with these.
Abuse is not just limited to the terraces either, as the prominence of social media means that more and more hate crimes can and do occur online. Indeed, incidents of racist, antisemitic or transphobic abuse were up at least 200% in the last football season compared to the previous year.
If prospective football fans are looking on football social media pages and are immediately greeted by offensive comments, is it of any wonder why many choose not to support football?
However, other data from Kick It Out offers some hope for future improvements.
40% of all football fans felt that their overall matchday experience had improved over the years, with fans from minority ethnic backgrounds creating the biggest net improvement data.
Further, although the study did find an increase in the number of reports of racism, the number of incidents reported at professional matches had actually declined, and there was a larger proportion of people who were reporting the crimes.
This information suggests that people are more willing to fight against hate crimes occurring on the stands, and that football is slowly becoming a more and more inclusive sport. Indeed, overall, clubs are getting better at dealing with criminal behaviour from supporters, and the trend does seem to be heading in the direction of football becoming a discrimination free sport.
However, that trend isn’t happening fast enough, and this process needs to be accelerated if football is to become more inclusive.
If football can eradicate discrimination, then, and only then, can it make a meaningful step towards truly being a game for everyone.
Are fans being marginalised?
Simultaneously, football is also experiencing a significant marginalisation of its supporters by clubs, authorities, and broadcasters alike.
When the Premier League separated from the rest of the EFL in 1992, it created an opportunity for the league to be exposed to more fans via TV broadcast deals which would also bring about vast amounts of commercial revenue. Whilst those deals have enabled the league to become the most attractive in the world, they have inadvertently seen fans pushed away from the game.
In the UK, football matches that take place between 2:45 and 5:15 pm on a Saturday are prohibited from being broadcast on television, in a rule known as the ‘3pm blackout.’ This rule exists to ensure supporters of clubs lower down the football pyramid continue to support their local team by attending matches in person, rather than watching the best teams on the TV.
Whilst this rule has successfully benefitted many teams who rely on matchday revenue, it has forced TV broadcasters to move the kick-off times of matches that they want to show.
Of course, this has dramatic impacts on match-going supporters. For those who only attend home games, a lack of a regular kick-off time means that many may be unable to make many matches due to other weekend commitments.
Supporters who travel to away games fare even worse, as they regularly have to traverse the country at awkward hours, often without being able to travel by train home if the game takes place in the evening.
With it being difficult to find time to regularly watch your team in person, many fans miss out on the opportunity to attend games. This has seen many, particularly people who have hobbies beyond supporting football, become less attached to the game they love.
Further, the rising ticket prices mean that it is harder for casual supporters to become more regular fans.
Earlier in 2025, Manchester United caused a stir as they announced that all tickets would be priced at £66 for the remainder of the season, with no concessions for children, students or the elderly. With many still struggling financially after the recent cost of living crisis, families are unable to afford to bring their children to support their team, meaning many miss out on the opportunity to see the beautiful game in person.
Generations of families fell in love with the rush and the adrenaline created by watching football in the stadium. If people are unable to do that, then it can be expected that less and less people enjoy football, meaning that the sport is no longer for everyone.
So What Can be Done?
Of course, there are many improvements that can and have to be made in order for football to become a sport for everyone.
Eradicating discrimination is the first priority, and as spectators have no say on ticket prices or kick off times, this is the task that supporters can fix first.
If you happen to be on the stands and witness abuse of any kind, make sure you call it out and report it to stewards. I appreciate that many fans want to avoid causing a scene, but most clubs now have an anonymous number that you can text if you feel uncomfortable with talking to someone, and informing the club will enable them to handle the matter.
One thing to make sure you do is to properly understand the words and the impacts of the songs you are singing on the terraces.
It can be easy to get caught up in the excitement, but to avoid accidentally offending people, make sure you know the lyrics and know their meaning. Many supporters have been caught out by that, and are often mortified to realise what they are doing is offensive and is driving some away from the sport.
Thought, education and a bravery to call out poor behaviour is what is needed to prevent discrimination on the terraces. Without that, football will never free itself of its abusive shackles and will never truly be a sport for everyone.
Kian Gadsby
Featured image courtesy of Fancy Crave via Unsplash. Image use license found here (Unsplash). No changes were made to this image.
In article image 1 courtesy of @kickitout via Instagram. No changes were made to this image.
In article image 2 courtesy of @startingxI via Instagram. No changes were made to this image.
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