Swansea Galaxy continue to provide football provisions for LGBTQ+ people

Swansea Galaxy - an LGBTQ+ football team formed in 2022 - continue to go from strength to strength with over 50 members having joined the club since its inception.

The Galaxy became an official Swansea City supporter group shortly after their formation as they looked to raise awareness and boost membership.

Just 12 months later, there are more than 50 people of all genders signed up with between 20 and 30 regularly attending weekly training sessions.

They’ve created a community as well as a football team, and are now taking the next steps in order to join the GSFN – Gay Supporter Football Network - leagues.

The rapid growth demonstrates the demand for an inclusive club within the local community, while also showcasing an increasingly openminded and welcoming approach to LGBTQ+ people within football.

Swansea Galaxy chairperson Rees Bushell revealed local sides have sought out the club for friendly fixtures in order to show their support.

Rees had not looked to get involved in playing football, in fact his initial involvement in the club was simply to taxi his partner Sam – who doesn’t drive – back and forth to training.

But after just a couple of weeks and some positive feedback on the inclusivity of the club from Sam, Rees pulled his boots on and trained for the first time.

“I started and I realised it was actually quite fun. After a couple of weeks, we were putting the committee together and I have an HR job so they just asked me if I wanted to take on the chair role, I haven’t really looked back,” he laughed.

“We’ve grown a lot over the past year. Up until September we were on a seven-a-side pitch, but we’ve signed a year deal with the ELBA so we have their 11-a-side pitch, which is going really well.

“Every week we have new players joining, and we now have enough to have an 11-a-side women and gender minorities (WAGM) team and that’s really good, and we were able to play in a tournament in Cardiff which was attended by nine WAGM teams.

“And this year, we’re in the process of fully joining the GFSN. We’ve played Leicester through that, and we’re playing in a shield tournament against Bristol and Cardiff soon.

“That will give us access to regular games.”

Every season, the Swans join with all EFL and Premier League teams to mark Stonewall’s Rainbow Laces campaign and reaffirm their commitment to LGBTQ+ inclusivity within football.

While the Swans have also worked closely with the Football Association of Wales’ equality, diversity and inclusion team on events which aim to improve the match-going experience of all LGBTQ+ people in Wales.

In December 2021, the Swans introduced a pride range to their club shop to allow fans to show their colours at games.

And Rees feels all these steps carry real importance when it comes to raising awareness in football.

“It’s amazing that clubs put on rainbow laces days, and that campaigns like this are growing,” Rees said.

“It’s so good that there are awareness campaigns in football, and that those are reaching grassroots clubs.”

Swansea Galaxy are always open to new members, and Rees encourages anyone who is interested to simply reach out to the club and try training for themselves.

“We pride ourselves on being an all-inclusive club. It’s all genders, all races, all sexualities and all abilities’” he added.

“The first session is free, so you can just come along and give it a try, meet the team and see if you like it.

“With the number of people we get at training, we can actually make it cheaper because we don’t need to charge as much to cover the costs. And people can reach out via Instagram, or on Facebook.”