Wrexham FC takeover

Field of dreams

Hopefully it’ll get them to want to play, get them more involved ’

By EMILY ASH

Football fans across the globe have had their attention drawn to a small Welsh football club for all the right reasons.

Wrexham FC, an historical club which up until recently had fallen into hard times, caught the attention of two A-list celebrities, Ryan Reynolds and Rob McElhenney, who have now completed their official takeover of the fifth-tier club, bringing a touch of Hollywood magic to North Wales.

They have announced that they have big plans for the club going forward, with a mission to “always beat Chester”. They have also announced that they will be looking at getting the women’s teams kickstarted in the future.

Most recently they said that they will be giving wages lost from employees on furlough back to them. This means that those who received 80% of their wages in the government scheme will now get their full pay.

Sian Smith, a local football coach in Wrexham, thinks that it’ll have a positive impact on the local young girls as well as the boys.

She says: “Hopefully it’ll get them to want to want to play, get them more involved.”

She did however have some concerns for current local teams if it takes off. she says: “They have a Wrexham Centre of excellence for them, so that’s like an academy but there is no girls sector.”

Ms. Smith however remains positive: “It might affect us to start off with but them they might help the other clubs in Wrexham.”

There is no doubt that the takeover has positively affected the town.

Ms Smith sums it with three words: “It sure has.”

Finally, for anyone wanting to raise a glass to celebrate the club’s good fortune, it has produced its own limited edition “The Takeover” Aviation Gin with a special Wrexham FC logo on it rather than the iconic black and white label.

The gin sold out in a few short hours and they are currently working on making it available for pre-order again.

Under new management: The Racecourse ground in Wrexham (above) and a tweet from the club promoting their partnership with Aviation Gin (below, right)

Mars missions to solve riddle

By DAVID DIANGIENDA

The newest missions to Mars have been welcomed by a Liverpool astrophysics expert for providing more information about the mysterious and intriguing planet. Scientists from the United Arab Emirates made history as a probe was launched to the atmosphere of planet Mars and took its first pictures of the red planet last week. The satellite, which cost £160m, aims to provide pictures of the Martian atmosphere by studying the daily and seasonal changes on the planet. This isn’t the only mission to Mars to be taking place at the moment, as the United States and China are launching separate missions in the coming weeks. Andrew Newsam, lecturer in Liverpool John Moores University’s Astrophysics Department, said: “The main thing they are looking at actually while they are there is the atmosphere of Mars and studying things like if water vapour is there.” He also spoke about the challenges facing those who are looking to land on Mars in the near future. Tesla CEO, Elon Musk, has made no secret of his plans to go on the planet in the future, though Andrew questioned, how long people will survive on the planet. “We probably know enough that we can keep people alive for a while. We know a fair amount about very small bits of Mars, we know a fair bit about the global weather pattens and we know things like the weather composition,” he said. “We have been studying Mars properly and in detail for significantly less than 100 years. (Elon Musk) wants to set up a colony and that has to be self-sustaining and we don’t know how to do that as there is not enough information.” News of the space missions coincided with Women In Science day, an event aiming to celebrate the works and the achievements of women who are in the STEM (Science, Technology, Engineer, Mathematics) industries across the world and who provide an inspiration to the next generation of girls. Andrew believes there is still work to be done on improving diversity and equality in the science industries. “It’s improving, it’s hasn’t improved enough,” he said “It’s not just women, basically the vast majority of scientists that you will meet are like me, they are white, male and middle class. And so that’s a big problem, I like my job and I’m glad I’m doing but it doesn’t mean that you have to look like me to do this job. “It’s not just the case that we need more women, or we need more people from ethnic backgrounds, or we need more people from working-class backgrounds or anything like that. What we need is for everybody to come along and find the best career for them.” Picture of interviewee Andrew Newsam

Hope Probe Image- Courtesy of Mohamed Bin Zayed’s Twitter

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The 18-year-old winner of Miss Liverpool 2021, Polly Gerrard, is out to prove that models can be much, much more than meets the eye. By Nathan Sartain

chieving high academic success at A level – she obtained four A*s – she wants to inspire young girls to chase their passions whilst also valuing things such as their education, and harbours aspirations of one day competing in the Miss World competitionFor now, though, she progresses to the Miss England competition, about which she says: “I’m so excited. I love modelling and representing my home city of Liverpool is so exciting. I hope to go on to maybe win Miss England and then to represent your country in Miss World would be just extraordinary.” Poppy won the ‘Miss Liverpool’ crown in December in what was described as a low-key event, with all other aspects of the competition taking place online due to current COVID restrictions. And the young model, who will study Maths at a Russell Group university in September, isn’t just someone who wishes to excel in these competitions on surface-level attractiveness. Poppy spends countless hours doing charity work, has previously been a golden buzzer act on Britain’s Got Talent as part of the dance group Mersey Girls and was invited to perform at Princess Eugenie’s wedding. “My family have always taught me to be a kind person, wherever you get to don’t forget where you came from, and to work hard and it’ll pay off. I know that people see a pageant and think ‘Oh they’re just itsy girls’ but I wanted to prove that you can model and do those things. It’s better to be an all-rounder, not just about education, but also about using your platform in a positive way,” she says. Believing that staying grounded is hugely important, Poppy plans on giving back to Liverpool, the place she describes as “the best city,” with a charity fundraiser. Explaining her endeavour as a show with a “bit of everything,” the 18-year-old wants to showcase the best in dance, magic, music, and anything else you can think of in the hopes of raising people’s sprits during the third lockdown. Part of the proceeds will go to Mandela 8, a local charity which she is excited to work with. With her local pride and unabating tenacity, Poppy Gerrard is changing perceptions on what it can mean to be a model, whilst also ensuring that she keeps her other plates spinning. “I think the most important

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thing is that you stay grounded, and that you always remember other people in your successes. “Anything I can do to get involved with campaigns, and to get girls involved with sport and education, it’s great. I’m really grateful for the ‘Miss Liverpool’ title because I think it’s given me the platform to show other people about having intelligence and being a kind person.”

Fans team up to tackle homophobia

By Kiva Donald

An Everton LGBT+ supporters group and Everton FC are teaming up with the Football vs Homophobia organisation in a bid to tackle homophobia in the sport.

The Rainbow Toffees supporters group started five years ago and is currently run by Mike Homfray and social media coordinator and promoter Paul Hession. The organisation has had help from Everton legends and patrons Nevill, Southhall, Peter Reid and Kevin Ratcliffe alongside charity fundraiser and fan Speedo Mick.

This month, the group is joining a webinar enabling the public to ask questions on issues surrounding homophobia in football. The event on February 25 isn’t live, but will be advertised beforehand so that people can send in questions to be asked on the evening.

Members from The Rainbow Toffees, Football vs Homophobia and the LGBT+ Network at Everton will all be part of the panel.

Mike Homfray said: “We thought it would be really good if we could have a zoom event where people can sort of listen and learn about the issues involved and why Rainbow Toffees is doing what it does and what Everton is trying to do and so on.

“That’s what Football vs Homophobia is doing on a national level so hopefully it should be a really interesting event.”

Mike, who is also a sociology lecturer at the university of Liverpool, and teaches modules such as “Sexualities in society” and “Gender and sexuality in every life” explained: “There is so much history that people simply don’t know about. “So much went on that unless we draw attention to it now, it gets lost forever. I think now, we can look at the achievements that have been made, especially regarding LGB rights. I think in terms of trans rights there’s still a bit to go.

“But in terms of LGB rights, we’ve seen enormous strides and enormous changes, and we must never take those for granted. It’s really important to know your history and to know the struggles that people went through to achieve these changes. They were huge.”

“I’m 58, I remember a lot of them (homophobic mentalities.) I remember the response to HIV and AIDS. I remember the sheer level of homophobia when I was growing up, it was immense.”

Although improvements in the law and mentalities have changed, Mike believes that there is still a long way to go. Young people today live in a better world, but even within his lifetime he is convinced two of his job losses were due to homophobia.

“At the time there was no legislation I could’ve fallen back on anyway, it’s really difficult. The thing is that it’s often a very subtle thing, (people) will find ways of getting rid of you and they’ll come up with some other reasons, but you know what the truth is.

“Changing the law is never enough anyway because there are always ways that people will get around the law unfortunately. It’s important to change it, but let’s not pretend it’s going to change everything forever overnight. You’ve got to carry on working towards it.

“I’d imagine there aren’t many gay people around who wouldn’t say something has happened in their lives which they will identify as being homophobia.”

Football is very close to Mike’s heart, which is why he is determined to do his best in challenging the issues still rife in his beloved sport. He explained that although there has been some development in raising awareness many LGBT+ fans still feel that there are certain barriers in being fans, alongside fears of prejudice going to the grounds.

“Football is still an environment where people who are gay don’t feel able to come out, and this is something which is always unique. In every other sport you have people who are openly gay playing rugby, tennis, cricket, swimming, but think of football though, nope.”

“We’re still incredibly behind the times in terms of football. There’s not one single openly gay player in the entirety of the premiership. Just on the law of averages, there’s absolutely no way that every player in the premiership is going to be straight, of course they’re not.”

The university lecturer judges that the easiest way forward could be to encourage multiple football players to come forward at the same time, to lift off some of the weight and anxiety of coming out to the public. He also emphasised that although individual football clubs are slowly improving, major events such as the FA and Premiership are ignoring these issues.

“When I look at the FA and premiership, I think they could be doing an awful lot more than they’re doing. Perhaps they just wish the subject would just go away and find it too much of a hot potato.

“Time and time again, they’ve talked about putting an information video together. Things have been done, and then somewhere along the line, it never seems to materialise. Either it’s watered down so the effect of it is far less, or it simply doesn’t get made at all, or it get made and never gets distributed.”

Football vs Homophobia will last all month, alongside LGBT+ history month. If you would like to get involved to help raise awareness or take part, information on the webinar can be found on either The Rainbow Toffees Everton LGBT Supporters group Facebook page, or on the Everton website.

Fans team up to tackle homophobia

What started out as The Gay Teachers Association nearly five decades ago, now has a whole month dedicated to its celebrations. By Anna Michaelides

LGBT+ History Month which happens every February is a chance to celebrate the lives, experience and history of the Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender communities in the UK.

The overall aim is to promote equality and diversity to benefit everybody by raising awareness and advancing education around the topic.

A month of events was first established in the UK in 2005 by Schools Out UK and is a time to reflect on how far the LGBT+ community have come throughout the years.

The group started life as The Gay Teachers Association in 1974 in a bid to make schools a safe place for LGBT teachers, students and all other staff. Schools Out UK is currently the only organisation to support this goal on such a wide scale.

One of the driving forces to make a change was the introduction of Section 28 legislation in 1988 which stated that local authorities “shall not intentionally promote homosexuality” or “promote the teaching in any maintained school of the acceptability of homosexuality as a pretended family relationship”.

This may be something which, in the 21st century, we have started to move away from, but there is more work to be done.

Sue Sanders, chair of the educational charity, said February was the month of choice because of the half term holiday and the hope the concept would be picked up by libraries and museums where teachers and parents would see information, giving them the confidence to take it into schools and teach about it. Sue feels schools have “really hidden” the LGBT+ community. She said: “We really wanted to change the atmosphere around LGBT people and celebrate us. We had been victims for years and gone through hell.”

She also said this month is a chance for businesses to show acceptance and value their LGBT+ staff and customers.

This year’s theme ‘Body, Mind, Spirit’ is one which is likely to resonate with many of us in the current climate.

Since the coronavirus pandemic, looking after our mental health has been more important than ever. While the virus has had a massively negative impact on so many people’s lives, statistics show that disadvantaged and minority groups are the most adversely affected, which unfortunately includes the LGBT+ communities.

LGBT+ people are more likely to suffer from poor mental health and experience domestic abuse.

Body, mind and spirit are at the focus of the event to send a message about how important it is to keep them all in balance and to look after our mental health, as well as just physical. If you would like to donate to Schools Out UK (Charity number: 1156352), you can do so via PayPal: https://www.paypal.com/uk/ fundraiser/charity/128006

Events coming up in the North West this month which you can get involved in, for all other news and events visit: www.lgbtplushistorymonth.co.uk

Wednesday February 17th & 24th Pride on the Page

Time: 12pm – 1pm, online event.

Monday February 22: Coming Out from Lockdown

Time: 7pm – 8:30pm, online event.

Thursday February 25: Queer perspectives on St George and the Dragon

Time: 1pm – 2:30pm, online event.

Dr Sam Riches discusses some of the ways that imagery of St George was used to enable discussion of gender and sexuality in late medieval European culture, and the impact that the rediscovery of this tradition is having on current reappraisals of the art and culture of the Middle Ages and the Renaissance.

‘Explore this year’s theme ‘Body, Mind and Spirit’. We’ll look at and share stories and poems from the LGBT+ experience together, reading slowly and taking lots of pauses for discussion.’

Wednesday February 17: Reading and Q&A session

Time: 2pm – 3pm, online event.

Damian Barr, Lancaster University alumnus and award-winning writer and broadcaster, to read from his debut novel ‘You will be safe here’. Black Gay Ink present: Coming Out from Lockdown, launched in October 2020, offering a safe space for Black gay men to learn more about positive personal and professional development. Wednesday February 24: Webinar ‘in and out, on and off: LGBT+ online experiences’ Time: 4pm – 5pm, online event.

Dr Megan Todd, Senior Lecturer in Social Science presents a webinar about the implications and risk of LGBT+ internet users.

Friday February 26: Stockport LGBT+ History Month 2021 – Poetry open mic night

Time: 6pm start, online event.

LGBT+ Poet Laureate Trudy Howson hosts an evening of poetry talent. A chance for you to share your thoughts via Poetry.

Saturday February 27: The History of LGBT+ Rights in the UK

Time: 7pm – 8pm, online event.

A fun and interactive quiz by Lelmeducation looking at the history of LGBT+ people. Tickets for the event cost £5.98 and can be purchased via Event Bright.