A group of inclusive grassroots football teams called for equal pitch access and claimed pitch providers are profiting off community venues and excluding marginalised teams.
Equal Playing Field is a collective of thirty women’s, trans and gender non-confirming football clubs that is seeking action against third-party companies to ensure fair pitch opportunities for all teams.
East London club Enjoy FC, one of the affected clubs, said they had three months of pitch bookings cancelled mid-season, but that was just the ‘tip of the iceberg’ with cases of repeated block booking cancellations through third-parties allegedly uncovered by the collective.
Equal Playing Field said: “Grassroots football, which has long been a vital space for community-building and inclusion, is now at risk of exclusion, overpricing, and inaccessibility.
“Teams that try to speak up about these injustices face intimidation, with some leagues and teams banned from using facilities and receiving hostile messages after raising concerns.
“It is time for serious and rapid change. We demand an immediate end to community and school sports facilities being ceded to companies run for profit.”
In an interview late September, Enjoy FC chairperson Ellie Vigors claimed that on the same day they were due to play, the team were notified their booking was unavailable due to holes in the pitch.
She said the holes were on another pitch that her team were not using, and the men’s league that usually played on that pitch were moved onto Enjoy’s booked pitch.
They were then offered a refund or an alternative location that was much further away during a time slot late at night, which sparked safety concerns for travelling players.
Vigors said: “I was really upset and we did some digging, not only has it happened to us, but this has been happening to other teams and it is a collective issue.
“Pitch and league access affects everybody.
“There should be regulations and quotas in place so that teams who are on the pitches reflect the community. How are we meant to grow if we’re just secondary to the men’s teams?”
Booking platform Hireapitch was the company that they used and Equal Playing Field alleges that seven other teams have received poor treatment, starting with the South London Laces in 2022.
Many third-party booking sites work with organisations like schools and community pitches to list their venues, then take a commission from each booking.
In October, Hireapitch Events Coordinator Jay Styles said: “We remain frustrated and surprised by these allegations and they are simply trying to pin blame on us for either elements out of our control or lack of payment.”
Hireapitch offered screenshots showing that they were cancelling bookings through August, and their conversation with Vigors, who reached out to say the team hadn’t damaged the pitch and that Hireapitch should have moved the men’s team instead.
The email read: “This has nothing to do with a womens vs mens game! Please do not try and play that card as this is totally false, for context, the men’s league at 8PM is also being cancelled! As per our cancellation policy we do reserve the right to cancel.”
Hireapitch also provided an email with the Laces from 2022, which stated that they had arranged an alternative location in Streatham but withdrew it after claiming the Laces left a spate of poor reviews.
Equal Playing Field also claimed that Hireapitch were inflating prices even though the pitches were solely run by owners, with screenshots made last week of a direct booking from Chobham Academy (whose pitch they play on) being priced at £65 compared to £89 on Hireapitch’s site in a hike of nearly 137%.
Increases like this mean that pitches could be less financially accessible through third-party sites for clubs with less funding, directly affecting grassroots teams who do not have existing relationships with pitch owners.
In response, Hireapitch’s Styles said: “We don’t inflate prices, everything can be easily seen on our website everyone is given an equal chance to pay and play.”
Inclusive football league Clubs United founder Hannah Thornley said: “The Football Association banned women from playing football for fifty years – as well as blocking working-class players from accessing the sport.
“And here, history has the potential to repeat itself, if decision-makers stand by and let providers profit off grassroots football.”
Equal Playing Field involves over 30 primarily London-based grassroots clubs, with seven saying they have had struggles with booking pitches in the past.
In a press release, they claim that ‘third-party private companies [are monopolising] facilities for profit’ and Hireapitch ‘has repeatedly cancelled long-standing ‘block bookings’ (bookings of ten weeks and over) to make way for its own corporate or flexible leagues for cis men.’
Hireapitch have also denied this claim.
Equal Playing Field has also released an open letter linked on their Instagram account asking football pitch owners to be more aware of how their venues are booked out and ‘reevaluate contracts with third-party companies to ensure fair and affordable access’, citing that pitch access is crucial for player health and social connection.
Vigors said: “Schools and community spaces should be a true reflection of the community and those who want to use the facilities.
“To have them monopolised and taken over by private companies used for profit and exist for cis men is unacceptable.”
Vigors has been playing football since childhood and earlier this year founded Enjoy FC.
She said: “[Over the years,] the situation has gotten worse, not better. The government gave £30 million to support women’s sports, but it hasn’t trickled down to inclusive grassroots teams [especially] with companies using community facilities for profit.”
The collective is encouraging people to send their email template to local MPs to raise awareness, and are calling for meetings with the Minister of Sport and local governing bodies.
Featured Image – image by @kay.law.photos
