Social Research ¦ Market Research ¦ Behavioural Insight ¦ Evaluation ¦ SROI
Social Research ¦ Market Research ¦ Behavioural Insight ¦ Evaluation ¦ SROI
Kick It Out are a charity working to put an end to all forms of discrimination in Sport. Set up to fight racism in football in 1993, they expanded in 1997 to tackling all forms of discrimination, running education programmes, campaigns and reporting systems for those who do suffer discrimination.
Following on from a previous project conducted by M·E·L Research in 2023 to evaluate the role that Kick It Out had played in combatting discrimination since their formation in 1993, a new research project was commissioned in early 2024 to understand the experiences of female and non-binary fans in attending games in England in greater depth.
The research aimed to investigate the extent to which female and non-binary fans experience discrimination at games, how this discrimination manifested, and their experiences of reporting discrimination, where experienced. A key focus of the research was in looking at how these experiences varied among different groups of fans, for example by ethnicity, sexuality or region. The research was to be used to get a greater understanding of the experiences of female and non-binary fans, and to help publicise the issues where they are occurring.
A quantitative population survey was run, obtaining a nationally representative sample of 1,500 female and non-binary football fans who were match attendees. In order to qualify for the survey, fans had to be female, non-binary or a gender identity other than male, and have attended a live football match, either men’s or women’s. The survey asked about how safe fans feel at these games, whether they have experienced or witnessed any discrimination at them, and if they had, what form this discrimination had taken. They were also asked about their confidence in reporting or calling out discrimination, whether they themselves had reported discrimination in the past, and how this was handled if so.
Following this, a three day online qualitative community was run with 10 of the respondents to the survey, who had opted in to do so, to get a greater understanding of how experiences of discrimination manifest, how these experiences impact them as a fan, and what steps could be taken to help them feel more safe at games going forwards, and to improve the reporting process.
We presented the findings of the quantitative and qualitative strands of the research in a combined report, using the findings and stories shared in the qualitative community to add depth and give real world examples. While the quantitative data provided insights into the extent to which female fans experience discrimination at games, which types of discrimination are most prevalent, and which groups most commonly experience them, the qualitative findings helped to understand in detail how these experiences play out, and the impact they have on fans in the short and long term.
The findings were used by Kick It Out for campaign (examples above and below) run in the summer of 2024 to improve the experiences of female and non-binary fans at football games.
“The whole team has been fantastic to work with. Proactive, clear with communication and delivered the project to a high standard. It was clear everyone involved was passionate about the project and delivering it to a high standard. Would recommend.” – Communications Manager, Kick it Out
https://talksport.com/football/2045854/kick-it-out-women-sexism-football-campaign-research
