To celebrate LGBTQ+ history month, we caught up with Stuart Matthews, founder and chair of the Proud Seagulls fans’ group.
Stuart, how did Proud Seagulls come to fruition?
While I had attended some matches at the Goldstone and Withdean, I came to the Amex for my first game a year after the club had moved there, and I was overwhelmed by how brilliant it was – the atmosphere, the facilities, just everything! I would take my godson and a couple of my mates’ boys, sitting in the Family Stand, and I can remember one of the early Rainbow Laces games where the players were just speaking in platitudes. I just felt the message could be so much stronger – and that message needed to come from the fans.
So, what happened next?
In the Championship, I didn’t know any other LGBTQ+ groups existed, so I did a lot of digging. I discovered there was an umbrella organisation for all 92 professional clubs – Pride in Football – and I was invited to attend their AGM, alongside PC Darren Balkham [Albion’s police liaison] and Peter Allan [Sussex Police’s hate crime sergeant], following our promotion. There were 15 other clubs represented on the day, mostly from the Premier League, and they were all saying we really needed to set a group up for Brighton fans. As I wanted to be on the inside, rather than the outside trying to say there’s a problem, I took the plunge.
Did you put the feelers out first?
I went on lots of Facebook pages and fans’ forums, and put it out there what I was thinking of doing, and 98% of the replies were very positive, which was great. I had a couple that were unacceptable, but the feedback gave me the will and desire to push on, and we were formed in the summer of 2017. We’ve gone from strength to strength ever since.
You’re not the first person to make a stand against the homophobic abuse of our fans, are you?
I also had a desire to carry on the legacy, the good work, that Albion fans Liz Costa and the late Sarah Watts had started. Those two ladies were the forerunners of all the LGBTQ+ fan groups we see today and were the first to go to The FA and say, ‘We’re not going to put up with this anymore. You’ve got to do something.’ I’ve got huge respect for both of them, my utmost admiration in fact, for the way they told The FA we have a problem. I’m just carrying on what they started in a more visible way, to hit home the message that football is for all, regardless of sexuality. I don’t go to be abused, to have people having a go at me, and that’s the ethos of it.
Brighton fans have long been taunted by homophobic chanting. Did you find that still happening in the Premier League?
The club’s first match after we had formed was at Leicester City, and the next day my phone went ballistic. I was getting inundated with messages saying I needed to see this post from an elderly gentleman, a Leicester fan, who had berated some younger people for their homophobic abuse towards Brighton fans. That first season, there were certainly fans of other clubs who were just testing the water, to see what they could get away with, because most teams hadn’t played Brighton for years. It’s fair to say the homophobic abuse still hasn’t gone away, and it’s more prolific against certain teams, but the likes of Rainbow Laces, and Brighton & Hove Albion being the first club to be a mainline sponsor of a Pride event, is certainly helping to move things in the right direction.
What is Proud Seagulls’ relationship like with the club?
Our communication with the club is absolutely superb – and my relationship stems from the year that Albion first took part in Pride. I was made to feel welcome, to feel part of the team, and I still am. Since we’ve become an official group, our contact has become weekly or bi-weekly, with our point of contact being Sarah Gould [the club’s supporter services manager], and I’ll speak to her with any issues that might have come up, or if we have ideas from our end, which we feel could make the matchday experience more inclusive for all. I remember making a point about the Rainbow Laces campaign, that we needed to do more, and following consultation with the club, we had events around the days of action, both at the men’s and women’s first-team games. The club are so open and welcoming and that’s another example of the direction it is moving in. Alan Shearer said after we beat Everton 4-1 that you need to look at the make-up of Brighton. It has a good manager, good recruitment, good background staff, a brilliant CEO and chairman. Everything is in place, and year after year the club gets better and better in everything it does, on and off the pitch.
If fans receive homophobic abuse, what should they do?
If it happens on a matchday, the quicker it is reported the better, so report it to a steward or member of club staff, or use the club’s antisocial behaviour hotline [07880 196442]. The more information you can give on the perpetrator the better, including visible description and, if possible, their seat number or description of their seat location. If I receive a complaint, I normally point people towards the club if they see or read anything. On our website and socials, I want to promote the club’s hotline a little bit more. Although I can give people support, I’m very limited on what I can or cannot do, whereas the club has got more power. One of my wish lists is to work more closely with the club when it comes to helping support the victim. I’m also looking to set up a meeting with the Rainbow Hub in Brighton, to work in partnership with them and the club to bring everything together in one neat, safe package. There may be some people who won’t use the club’s hotline, who won’t use social media, but may go to the Hub and tell them about something that’s happened at a particular game, or come to me with the same issue. I want to make sure the correct procedures are in place so we can signpost people to the right place and give them the necessary support.
How many members do you now have?
We’re up to about 60 members and, as the year goes on, it will increase. In conjunction with the club, if you’re not a Proud Seagulls member, you’re not going to get access to some of the events we’re going to be putting on, so I expect the numbers will go up. We’ve never wanted the membership to come with a fee, and that gives everyone the chance to become a member, regardless of their financial background.
So, do you host any social events?
We’re quite spread out over Sussex and have found it quite difficult to get together at times. We do try to meet up with away LGBTQ+ groups if they come down, but that’s normally done at the stadium, outside the away end. The one time we do come together is at Pride, and this year we’ve secured a walking group behind the official Albion float. Most of our communication happens on social media; we’ve got two Facebook pages – one a very closed group for those who might not have come out to family or friends – and one that is more open.
Finally, you mentioned homophobia in football hasn’t gone away, but are we making progress?
I think we’re in a lot better place, across the whole of football, than we were ten years ago. The vast majority of clubs have an LGBTQ+ fan group and all clubs are now better equipped to deal with homophobia, transphobia or any forms of discrimination. You’ve only got to look at the Albion; on a matchday, many supporters are under 50 and you’ve got a lot of family groups, so it’s a very inclusive and a family-orientated stadium. If you go back to Withdean or the Goldstone, it would have been very macho, but we’ve certainly moved on from that.
- You can email proudseagulls@gmail.com or WhatsApp 07761924382. Also, visit the Proud Seagulls website at
proudseagulls. com, on Instagram @ProudSeagulls, or Twitter @ProudSeagulls