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Interview with Mikey Collins: What Everybody Ought To Know About Gay Soccer In England
By Amanda | May 1, 2008
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Mikey Collins hands out medals at the IGLFA World Championships in Argentina, September 2007.
The International Gay and Lesbian Football Association, better known as IGLFA, is an international organization dedicated to “fostering and augmenting the self respect of gay women and men throughout the world, and engender respect and understanding from the non-gay world, through the medium of football (soccer).”
Since the 2007 World Championships in Argentina, IGLFA Secretary Mikey Collins has been working hard to promote the 2008 tournament, which will be hosted by his very own London Leftfooters FC this August. Recently I had the opportunity to ask Mikey some questions about his position with IGLFA and his experiences as a member of the gay soccer community.
Amanda: What are your responsibilities as a Board member?
Mikey: I’m on the board of the IGLFA as Secretary which came about after a few years volunteering as a Continental Delegate. Continental Delegates really just keep their local areas informed of tournaments around the world to make sure that communication across countries doesn’t just happen at World Championship time.
As Secretary there are the usual board duties; minute taking, administration of documents and archives, and the fun part (even geeky?) where we get to review bids for candidate cities for future World Championships. I really enjoy working with my colleagues at the IGLFA – we’re a real mix of nationalities, languages and cultures. It’s never dull, that’s fore sure!
Kenneth from Denmark, Scarlet from Ireland, and Lisa from Australia show their support for the London Leftfooters.
Amanda: How many teams are involved in IGLFA, and how many teams do you predict at London 08? What is the geographic make up, and how many women’s teams do you have so far?
Mikey: I’d say we’re working to a list of about 140 teams that identify as lesbian/gay or have pro-lgbt recruitment policies. After the great job of reaching out to Latin American teams in 2007, it’s exciting to be getting in touch with more teams from Africa and Asia where the international presence can make a real difference to grassroots LGBT issues.
At London 2008 to date, we have 41 men’s teams and a further 8 women’s teams. We’re quite proud to have teams from every continent attending and it’s looking like being one of the biggest so far, which is great for LGBT sport.
The biggest geographical groups are unsurprisingly the Brits and North Americans. One of the reasons we wanted to bring the Championship to the UK was because of the huge growth we’ve seen recently. There are about 17 UK teams, 8 of which in London alone. We have a large Scandinavian contingent which is another growing area of Europe plus our Outreach scholarship scheme is helping teams from Latin America, Africa and Eastern Europe.
Amanda: How has the London 2008 committee used technology to prepare for and promote the upcoming tournament?
Mikey: The World Championship is such a large event that we’ve relied on a suite of communication tools to reach everybody. On our website we’ve used PHP message boards to allow teams and individual players to match themselves up before registering which keeps the signing up process as automated as possible.
We of course have html newsletters which we send out using a list tool (PHP List) – which has been really handy for carving up our database for targeted communications.
Back on the web we have a number of different Facebook groups; for the event itself as well as volunteer recruitment and the events tool for the different fundraisers and parties in the run up to the Championship. We’ve also recorded a number of interviews and podcasts which will be uploaded to the websites of our media partners such as Pink Paper and Gaydar Nation.
Amanda: How have you seen the gay soccer landscape change over the past 10 years?
Mikey: In the UK, gay soccer is almost unrecognizable from ten years ago. We now have 16 separate men’s clubs in the UK (many with memberships of 50+), and that’s helped us catch up with the rest of the gay football world in terms of regular competition.
It’s helped in part by the changing culture coming top-down, and the FA have implemented an anti-homophobia campaign whereby supporters can be banned from grounds for shouting homophobic abuse and players red-carded for the same. To start with we almost had to convince the gay community itself that it deserved its space in football. The recent surge of gay men taking up the sport as ‘out’ gay men shows that people are taking us seriously as sportsmen and with the IGLFA WC, Outgames and Gay Games in Europe over the next three years, I can only see it growing further still.
That’s probably gone off on a bit of a tangent… but there are so many cultural changes happening at the moment - which are great for UK sport - it’s just telling the rest of the world about it!
The London Leftfooters and the New York Ramblers together at the 2007 IGLFA World Championship Opening Ceremony in Buenos Aires, Argentina.
Amanda: What team do you currently play for?
Mikey: I found the IGLFA through my team Leftfooters FC, based in Camden, North London. We’re probably as well known on the IGLFA circuit as Camden’s other famous export, Amy Winehouse, though hopefully we’re in better shape!
Amanda: Have you ever had a bad experience or faced discrimination as a member of the Leftfooters? If so, can you tell me about it?
Mikey: Um… actually no, Leftfooters compete in the gay national league which, while not exclusively gay, was set up to provide a space free from the sort of discrimination so many players can experience in your normal Sunday league. I played in ’straight’ teams from the age of fourteen and was out from day one (early bloomer!). I did find it awkward at times, which made the switch to a gay sports/social group a natural step for me.
We have a number of high profile teams such as Stonewall and Village Manchester that compete in Sunday leagues, and they do gay sports a great P.R. service in terms of breaking down stereotypes. Equally the gay league is responsible for getting many young gay men back into the sport after they’ve left because teams don’t provide the right social support, work balance, etc.
London Leftfooters and the New York Ramblers just before kick off.
Amanda: What is your greatest IGLFA memory?
Mikey: Can I have two highlights? The first would be player/coaching Leftfooters to the semi finals in 2005 at our first outing to the World Championships. The opposing coach that day was none other than our dear Amanda, and it was the start of a great friendship between our teams. The second would be the feeling of walking out on the pitch at Soldier Field for the Gay Games in Chicago. Its moments like that which make you realize what you’re doing is about more than just sport. It’s about bringing people together and empowering them to achieve as a person as well as a sportsman.
Amanda: For somebody who is just learning about IGLFA, why would you encourage them to attend a soccer tournament?
Mikey: First of all I can say hand of heart, attending an IGLFA tournament is the most fun you can have in a week. There are divisions and teams of all abilities to cater for you whatever your appetite or experience and the games are played in a great atmosphere with the other teams cheering you on.
One of things I’m so grateful for is the opportunity it’s given me to meet players and fans from all around the world. It’s a great learning opportunity and I guarantee you’ll come away from the event with a group of friends that circles the globe.
Amanda: Thank you so much for your time. Is there anything else you’d like to say about London Leftfooters FC or about IGLFA in general?
Mikey: One of the things you become aware of quite quickly is how sport can be a conductor for positive change and personal development. I can’t begin to count the number of gay men who have said they had such negative associations with other gay men and the gay scene until they found a sports team.
The world over, LGBT sports groups seem to have a shared DNA of looking after their players, often providing a surrogate family environment, positive enforcement of your own abilities as a player and generally boosting your confidence to do things you wouldn’t think of. How else could an amateur sportsperson travel the four corners of the world to take part in competition!
Topics: Amanda, Interviews, Men's Soccer |
June 7th, 2008 at 6:20 pm
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