Watford Community Sports & Education Trust #BreakTheBias poetry initiative

Watford Football Club CCS Trust combines sport and poetry to help #BreakTheBias

 February 04, 2022

Speaking to former First Lady Michelle Obama in an interview with Time, poet Amanda Gorman said, “Poetry and language are often at the heartbeat of movements for change.” 

And it is this very passion for change that the UK's Watford Football Club Community Sports & Education Trust is aiming to instill via its International Women's Day poetry competition supporting the #BreakTheBias theme. 

"This morning, we wrote poems to enter into a competition run by Watford FC CSE Trust for their #BreakTheBias campaign, encouraging gender equality in connection with International Women's Day. I can’t wait to read our entries," announced a Year 6 class of St. Catherine of Siena Primary School in Watford, UK.

Make a positive difference to society through sport 

A registered UK charity engaging with its communities through sport, physical activity and learning on behalf of the Watford Football Club, the Trust has a mission to make a positive difference for all through sport, physical activity and learning.

It aims to improve lives and enhance communities, and is steeped in the values of innovation, inclusivity and integrity. 

And it is these values that embody the Trust’s International Women's Day poetry competition. 

Poetry can help enact change 

Reaching communities in the UK, including Hertfordshire and Harrow, the competition clearly resonated with St. Catherine of Siena Primary school in Watford. 

Indeed, with the written word being a powerful and emotive creative art form, the children not only showed true talent in their poetry submissions, but also a clear understanding of why it is so important to all come together to help champion gender equality and help #BreakTheBias. 

One poem from a child at St. Catherine’s eloquently inspired the call to end discrimination, and highlighted the fantastic contribution women make to the world of sport. 

Women are as capable as men, 
It is wrong to be discriminating against them.
Women can be football players, 
Yes, women have so much layers. 

You can not say girls have no strength, 
Their independence can go a great length. 
Yes, ladies can be engineers, 
Giving cars with their peers. 

Women in the world are not worthless, 
Like men they have a purpose. 
Not to be made fun or teased, 
With equality there will be world peace. 

Equality.  

Showcase your talent and champion gender equality 

The famous end line of the poem The Hill We Climb written by Amanda Gorman for President Joe Biden’s inauguration perfectly summarizes the impact that poetry can have - “For there is always light, if only we’re brave enough to see it. If only we’re brave enough to be it.”

If, like Watford Football Club’s Community Sports & Education Trust, you also have a passion for making an impact to the lives of whom you engage with, why not create your own poetry and help #BreakTheBias.