Whitehawk FC – flying the flag for non-league football

Non-League Clubs have had a tough time, especially when they are heavily reliant on gate receipts and sponsorship to survive so this month, I caught up with Kevin Miller, the Vice Chair and Head of Commercial & Marketing at Whitehawk Football Club to find out what Brighton’s ‘second team ‘have been up to.

Tell me about what’s been happening at Whitehawk FC over the last 12 months?

Throughout the whole of 2020 we played seven home matches, and four of those were before the pandemic hit in March… Our leagues were declared null & void, and our first home game of the new 21/22 season, a 1-0 victory over Sittingbourne in mid–August, was our first competitive league game since October last year.

Off the pitch however… The spirit and determination of our incredible fans kept the flame alive — we hosted online football matches, zoom quizzes for the fans during lockdown, took part in superb fundraising initiatives for local and National Charities, produced fourteen half-hour TV shows on Brighton’s local TV Channel, Latest TV, ran a successful podcast, and organised an incredible collaborative mental health campaign — ‘Shout Out for Mental Health’ — with fellow non-league club Dulwich Hamlet, which raised awareness for mental health issues and over £3,000 to the club’s respective local branches, in Lambeth & Southwark and Brighton. Overall, the fans raised over £10,000 for various local, club & national causes… They even paid for the club’s new club shop and some of the fans even wrote two singles and a musical!

So, when we were allowed to, the first game we played back at the Terrapura Ground was for the fans – Whitehawk fans played Guernsey FC Manelanders on the fresh summer pitch in front of over 500 members of the local community, with face-painting, stands, stalls and our sponsors Utilita, who brought with them former England International David James, to play for both teams (not in goal!), and to launch their football rebooted campaign — with the aim of re-purposing over 1 million pairs of boots to prevent them from going into landfill.

We launched a new kit with sportswear company Hope & Glory, the first team shirts are made from recycled plastic bottles, and our LGBTQ+ team Rainbow Rovers played the Utilita All-Stars (once again featuring Mr .James!), in new Hope & Glory kit designed by Artist David Shrigley, in a game that was one of the first ever LGBTQ+ matches to be officially sanctioned by the sport’s governing body, part of a ground-breaking pilot scheme with the Sussex County FA and the FA to encourage mixed-gender football in this region.

We start the new season with more fans, more members, our social media numbers at record levels, and a renewed interest in grassroots football.  

How has the club has got involved with the LGBTQ community?

Dr. Sophie Cook, HonDLitt, FRSA writer, speaker, broadcaster & diversity champion, and former Spurs, Brighton & Hove Albion & Portsmouth star Guy Butters, approached the club early in 2019 with an idea to have an LGBTQ+ game against an All-Star team of ex-Premier League players. 

With Brighton’s LGBTQ+ community so important within the community, and with Whitehawk’s renowned stance on inclusion and diversity — especially amongst the club’s ‘Ultras’, it felt a great fit, and so during Pride weekend of 2019, Rainbow Rovers were born. A team of selected LGBTQ+ players from around the country, pulled off a famous 5-2 victory against players including Paul Walsh, Keith Gillespie, Lee Martin and Lee Hendrie. ‘Football United’ was born, and the match received National coverage via Sky Sports.

The team gained increasing press & PR, and although they couldn’t play in 2020, their impact was high enough for National Energy brand Utilita to take an interest, and during that year we announced their shirt sponsorship deal with the Rovers, and the Hawks. With support from Website innovators Huxley Digital, who created the brilliant rainbowrovers.org as back of shirt sponsors, the team were amalgamated into Whitehawk FC’s stable earlier this year.

This team espouses everything that the club believes in – Sophie became the Clubs Diversity & Inclusion Officer this year and sits on the Hawks Committee. We’re planning to set up a tour of schools, Colleges & Universities, with Sophie using her skills as a speaker to highlight Inclusion & Diversity issues, and to tell her story.

Rainbow Rovers shirts have sold around the world, and the club are rightly proud of what’s been achieved, and with the full backing of the sport’s governing body, the Football Supporters Association, Kick it Out, Football V. Homophobia, and so many more, we can take the message of tolerance and inclusion around the country.

What are the biggest challenges facing the club today?

Our community initiatives, our stance on inclusion and LGBTQ+ issues have garnered a new respect for the club within the City, and it is being reflected in sponsorship and through the turnstiles. However, we still need to generate even more revenue from local sponsors, who value communities and want to make a difference — I have seen, post-lockdown a change within businesses, keen to re-establish local connections and using the club as a platform for making that happen. It’s encouraging and I hope that we can deliver for them and generate new leads and new business.

What are Whitehawk’s plans and where does the Club see itself in 5 years’ time?

Progression, enjoying financial stability and of course promotion – We have a young dynamic team that will do well this term, and if we can keep the momentum going, we should have a good season (I’d personally love a Cup run but then wouldn’t we all!)

Off the pitch we’re strengthening ties with the local community – we’re partnering with the Freedom Leisure Centres in Brighton to offer fans discounts and to create new community initiatives. Our Hawks In the Community partnership with Whitehawk’s amazing Crew Club goes from strength to strength, and we want to encourage even more students to matches — We ran a campaign in 2019 to introduce the club to them and they’ve been turning up in droves!

Finally, we’d like to be recognised as one of the most dynamic and progressive non-leagues football clubs in the country, with a vibrant’ loud and incredible fan base, and a City that’s rightly proud of all its clubs, large and small.