On 20 August it is the final of the Women’s Football World Cup and with that in mind we have chosen Sue Campbell as our Inspirational Diversity Champion of the Month.

Sue is the Football Associations Director of Women’s Football who has a long history of sports administration. She was educated at Long Eaton Grammar School, Bedford College of Physical Education, and the University of Leicester where she obtained a Master of Education degree. She worked as a PE teacher in the early 1970s, before becoming deputy director of Physical Education at Leicester University in 1972 and a lecturer in the Department of Physical Education and Sports Science at Loughborough University from 1976.

In 1980, Sue was appointed regional officer for the East Midlands by the Sports Council of Great Britain. She was deputy chief executive of the National Coaching Foundation for one year in 1984, before becoming its chief executive for a decade, 1985 to 1995. She became chief executive of the Youth Sport Trust in 1995, having played a key role in setting it up and from 2000 -2003 she was an adviser to the Department of Culture, Media and Sport and the Department for Education and Skills. 

In 2003 Sue was appointed as the Chair of UK Sport, she held this position until April 2013, presiding over Team GB and Paralympic GB’s performance at the London 2012 games. Sue became Chair of the Youth Sport Trust in 2005, stepping down in December 2017.

On 10 November 2008 she was, created Baroness Campbell of Loughborough, of Loughborough in the County of Leicestershire. She sits on the crossbenches of the House of Lords and she chose to make her maiden speech on the subject of the London 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games.

Sue was appointed Head of Women’s Football with The Football Association in March 2016, and became Director of Women’s Football in January 2018.

In 1991 Sue was awarded an MBE and CBE in the same year.  She was appointed Dame in 2020 for services to sport.

In February 2013 she was assessed as one of the 100 most powerful women in the United Kingdom by Woman’s Hour on BBC Radio 4.

To find out more about Sue see here https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sue_Campbell,_Baroness_Campbell_of_Loughborough To find out more about the World Cup see here https://www.fifa.com/fifaplus/en/tournaments/womens/womensworldcup/australia-new-zealand2023

International Women’s Day is on 8 March and with that in mind we have chosen Emma Hayes the Manager of Chelsea Women FC as our Inspirational Diversity Champion of the Month.

When injury halted her playing career at an early age she decided to study at Liverpool Hope College studying European Studies, Spanish and Sociology and then took a master degree in Intelligence and International Affairs.

Her first football coaching role as at Long Island Lady Riders in the USA and in 2006 she was part of the coaching staff at Arsenal Ladies during their very successful period where they won 11 trophies.  She returned to the USA to coach in 2008 holding managerial positions in the Women’s Professional League including Chicago Red Stars.

In 2011 she returned to the and became the manager of Chelsea Women FC in 2012 replacing Matt Beard making her the only female manager in the league at that time.

Her time at Chelsea has been and continues to be extremely successful.  Under her management the team has won the WSL 5 times, the FA Cup 4 times, the league cup twice, Community Shield once and were runners up in the Champions League in 2020 being the first female manager to reach the final for 12 years.

Emma has been the Manager of the Season 3 times and was named FIFA Best Women’s Coach in 2022.

In 2016 Emma was awarded an MBE and in 2022 she was awarded an OBE for services to football.

To find out more about Emma see here https://www.chelseafc.com/en/teams/profile/emma-hayes

To find out more about International Women’s Day see here

https://www.internationalwomensday.com/