RÓISÍN WOOD OBE: WHY I BELIEVE IN TOUCHLINETECH’S MISSION
In a quick Q&A Board member Róisin explains why she’s so passionate about grassroots sport.
You’ve held some really interesting and influential roles – can you tell us a little bit about them?
Head of Diversity of The Football Foundation
The Football Foundation is the UK’s largest sports charity. It’s funded by the Premier League, the FA and the government (through Sport England), and it provides grants to grassroots clubs and organisations to help build and refurbish community sports facilities like changing rooms, grass pitches and all-weather playing surfaces.
It really exists to help raise the quality of grassroots facilities and, as Head of Diversity, I was very fortunate to work with so many passionate people up and down the country to help transform community sport and to try and ensure that we were providing opportunities for everybody to get involved in sport.
CEO of Kick It Out
Well I’m sure most people know that Kick It Out is an organisation which seeks to tackle all forms of discrimination within the game by working with the football authorities, professional clubs, players, fans and communities.
When I first came into the role, Kick It Out was predominantly focused on racism but we expanded our focus to tackle all forms of discrimination and to focus on proactively building a more inclusive environment in football. We saw a great increase in resources and recognition and we came a long way during my time which I’m very pleased about. Even now however, there are still many challenges ahead to make football a game where everyone truly feels that they belong, but I’m really proud to have been a part of the Kick It Out story.
CEO of the Community Foundation Northern Ireland
The Community Foundation is an independent grant making trust. Our ambition is a society where everyone can prosper and live in peace, and we encourage and support those who want to give and empower the local community to effect change. We match generous people to important causes, and we award grants to hundreds of charities through donations and funds set up by our donors. The Foundation has awarded over £100m in the last 40 years to groups and organisations across NI making contributions to education, health, housing, the arts, social justice, employment, peace and reconciliation. In particular we like to help smaller, community-led organisations that work directly with people who are at the margins of society.
And on top of that, you’re also a member of the Global Institute for Sport (GIS) Advisory Board?
That’s right. The GIS was launched by the UCFB (University Campus of Football Business) in July 2020. The UCFB itself is a Higher Education institution offering undergraduate and postgraduate university degrees and education in the football business, sport and events industries. Whereas the GIS offers Master’s degree programmes in the football and sports industry in the UK, US, Canada and Australia – delivered at iconic campuses including Wembley and the Etihad stadium in the UK. As a member of the Advisory Board, I’m there to help influence and shape the education provision of GIS to enable the next generation of sports professionals to become leaders in their field.
There seems to be a number of themes running through many of your roles, would you agree?
Yes, absolutely! I’m hugely passionate about the role of community, about fairness, diversity and inclusion, and about education and I think sport has an important role to play across all of these. I guess a couple of examples would be the Fans for Diversity programme at Kick It Out aimed at increasing engagement, and the fans’ education programme that we delivered in partnership with the Football Supporters’ Association.
So how did you become involved with TouchlineTech?
I met Sam through some contacts in football – he told me the story behind TouchlineTech and I was immediately struck by some of the similarities in our backgrounds. I loved that TouchlineTech was something positive coming out of such a difficult period in Sam’s life – the loss of his friend and the mental health challenges that he faced afterwards – and that it was a way of giving back to the grassroots community that had given him so much.
The more I understood about what Sam and James were looking to do, the more I realised that this was really about the causes that I was passionate about – it wasn’t just an app, it was a way of helping grassroots clubs to build their communities, and to do things that previously only clubs higher up the pyramid had been able to do.
They also shared with me their plans to use this as a platform and a voice for diversity and inclusion within the game – and that’s when I decided that I had to become involved!
And despite all of your other commitments you’ve continued your role with TouchlineTech – why is that?
Yes, you’re right! It’s one thing to get involved in something like this – but it’s another thing to continue that commitment alongside my other roles. But it’s essentially because I wholeheartedly believe in what Sam and James are looking to do – and the passion and determination I see in them whenever we’re together makes me believe that they won’t stop until they achieve their aims.
TouchlineTech’s purpose is ‘connecting communities through sport’ and it’s that aim that I subscribe to and that I’ve championed through all of my varied roles. This is another way of achieving the same ends but it comes from the bottom up – the solution was born out of grassroots and it’s made with the sole purpose of empowering grassroots clubs and communities. I love it – it has the potential to really help transform grassroots football (and other sports) and I hope to still be involved when that dream becomes a reality.
