News

Fulham have become the third Premier League football club to add their support to 'On The Ball' - an inspiring campaign to get free sanitary products in football grounds in the UK.

Set up in March this year by a trio of Cetic season ticket holders - Orlaith Duffy, Mikaela McKinley and Erin Slaven – the young women decided to launch their campaign after learning that not all toilets had sanitary bins and sanitary products were locked away in machines which required exact change.

Orlaith, Mikaela and Erin also hoped the campaign would help increase the visibility of female fans – who now make up more than a quarter of Premier League supporters – in a space which remains male-orientated.

Inititially launched in Scotland, clubs such as Barnsley in the EFL League One quickly came on board. Brighton became the first top flight club to commit to providing female fans with free sanitary products in August, with Huddersfield and now Fulham following suit.

"I think it takes us back to the role football clubs have a part in the community beyond football," said Mikaela.

"A lot of smaller clubs were quick to come on board because they’re perhaps a bit more in tune with what their fanbase wants, but in terms of visibility it’s great to have Premier League clubs on board.”

“Football grounds are male-dominated places and there is a severe lack of period provisions,” Orlaith told The Independent.

“A lot of young girls come to the football with male relatives. If they unexpectedly come on their period, maybe even for the first time, they have to ask for money and then might have to go and get change for the machines. It can be awkward and embarrassing,”

Aimee McKenzie, head of operations and facilities at Fulham, welcomed the campaign, saying: “As soon as we heard about the On The Ball campaign we thought it was a great initiative that Orlaith, Erin and Mikaela were pushing out to clubs.

"We believe it’s important that we are in tune with our fanbase, so it’s great that we can be a part of it and hopefully it will lead others to follow suit.”

 

The following clubs have signed up for the campaign: 1874 Northwich, AFC Liverpool, Altrincham, Barnsley, Brighton & Hove Albion, Bristol Rovers, Celtic, City of Liverpool FC, Clapton CFC?, Crawley Town, Curzon Ashton, Dundee United, Exeter City, Fulham, Huddersfield Town, Kilmarnock, Linlithgow Rose, Mossley AFC?, Motherwell, Northampton Town, Oldham Athletic?, Oxford United, Peterborough United, Queen of the South, Rochdale, St Roch’s?, Tranmere Rovers, West Didsbury & Chorlton?, West Bromwich Albion.

Read an in-depth article by Maya Oppenheim (Women's Correspondent at The Independent) on period poverty and the On The Ball campaign by clicking on the link here.

Share this article