For The Love Of The Game

Fleur Cousens, England

My name is Fleur Cousens, and I am the founder of Goal Diggers FC - a non-profit football club set up in London to make football more available and accessible to all women and non-binary people regardless of previous experience or ability. 

I founded Goal Diggers FC (GDFC) in September 2015 because I was fed up with being told football was a man’s game. I created GDFC to flip the script. The main aim of GDFC is to show that football does not need to be gendered – football is a sport for everyone. There is an “all” in football for a reason. 

What did you try to show with the photos? Was there any wider meaning with the photos?

The photos feature a range of Goal Diggers FC members, enjoying life on the pitch in their beautiful new "For The Love Of The Game" kit - designed by fellow team member Anastasia Kuchta. 

I tried to capture the celebratory atmosphere that is present in GDFC due to our non-ability-based ethos. It is really important that our teams are based on availability instead of ability because it fosters a uniquely encouraging environment, free from the inter-player rivalry that comes with ability-based selection. 

It also means you are allowed to exist within the club for as long as you desire, instead of as long as your ability level allows you. This adds a layer of stability and belonging to our team and means we become more than just a team, we become a community.

What does football and Goal Diggers mean to you?

Football and Goal Diggers means the world to me. Goal Diggers has become the space where I feel most comfortable in myself. A large part of this is to do with my sexuality. I did not come out until I had finished university and I was terrified of accepting my true identity. At that stage in my life, I had no queer community. Now, when I step on the pitch, I feel like I come home to my chosen family. I am no longer the outsider, no longer “the lesbian”, no longer alone.

Can you tell us the story of the new GDFC kit? Why does it mean a lot to you?

The 2021 GDFC kit, designed by club member Anastasia Kuchta, commemorates 100 years since the ban of women’s football by The FA. Rather than different individual numbers on the back, each kit is given the same number 1921. This is a powerful educational tool and a symbol of the even playing field GDFC aims to create through our non-ability-based ethos. GDFC is not and will never be about individuals, it is about a team, it is about a community. 

The keeper kit is a uniquely evocative design. It marries the greens associated with pitches, with art deco patterns and fonts associated with the 1920s - connecting worlds that became disconnected 100 years ago. 

This kit is about education. Educating people on the reason women are playing catch up in a sport they were banned from by their own governing body. Banned at a time when women's football not only existed but was thriving - with over 50,000 fans attending the games. 

Educating people about this ban sheds light on the current context: the fight for pitch space. Grassroots pitches are booked on a first come, first served basis and Goal Diggers are keen for a review of this outdated system. It is a system which creates barriers for those who are newer to the game by placing them at the bottom of historic pitch waiting lists. 

This actively harms the growth of the women's game, as so many women's teams are newer to the sport due to the 50-year ban, which not only shattered the growth of the women's game - it shattered the very existence of women’s football and taught society to view the game as one for men. 

Each kit also includes the powerful words footballer Alice Kell uttered in 1921 after the ban was announced: “We play for the love of the game and are determined to go on”. This quote encapsulates 100 years of defiance women have shown by simply playing the game. It is commonly known in football that a team who plays together, wins together. We believe that a footballing community that learns about their past together, grows together. 

What is your favourite photo?

My favourite photo features my mother, my girlfriend, and my dog. It is very special to me for many reasons, but mainly due to the support my mother shows the team. It means a lot to me that she celebrates the community I have created, and it means even more to me that she celebrates my relationship with my girlfriend. 

I always had a deep-rooted fear that coming out would cause my family to turn away from me - but as this photo shows, I was proven to be very wrong. In fact, my mother even comes to watch my girlfriend play football when I am away. 

Where can we find out more and buy the kit?

More information about the kit can be found at www.goaldiggersfootballclub.com/store. 100% of proceeds from the kit go to GDFC and their efforts to make football more accessible to all.