United for All
Written by David Taylor
We love going to the matches. We love queuing at the turnstile, even with that slight moment of trepidation that the buzzer won’t work and we’ll be trapped with thirty muttering people behind us. We love getting into Bramall Lane for a swift pre-match pint. Meeting up with mates we only know from sitting nearby at the game, catching up on life and whether Stevens has recovered in time for today. The Greasy Chip Butty.
A swift half-time pint (getting pricy now). Back to the seat for the second half and an overly-confident score prediction: maybe a Bovril if it’s November-March. 45 more minutes of shouting, tutting and indecipherable shrieks as their striker backs into Egan again but gets the free kick.
Win, lose or draw, we love going to the Lane. The camaraderie is impossible to replicate outside of a football ground, and the one inside the Lane is second to none. Imagine not being able to enjoy something that we all have come to know and love as special to us, that no other fanbase in the country could ever understand?
Every Blade has the right to enjoy the match as much as we do, to take in the atmosphere of a bubbling Bramall Lane without fear of feeling threatened, or hearing something said, something throwaway, something that’ll be put down to “just banter” but in fact treats their identity with contempt. You know the phrases - you’ve heard them when someone dives, or squares up to another player.
Sheffield United’s LGBTQ+ community deserves our support. To not feel welcome or comfortable at Bramall Lane simply because of who you are or who you love is something that should be consigned to the past. Sheffield United is proud of being a family club, one where anyone can sit down at the pub with a stranger and find common ground over a game of football. Let’s put our money where our mouth is.
Rainbow Blades has been a rare bright spark over the last season, a place not only for passionate Blades from the LGBTQ+ community, but also for straight allies: those who want to show their continued support for all fans of the club. The #ProudAllies campaign is an easy way for everyone to provide encouragement to LGBTQ+ Blades across the world. Anyone can join the campaign, as anyone can be an ally: a gay man can be an ally of the trans community and show solidarity as strongly as a straight person can support the LGBTQ+ community as a whole. Having as many allies as possible on board will ensure that football is a game that can be enjoyed by anyone.
That’s why we’d urge any Sheffield United fans reading this to join #ProudAllies. It’s not a flash in the pan campaign, or a Twitter trend: it’s a simple statement to anyone that needs to hear it that they’re welcome at the Lane. That United is an inclusive club. That the Blades are together.
We’re all there to support our club. That support should be shown to everyone, regardless of who they are. After all, if you’re a Blade, you’re part of the family.
That’s why we’re Proud Allies, United for All. See you at the Lane.
Visit https://www.shefflaces.com/proud-allies for more information on how to show your support and become a proud ally