Football fandom in the UK has traditionally been perceived as a white, male space, but football has always been home to a variety of different voices, cultures and people. Black content creators have been huge in pioneering the shift in our perceptions of football as a white space, to a multi-cultural, diverse and open community.

As part of the club’s continued efforts to champion diversity through the No To Hate campaign, we wanted to celebrate these content creators and bring aspiring future generations of under-represented creatives together.

With the club’s existing partnership with BCOMS and our alignment in wanting to diversify football on and off the pitch, we worked together to bring a room of burgeoning creators, club representatives and partners together.

The event was hosted in the Canoville Suite at Stamford Bridge, with Paul Canoville himself in attendance. The evening, co-hosted by Mayowa Quadri (brand and editorial officer at Versus) and Anita Abayomi (co-founder and host at Goal Diggers podcast) boasted an impressive and wide-ranging roster of speakers and creatives, including:

• Capo Lee, musical artist and youth project manager

• Felicia Pennant, award-winning journalist, editor, creative consultant; and founder, editor-in-chief and publisher at SEASON zine

• Kelvyn Quagraine, head of brand at Art of Football, board member at Youth Beyond Borders, creative direction at The Blackbeat

• Moses Duckrell, freelance creator and director at Copa90
  
  And Chelsea legend herself, Eniola Aluko.
  

The evening was also the launch of a continued project with illustrator, Zem Clarke.
Chelsea Foundation first partnered with Zem last year to work on the project, ‘This Is Us’ – a celebratory book of Chelsea’s black heroes throughout history, featuring the work of children in Foundation partner schools as well as illustrations of 20 black heroes by Zem herself.

This year, we have extended the project to create a piece featuring 41 black players who have made their mark on Chelsea’s history, to mark the 41 seasons since Paul Canoville made his Chelsea debut. Read more about the project here

In attendance were the 2021 recipients of the Chelsea Foundation and BCOMS Journalist Bursary Programme, Um-E-Aymen Babar and Brian Matovu, who shared how the bursary has propelled their careers.

At the end of the event, Mayowa Quadri announced the launch of the Blue Creator Fund, a No To Hate project in partnership with Versus. The fund will give up to £15,000 worth of funding to two aspiring creatives to make a project about Chelsea and the community, with the opportunity to be mentored by the creatives at Versus and showcase a final piece across Chelsea and Versus’ networks. More details on the fund and applications will follow in the coming months.

About Chelsea FC, Chelsea Foundation and BCOMS

Chelsea FC, Chelsea Foundation and BCOMS have been in partnership for over two years. At every home fixture since September 2020, Chelsea FC have provided two BCOMS Masterclass students with a space in the press box at Stamford Bridge. This partnership was extended through the Chelsea Foundation and No To Hate campaign, when in October 2021, we launched the Journalist Bursary Programme which funds two aspiring sports journalists to complete their NCTJ-accredited Masters in Journalism and a contribution to their living costs.

Applications for the next cohort of journalists on the programme opens next week. To apply, please visit bcoms.co