FOOTBALL has long been called The Beautiful Game, not only for the magic on the pitch but also because of its unique ability to bring people, from all walks of life, and their communities together.
In recent years, that unity has developed into something deeper and more meaningful: a quiet revolution in diversity, equity and inclusion.
We are seeing this across Scotland with the growth of women’s football and the competitiveness of the Scottish Women’s Premier League (SWPL), the formation of LGBTQ+ supporter’s groups at clubs and the tangible steps forward in accessibility clubs are making for disabled supporters. The sport is showing that change is not only possible, but it is also impactful.
As a visually impaired football supporter who last year finished visiting all 42 Scottish Professional Football League grounds with my guide dog, Sam, I’ve experienced first-hand the work that clubs across the country are doing to make supporters feel welcome and included.
For example, around 70% of football clubs in Scotland’s top two divisions, the Premiership and the Championship, now offer audio descriptive commentary for blind and partially sighted supporters. This is very different to television or radio commentary as it is extremely descriptive and solely focuses on the movements of the ball. This is delivered by trained volunteers in the football grounds through radio headsets that the visually impaired supporters wear to listen to the live commentary.
Scottish football clubs are also keen to publicly highlight and celebrate their commitments to accessibility and inclusion. On Saturday, May 10, for example, Celtic Football Club marked the importance of accessibility by having the players walk out with young disabled Celtic supporters with a range of disabilities, including wheelchair users, neurodiverse supporters and in one especially heartwarming moment Daizen Maeda, second top goalscorer in this year’s Scottish Premiership, walked out the tunnel with the very cute five-month-old guide dog puppy in training, Zander, who had been at Celtic Park a few days prior to the match for some familiarisation training as well.
After the game finished, where Celtic beat Hibernian 3-1, and the stadium cleared, these fans were invited back to pitch side again to meet the players and take pictures, memories that will stay with these kids for the rest of their lives.
Moments like these help to dismantle the quiet barriers that exist, but the wider public are generally unaware of. It makes disabled supporters not only feel welcome but it makes the experience feel participatory as well.
There’s a famous quote from diversity and inclusion expert Vernā Myers, “equality is being invited to the party, inclusion is being asked to dance” meaning that equality is something everyone gets and accesses, and inclusion is being invited to be an active participant. Celtic demonstrated their commitment to this beautifully by hosting this event.
This event formed part of AccessibAll’s Week Of Action, a Europe-wide campaign This by an organisation which advises Uefa and other partners on matters relating to disability access in Europe.
In previous seasons, Arbroath Football Club were also keen to voice their support for Guide Dogs Scotland when they invited guide dog puppies in training along to Gayfield Park to walk out with the players as mascots, with the Arbroath team also wearing their yellow and blue third kit that season which was a Guide Dogs-themed kit with profits from the kits’ sale donated to Guide Dogs.
But it’s not just disabled football fans who are seeing progress.
There has also been a major shift of the inclusion and visibility of women and girls. The increasing popularity and professionalism of the SWPL is one clear example, but so is the work of organisations like Her Game Too, a campaign founded to tackle sexism and make the sport a more safe and welcoming space for women at all levels of the game. Since launching in England in 2021, Her Game Too has grown into a UK-wide movement, and its impact is being felt across Scottish football.
Several Scottish clubs, including Dundee FC, Partick Thistle and Hearts have partnered with Her Game Too to run awareness campaigns, showcase women’s voices in football media, and ensure better reporting processes for sexist abuse at matches. Initiatives have included dedicated matchdays, educational workshops, and stronger online moderation around official club channels.
The message is clear: women and girls not only belong in football, they are essential to its future.
Scottish football still has work to do, but it’s setting an example. While much of wider society continues to drag its feet on equality and inclusion, football, once dismissed as a hostile space, is proving to be a progressive force.
Just as football is showing leadership on accessibility and gender inclusion, it is also taking real strides when it comes to LGBTQ+ rights and visibility.
In stadiums across Scotland, the once-hostile culture in years gone by for LGBTQ+ supporters is beginning to shift. Today, a growing network of LGBTQ+ supporters’ groups are working closely with clubs to change the narrative around what it means to be a football fan.
In 2016, Aberdeen FC became the first professional club in Scotland to officially recognise an LGBTQ+ fan group when they launched Proud Dons. This then sparked a wave of similar initiatives, and today many SPFL clubs proudly support their own LGBTQ+ communities.
These groups provide safe, welcoming spaces for fans to connect and watch matches together, but they also serve a greater purpose in challenging stereotypes and helping foster education and empathy both within clubs and among the wider fanbase.
Rangers FC, for example, are home to Ibrox Pride, an officially recognised LGBTQ+ group that has worked with the club on inclusion strategies, training and visibility campaigns.
In 2022, the group collaborated with charity Time for Inclusive Education (TIE) and openly gay footballer Zander Murray to deliver workshops to youth academy players about the importance of LGBTQ+ allyship in football. It marked a proactive effort by the club to address prejudice at its roots and support young players in becoming advocates for inclusion.
Celtic have also partnered with their LGBTQ+ supporters’ group, Proud Huddle CSC, to improve representation and signal solidarity with the LGBTQ+ community. The group’s banner “A Club Open to All” has been proudly displayed during Pride Month, and Celtic have regularly promoted events that celebrate diversity in football. Their visibility and collaboration have helped send a message that bigotry and discrimination have no place in the game.
Elsewhere in Scotland, clubs like Dundee United, Hibernian, Hearts, Partick Thistle and Dunfermline have seen the formation of groups such as Proud Arabs, Hibees Pride, Proud Jags and Proud Pars respectively.
These fan-led communities work not just to promote inclusivity in the stands, but to ensure that LGBTQ+ identities are visible, heard, and respected.
Many clubs now actively participate in the Rainbow Laces campaign each season, an initiative led by Stonewall to promote LGBTQ+ inclusion in sport. Players wear rainbow-coloured laces, captains don armbands in Pride colours, and club communications and social media channels turn rainbow for a week in support. What was once a symbolic gesture is becoming something more meaningful, part of a year-round commitment to inclusion.
Some clubs have taken their visibility campaigns even further. In 2019, Partick Thistle made history by becoming the first Scottish team to launch a rainbow-themed away kit in support of the LGBTQ+ community. It was a bold and visible statement that equality wasn’t just something to be acknowledged, it was something to be worn with pride.
Of course, challenges do still remain. Incidents of homophobic abuse still occur in some stadiums, and online abuse can often go unchallenged. But supporters’ groups like Ibrox Pride and Proud Huddle CSC have been vocal in calling this out – and are increasingly supported by their clubs in doing so.
This progress hasn’t come from nowhere, it has been built on years of hard work, activism, fan engagement, and a willingness by many clubs to listen and learn. The presence of these LGBTQ+ groups, supported by national bodies like Football v Homophobia Scotland, shows that the foundations are shifting toward a more open and inclusive future.
In many ways, football in Scotland is becoming what society still aspires to be – a place where people are accepted for who they are, not excluded. As LGBTQ+ rights continue to face setbacks in other arenas, from politics to education, it’s striking that a game once seen as conservative and resistant to change is now at the forefront of equality and inclusion.
In many ways, it feels like diversity, equity and inclusion are under attack. It has been used as a political weapon in recent months, most notably, by the US president Donald Trump and Reform UK leader Nigel Farage. With all the debate surrounding DEI, it’s important to remember that we are talking about real people, real people who are being used to score political points and whose lives are being affected.
It reminds me of something that Gandhi once said: “The true measure of any society can be found how it treats its most vulnerable members”.
People who often push back against DEI policies are the ones who have never experienced what it’s like to feel excluded in certain areas of society.
When we strip away the politics, the culture wars and the headlines what we have left is that inclusion is about empathy – recognising the humanity in each other. It is about creating spaces where people feel safe to be themselves without fear of judgement, exclusion or harm.
Too often those who speak up about inequality, denial, dismissal or ridicule. However, real progress is made when we meet these voices with compassion instead of contempt.
If The Beautiful Game can do it, why can’t everyone else?
