The Out and Out Football awards 2023

The final whistle is about to blow on 2023 and it’s time to stop, reflect, and hand out some arbitrary awards. Welcome to the Out and Out Football awards for 2023.

It’s quite simple. This is all about celebrating the winners in the world of football and LGBTQ+ identity from the last calendar year. There are five categories. There are two winners for each.

I (Adam) have chosen one of the winners for each.

Flo Lloyd-Hughes has chosen the other. Flo is host of the incredibly entertaining women's football podcast, Counter Pressed. She’s a journalist and creative, and quite honestly she’s definitely more qualified than me to be doing this.

So here’s the winners of the Out and Out Football awards for 2023. Disagree? Have alternative winners? Let us know. Reply, share, or comment.

Team of the year

AH: Back in April, TRUK United made history when they fielded the first ever all trans-masculine team against Dulwich Hamlet Supporters Team. It was a game of such joy. Seriously, check out the pictures. Around football, we’re seeing more people using trans-exclusionary rhetoric. TRUK United FC is such a lovely tonic to the hatred. Trans people belong in football, full stop.

FL-H: Dulwich Hamlet Women. From organising friendlies against TRUK United, the first-ever football team made up of entirely trans women, to sticking up stickers around the ground in support of trans rights, this club is constant and vocal with its support of the trans community and fighting against hate.

Ally of the year

AH: It’d be remiss if I didn't mention Arsenal’s Aaron Ramsdale, who published an eloquent case for inclusion in football in the Player’s Tribune in August. Let’s face it, it’s not been the strongest of years for allies in football. Allyship doesn’t mean anything if there’s nothing at stake for the ally themselves. We saw that much with Jordan Henderson. But Ramsdale made himself vulnerable in a way that I don’t remember seeing another male professional football player doing in their allyship with the LGBTQ+ community before. It seemed like Ramsdale gets it, and lord knows that now, more than ever, we need more people who get it speaking up.

FL-H: Kelly Holmes. Not many people will take the time to listen, learn and admit they were wrong. This year, Holmes, who is an out gay woman, spoke about how she had been "ignorant" about the trans community after initially opposing trans athletes' inclusion in sport. In January, she told Pink News: “I have been ignorant in the past about the fight of the trans community and I now want to see fair and conclusive outcome for those whose gender differs from that assigned at birth, in all walks of life, including sport.”

We should all be more like Kelly.

Villain of the year

AH: This one is fresh in the mind, but it has to go to Anel Ahmedhodžić for his failure to wear a rainbow armband as Sheffield United captain during the Rainbow Laces fixture. You don’t get to just try to explain away something like that with a one-syllable answer, either. He can get in the bin.

FL-H: Jordan Henderson. Need I say more?

Moment of the year

AH: Quinn becoming the first nonbinary person to play at a FIFA World Cup. The midfielder featured for Canada in Australia and New Zealand in July. A reminder that in a world that seems to be continually shit, sometimes good things happen.

FL-H: Forgive me, reader, for this selfish plug but one of my moments of the year was an interview I did for Gaffer magazine with women's football icons Sam Kerr and Kristie Mewis. The couple, who don't do many interviews as a couple, were so open and honest about their relationship, being an out high profile couple and what it's like to play against your girlfriend in this interview in January.

Person of the year

AH: My person of the year is striker Zander Murray. As one of the only out people in men’s football in the UK, Zander continuously uses his voice to make change. Whether it’s telling his story in a documentary, delivering education sessions in schools and clubs, or calling out homophobes on social media and in the media, Zander’s work saves lives. His story gives me the courage to keep going and speak up for change. We need more people like Zander.

FL-H: It has to be Megan Rapinoe. This was her last year playing football and unfortunately it ended in heartbreak, crashing out of the Women's World Cup in the quarter finals and ending her club career with an achilles injury in the NWSL championship final.

But her career won't be remembered for those moments. It will be the legacy of the last five to 10 years, where she loudly stood up for LGBTQ+ rights and racial justice. She has lived her life and football career unapologetically and, alongside her fiancée Sue Bird, she is part of one of the most visible gay couples in the world.

Thank you for supporting Out and Out Football this year. It really means a lot to me. If you’d like to give me a festive gift, please share this newsletter with someone you think would like it.

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