This Leicester Life: Finding Pride in the Foxes’ support
Ahead of Leicester Pride this weekend, members of Foxes Pride were invited by Conor Coady to have a chat at Seagrave. We spoke to Kyle Warman, who was in attendance, to hear more about the experience and life in the group.
First things first, how did the meeting with Conor Coady come about?
We had a meeting recently to plan some things ahead of Leicester Pride this weekend and we asked the club whether there was any way Conor could get involved.
The reason we suggested Conor was because two years ago, he won a British LGBT award for allyship within football. He's spoken out very openly about how he believes football is for everyone and there shouldn't be a need for fan groups like ours. So because he's been so vocal about it, we were absolutely buzzing when his signing was announced.
He’s obviously getting a lot closer to fitness so there was no chance he'd have been able to come on the day or anything but then we got a text message on Tuesday saying he wanted to meet us at Seagrave. So we went up and had a good old chat!
How did the chat go and what did you find most interesting?
He was very open about how it's a shame these fan groups have to exist, purely on the basis that they shouldn't have to. Anyone should feel comfortable going to football and just being themselves basically.
He came across really genuinely in that regard. It's clear that's exactly what he thinks. And he's very keen to say that, as a footballer, he’s privileged to be in the position he's in so he wants to help out any groups or anyone that feels like they need a bit of support. That was great to hear.
Then we talked about how he thinks things are going since he arrived. His eyes lit up when he was talking about the club and about how everyone is pulling in the same direction. He spoke really highly about that.
So how long have you been a member of Foxes Pride and how did you first get involved?
Foxes Pride was founded by Graeme Smith and Gareth Miller in 2015. I met Graeme and Paul Malley, our treasurer, at Watford away in the 2016/17 season. It was that game when Molla Wague scored for them!
We were in the Champions League that year so I met a few more of the group in Seville and got on really well with them all. We started going to away games together and I then got to meet a lot more people.
We have over 200 members now so we’re one of the biggest LGBTQ+ football fan groups. And I think a lot of that comes from the support we’ve had from the club. They've been really helpful and supportive.
Thinking back to when Jamie Vardy scored the winner at Sheffield United and snapped the corner flag, which happened to be a Pride flag - what were your first thoughts?
At the time, I didn’t think much more than we've scored a last minute winner at Sheffield United and we know he supports Sheffield Wednesday. Obviously as soon as I saw it was an LGBT+ flag, I thought this could be perceived the wrong way. We still see that response from trolls sometimes when Jamie or the club post on social media.
But Jamie signed the flag and the club donated it to Foxes Pride. It’s now on display in the fan store to highlight his personal support.
The year Conor won the LGBT football allyship award, Vardy was also nominated for that exact reason, for his response. That was great to have it turned into a positive.
We talked about Conor Coady thinking groups like Foxes Pride shouldn’t have to exist - what’s your experience been like of the kind of attitudes that mean it has to exist?
Personally, I’m quite thick-skinned about that sort of thing. You do hear it regularly at football. Some of the stuff you hear, I don't think some people really mean what they’re saying.
But I’ve seen situations where members of Foxes Pride have spoken to people in the ground about what they’ve said. Graeme is really good at raising that and saying it’s inappropriate.
I wouldn't necessarily feel comfortable with doing that myself because you never know how someone's going to react. But every time Graeme has done it, fans have always apologised. Graeme spoke to Conor about an example in the away game at Atletico Madrid when a Leicester fan was constantly shouting gay slurs at the players.
I feel like if you're not necessarily as confident in yourself as I am, if you're younger and you’re starting to think ‘this is probably me’, then it's not going to feel like the kind of situation you want to put yourself in.
That's why the group exists, to try and make football matches a safe space for everyone.
Let’s finish by talking a bit about Leicester Pride - what’s the group’s involvement this weekend?
So Leicester Pride is this Saturday at Abbey Park. We'll have a stall there along with the Leicester Wildecats. They're an LGBTQ+ football team that I play football with. They’re really nice guys.
We’re just trying to promote what we do and how we're involved in the community. And every year, Leicester City give us a shirt signed by the whole squad so we've got another one of those to raffle and raise some funds for the group. It'd be good to get as many people involved in that as possible.
Fantastic - and I take it you then duck out at half past two and sprint to the ground?
Yeah, exactly. Normally, Pride is not necessarily on a matchday. It’s usually on an international weekend so it’s not like everyone has to drop everything and go! But this time we’ve had to ask for favours from people from the Leicester Wildecats to help out with our stall so we can make it to the game!
Find out more about Foxes Pride and Leicester Pride.
