Dragons Welcome Here
Charlotte Galloway, Cardiff, Wales
Goal Click have teamed up with EE to tell the stories of UK grassroots teams born out of adversity - that have overcome hate with hope, with the aim of making the beautiful game more inclusive for all. Because there is a place in football for everyone.
Charlotte Galloway is the Chairperson of Cardiff Dragons FC and coach of Dragons Rock (“Drocks”), a Cardiff-based grassroots women’s and non-binary team, particularly supporting and promoting the rights of the LGBTQI+ community. The team was born out of partnership between the Cardiff Dragons men’s football team and a team of geologists called Rock Solid, who played in the Bristol Casual League. Dragons Rock caters for all abilities and commitment levels, supports numerous local LGBTQI+ causes, and has a focus on trans inclusion in football, engaging with the FAW (The Football Association for Wales) around mixed gender football policy.
Inspired? To find your place in football, in Wales, head here.
Can you introduce yourself and tell us how your football life began?
My name is Charlotte Galloway, I am originally from Surrey but moved to Cardiff for university in 2012 and never went back! I work in tech at the moment, but originally studied Environmental Geoscience and then picked up a Master’s in Data Science a few years later! Currently I am the Chairperson for Cardiff Dragons FC – this is my second season doing the role, and I also help out with coaching.
I started playing football when I was six. I joined my first proper team outside of school when I was nine after I saw an advert at the dentist. There were not many girls at my school so I played with the boys, and it was amazing to join a team that was all girls. Some of us went on to join the same women’s team when we were 16.
What has your football journey been like up until now?
When I came to Cardiff I played with the university team but it was hard keeping up as my course was very practical. When I finished, I heard about the Cardiff Dragons through word of mouth, but did not realise they were an LGBT+ club. So I joined the Dragons as a 22 year old who identified as straight and cis, and the environment was such that I was able to work out who I was in a really supportive environment.
It turned out that I had torn my ACL a few years prior, so I had surgery a year after joining. I started coaching while I was waiting for surgery and during the recovery. When my ACL had healed I played for some local 11-a-side teams – I think I had a bit of competitiveness I needed to get rid of!
As my career started to take off and Covid hit, I realised I did not want to spend every weekend travelling around South Wales, so I came back to the Dragons, and was able to put what I had learnt into practice by helping out less experienced or less confident players.
In the time I have been Chair we have achieved a lot – we hosted our first ever Dragons Rock tournament, maintained our highest ever training numbers, and provided free mental health support for all members. We have really put the club on the map.
What did you try to capture with your photos? Was there a wider meaning with the photos?
I tried to capture Drocks life in Cardiff through my eyes. I tried to get photos of everyone and everything – coaches, players, supporters, training sessions, and our tournament. The Dragons Rock players and coaches support each other as much as we play, we do not take things too seriously, and we are there for each other off the pitch as much as on it.
Everyone’s experience of the team is very different. I have got a serious injury right now (my other ACL, boo!) so I am experiencing it as a coach, supporter and committee member. Other people may only come along for one or two sessions a month, as and when they can, and get the experience of playing and being coached without fear of making a mistake. There are others who come to every training session, every match, and every club social.
What are the opportunities for women's and non-binary players to participate in your community?
We welcome everyone, and I think awareness of our club and our values in the local community is something we are improving. There is a lot of opportunity for competitive women’s football in south Wales, but we are quite unique in offering gender non conforming and nonbinary people the opportunity to play football.
In my experience, local 11-a-side clubs can get very competitive, and are not really the right environment for someone who is not at the same level of confidence, fitness, or experience as the rest of the team. So in terms of offering that more inclusive environment for people who have never played before or are outside the usual archetype of players, we are quite different.
We have really enjoyed being part of the Cardiff Women’s Casual League this year, and that is a trans-inclusive league too. It is nice because each team in that league is different in terms of its identity, so there is definitely something for everyone in the local area.
What role does football play in your life and in your community?
My life revolves around football at the moment! It is a really exciting time, especially to be involved in women’s football as the game grows. This year I have watched both club and international women’s games in the pub in Cardiff, which is AMAZING! Particularly given Wales is a ‘rugby country’.
I did not think I would see women’s football being shown in the pub so it has been amazing to be part of that change in our own small way, and I have not heard too much in terms of negative comments when it has been on.
As well as Dragons Rock, we have cis and trans men in another team at the Cardiff Dragons, so I help oversee that. There is some appetite for walking football too, and I have been involved in setting up the women and girls football hub called Amdani Hi @ Ocean Way, which is part of the ‘Environments: For Her’ initiative created by the Football Association of Wales.
What impact has Cardiff Dragons / Drocks had on you? Why is it so important to have an inclusive space to play?
Cardiff Dragons has allowed me to work out who I am, express that in my own way, and allowed for that to change over time. This allows me to be my authentic self outside of football, and it has really helped me feel more comfortable around my cis-het friends and at work. At work it means that sometimes other people come to me when they are working out their identity or have kids who are coming out, so it is really heart-warming to know I am helping other people just by being myself.
By being inclusive we create an environment where people can turn up with as much or as little commitment as they want (every week, or once every couple of months) and they will not get treated any differently for it. A lot of the positive feedback we get from players is “training was amazing, I was not scared of being shouted at if I made a mistake, and I could just be me!”
We provide a space for players who have played their whole life and want a more casual environment, as well as players who have never kicked a ball in their life before. Our youngest members are 18, our oldest are nearly 60!
We provide a space for trans people to play, and we are really unique in that. Football is for everyone, and we are here to make that happen. Just turn up with respect for each other and for each other's differences, that is all we ask for.
Who inspires you?
Michele Adams, who helped set up the Wales Women's National Team and chairs Cardiff City Ladies, has been a great role model and I feel lucky to have such a good relationship with her. Seeing what Helen Hardy has done with Manchester Laces has been really inspiring too. I love that even though we are at other ends of the country we have a shared vision for our respective clubs.
What ambitions do you have for the future?
I would love for the club to continue to grow sustainably. It would be amazing to build connections with other like-minded teams and keep the social, casual foundation of our club strong, while supporting each other on and off the pitch and getting some good results along the way! I think providing mixed-gender football as an option is really important too, as not many other clubs offer that, and it helps show men (in the teams we play against) that people of all genders can play football.
I would also love for all of our players to be able to do 10 keepy-ups. One day.
What do you think the future looks like for football in your community? Why might the future be hopeful? What would you like to change?
At the moment we are engaging with the Football Association of Wales (FAW) on their policies towards trans inclusion and mixed gender football. It is an ambition to help set an example and be part of a change which sees policies to be more inclusive at grassroots level.
Football can be as simple and beautiful as a bunch of mates kicking a ball together down the park, and age, gender, sexuality, ethnicity, religion do not come into it. Football is a language that transcends all of that.
To be honest I am really scared right now by the message being passed down in other sports and making headlines about being trans-exclusive. This sends out a really really damaging message. For most, if not all, of our trans members who come to play football for a couple of hours a week with us, this is where they can be in a safe place, without fear of judgement or discrimination. For them to see the media amplify the narrative that they do not belong is extremely harmful.
It echoes what we have historically seen (and sometimes still do see) about inclusion of cis-women in football, so it is nothing new. I do not understand why people cannot just let other people share in all the amazing things that sports bring.
How important is it for male allies to fight sexist abuse?
It is incredibly important for men to fight sexist abuse. If you only have one group of people who share certain characteristics, it is easy for people who do not share those characteristics to dismiss and ignore them - in this instance middle aged, cis-het white men (and keyboard warriors).
When you have men complimenting and praising the standard of women’s football online, or even just normalising it and talking about women's football the same way they talk about the men's players, it creates an ‘us’ environment which is much harder to direct hateful comments at.
When you have cis white men going to women’s football games, instead of just women, and they are all cheering on the players together, then it changes the dynamic. Suddenly those people who want to spread sexism and shout sexist or homophobic chants are in the minority.
Now we are selling out the “men’s” stadiums for women's games. People of all ages and genders are recognising women's football as a language of football worthy of its own investment. The standard is going up, crowds are growing, and more young girls as well as adult women are kicking a ball for the first time – and feeling welcome.
There is still work to do, however, and it is great to see initiatives like Hope United stand up, call it out, and make people like me feel like our experiences of being told “you are good for a girl” or “girls can’t play football” are actually way less than what we deserve. It makes us really feel part of the game we love instead of a minority to be overlooked and laughed at. Women have always been part of football and we are only getting better. We are here to stay.
Series edited by Emma Walley.