The 2020/21 football season brought many famous days for Cheltenham Town. Victories over Ipswich, Sunderland and Charlton will live long in the memory but there is another event we shouldn’t forget. Ahead of a memorable draw with Lincoln we witnessed the official launch of the Proud Robins, founded by Sam Lear.
Sam’s life has always involved football, with the global game playing a key part in his life. Having played as a youngster and watched as many did, he remained involved in the game and with Cheltenham Town.
“Growing up, I played football but very quickly realised not very well! My real interest in football coincided with watching it when I was about 7 or 8 years old.
“I had a bash at refereeing and management during my teenage years but my adult life is very centred on watching football or very occasionally turning out as a ringer for 5-a-side.”
As with many of us, Lear’s life is devoted to the pride of Gloucestershire, Cheltenham Town, having been a supporter for 20 years after a chance encounter with a club icon.
“My first Cheltenham match was a 2-1 home win against Doncaster in 1998, with Michael Duff scoring his first goal for the Robins. I had a hospital appointment in Cheltenham and my mum decided to seek a fixture list from the ground on the way home. We met the late Jasper Cook and he convinced her to take me to that Doncaster match. I have been hooked ever since.”
This love affair hasn’t gone without anguish as, like 7 in 10 supporters through the turnstiles, Lear has experienced and seen homophobic abuse at football.
“I have definitely witnessed homophobia in football – even at Cheltenham.
“At Cheltenham specifically, this usually manifested itself with homophobic chanting, often towards Brighton supporters, or isolated but vitriolic abuse towards a particular player, the ‘p**f’ word was the most common.
“Homophobia is prevalent throughout the game even today – you only have to look at responses to official tweets celebrating Pride month or the Rainbow Laces campaign to see that. There is a reason why there are very few high profile male footballers who have come out – and that is not down to them all being straight! The environment is clearly still not quite right.”
This, among other things, led Lear to aid the creation of Proud Robins, Cheltenham Town’s LGBT+ supporters network alongside the Robins Trust. Lear saw the need for change and set about to achieve it. The first thing addressed: the club’s lack of diversity.
“I noticed that lots of other football clubs were setting up LGBTQ+ networks and I was acutely aware of the lack of diversity at CTFC.
“The Board is, and as far as I am aware, always has been, comprised of middle-aged, straight, white men.
“Whilst Cheltenham is not known for being a particularly hostile club, I considered that there was room to build awareness of diversity and inclusion matters and Proud Robins was set up for that purpose.”
With issues addressed, Lear set about bringing a sense of togetherness and combating the bigotry ingrained in the game, with his aim of creating a safe place with no fear of abuse for all. Proud Robins are pivotal in Lear’s plans as the groups very existence contributes to his end goal.
“We want it to exist and be visible.
“There needs to be a reference point for LGBTQ+ people and allies who know where to turn if they have questions. Equally, it exists to react to any isolated incidents, such as the one we saw at the Charlton Athletic match in January. Proud Robins, the Club, the Robins Trust and the Charlton Athletic counterparts worked immediately and quickly to deal with the matter.
“We have also had people contact us, some of whom have been afraid to attend games at Whaddon Road, and we are trying to support those people as far as we possibly can. At the moment, it is not a social club, but perhaps over the coming months and year it might evolve into being that as well. For the time being, I want Proud Robins to be an active voice on LGBTQ+ issues at the Club.”
Proud Robins will contribute to the end of homophobia in sport with many aims and targets, one way to keep homophobic fans out of football is to ban them from stadia and games, but is this the best way to do so? Lear speaks on how can he achieve his targets in the best ways:
“Speaking personally, I would rather see perpetrators of abuse attend quality educational courses than receive banning orders. I genuinely believe that in the vast majority of cases, homophobia arises out of a lack of understanding and that most people’s attitudes can be changed if they are encouraged to think about how their actions can cause hurt to others.”