West Midlands Police appoints football investigation officer to tackle hate crime against women and girls

PC Catherine Clinton has joined the football unit dedicated to making the game a safer space within the sport.

She will investigate offences against players, officials, fans, police officers and stewards too – all women and girls involved in football.

PC Clinton said: “Despite playing a lot of sport growing up when I was in school, I wasn’t encouraged.

“I feel sport particularly in adolescent years has many positive aspects - it provided me with focus and discipline, kept me on the right path and this is one of the reasons that I’m passionate about making sure it is inclusive for all, and everyone can receive these positive impacts.

“I want to ensure that everybody gets the same opportunity in sport, and especially football.”

The role will include investigating complaints of misogyny which is not currently listed as a hate crime, but PC Clinton added: “I want people to know that just because misogyny is not yet listed as a hate crime, there are offences, such as those under the public order act, which behaviours such as this falls into.

“It is vitally important to know that any sort of hate is not tolerated, and so even though it is not currently recorded as a hate crime, violence against women and girls is being taken seriously.

“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.”

A survey carried out in 2023 by Her Game Too – found that 91.9 per cent of the respondent women have seen sexist abuse towards women in football, with 63 per cent having experienced it themselves, and 58 per cent of those women had experienced it whilst attending football grounds.

PC Clinton will work with leads at all the football clubs within the West Midlands, where she will deliver presentations to men’s and women’s teams to raise awareness on how to report offences, and give reassurance that West Midlands Police is taking misogynistic behaviour and offences against women and girls within football seriously.

She said: “I will be 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.

“This is the most important aspect in all of this, and we believe that by raising awareness of hate towards women and girls in the sport, giving people the knowledge of inclusiveness and what it means, or knowing what to do and how to report things if they witness any hate.

“We also work with other partner agencies such as Kick It Out, and Her Game Too – which is a fantastic campaign against sexism in sport.

“I feel that the Lionesses and other female players have been such role models in recent times, and it is our job to capitalise on that, emphasise their influence and ensure women and girls are safe around the sport.

“There has been improvements and we recently had the first ever female referee in the men’s professional game.”

She added: “I’m a mother of a boy and a girl, and I want them to grow up with equal opportunity without any fear of judgement.

“For me, I feel it is vitally important to raise awareness on this topic, and we have to make sure that football is made more accessible for future generations.”

Sergeant Lizzie Lewandowski, from the football unit, added: “There is a national focus on violence against women and girls for all police forces and in football, it is increasingly on the agenda following the Safety at Major Sporting Events Inquiry.

“With the appointment of Cat, we hope to build networks both locally and nationally to encourage reporting and ensuring that our females are confident to report any crimes that take place at football.

“We have learnt from the experience of hate crime having a dedicated officer, that it can assist in better supporting victims on a local level and work in partnership with our clubs to influence change on a national level.”