Albion celebrate International Women's Day 2025

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Lauren Wigdor

2025-03-08T06:00+00:00

With today being International Women’s Day, we celebrate by taking a look at a cross section of women working for the Albion, both at the American Express Stadium and the American Express Elite Football Performance Centre.

Name: Steph King

Position: People & Culture Partner

Explain your role at the club: I work closely with our managers to create a positive and engaging employee experience, ensuring our people are at the heart of everything we do. I take the lead in shaping and driving our learning and development strategy, creating opportunities for top talent to grow, thrive and reach their full potential. I oversee our safer recruitment processes and compliance responsibilities, ensuring we attract top talent while maintaining a safe and inclusive workplace.

Best thing about your job: Being in the privileged position to collaborate with managers and colleagues across all departments of the club and Foundation.

Albion career highlight to date: Promotion parade and party! Reaching my ten-year milestone with the club was also a very special moment.

Albion career highlight this past year: Organising and hosting a Male Ally event in partnership with Women in Football, inviting our male and non-binary colleagues to join an inspiring panel discussion.

Best moment watching the Albion: Fulham away in January 2017. We won 2-1, putting us two points clear at the top of the Championship.

Hopes for your role moving forward: Continue contributing to making Brighton & Hove Albion a place where top talent aspire to build their careers.

What does International Women’s Day mean to you: It is an opportunity for us to celebrate all the incredible women here at the club and Foundation, to take a moment to be proud of ourselves and thank those that have been our allies along the way.

Name: Kayleigh Evans

Position: Safety & Security Executive

Explain your role at the club: I support a lot of the matchday preparations but in the day-to-day, I enable access control to the stadium and have also created our staff parking management system – just to name a few! One of my main responsibilities is coordinating the delivery of the Level 2 Certificate on Spectator Safety to our stewards, and on matchdays I also support in roles such as Steward Assessor, CCTV Operator, and Radio Controller.

Best thing about your job: It’s fantastic when members of our stewarding team have progressed to additional roles in and outside the club using the skills they have developed through our training programme and their work on matchdays.

Albion career highlight to date: Our chairman, Tony Bloom, awarding me with a Chairman’s Award in December to recognise my work for the club.

Albion career highlight this past year: We have been able to deliver one of the best steward training programmes in the Premier League.

Best moment watching the Albion: Marseille 2 Albion 2 – I was part of the ticketing staff who worked in Marseille for this, and it was amazing to see our first Europa League away game in person!

Hopes for your role moving forward: I want to expand the number of training opportunities we can offer our stewarding staff, and to further develop my skills as I progress within the club.

What does International Women’s Day mean to you: It is important to recognise individual journeys – particularly for women in sport – and to inspire the next generation. The career path I am on is very different to what I thought I would be doing ten years ago, but I wouldn’t change it for the world! So, to anyone considering a career in football, go for it! It’s a lot more than just a game.

Name: Rebecca Waller

Position: Designated Safeguarding Officer

Explain your role at the club: I work in the Performance and Wellbeing team, alongside psychologists and player care officers to ensure that the academy players are given the best chances on and off the pitch to stay safe, thrive and reach their full potential.

Best thing about your job: Being able to work with so many people who are passionate about what they do.

Albion career highlight to date: Working closely with a young player who was having a few difficulties outside of football and watching them go on to flourish.

Albion career highlight this past year: Seeing boys and girls academy players make their debuts for the men’s and women’s first teams.

Best moment watching the Albion: Watching the U19 girls’ goalkeeper score the winning goal against Liverpool on a recent away trip. It was an unbelievable clearance that was taken by the wind into the opposition’s net!

Hopes for your role moving forward: To further develop a culture where all players and staff feel safe and comfortable to talk about mental health and wellbeing.

What does International Women’s Day mean to you: An opportunity to celebrate the work of highly skilled women in a predominantly male environment.

Name: Maddy Grover

Position: MyAlbion Internship

Explain your role at the club: I am working within the supporter services department, which involves assisting fans with any enquiry. We manage stadium tours, supporters’ clubs, player mascots, disability and accessibility and much more.

Best thing about your job: I am lucky to be one of two interns and have the opportunity to work with supporter services, the grounds team and coaching staff. I am really looking forward to having an insight into multiple areas of the club to help shape my future in the industry.

Albion career highlight to date: Supporting the implementation of ‘dementia packs’ for our supporters living with dementia. We hope this will enable them to feel safe when attending the stadium on a matchday.

Best moment watching the Albion: Watching the women’s team win 3-2 against West Ham at the Amex.

Hopes for your role moving forward: Head grounds woman!

What does International Women’s Day mean to you: It’s a great day to celebrate the remarkable achievements of women, while also shedding light on the discrimination and inequality that still exists in our society.

Name: Talia Heggs

Position: Social Media Executive

Explain your role at the club: Plan, produce and create social-led content alongside our media team.

Best thing about your job: My colleagues! I feel very lucky to work with a fun and hard-working media team who I spend a lot of my time with!

Albion career highlight to date: Leading on social channels for Premier League matches, specifically our 2-1 win against Manchester City at the Amex.

Albion career highlight this past year: Continuing to grow our social media output, particularly with the women’s and academy teams.

Best moment watching the Albion: Working my first home game; a 4-1 win against Crystal Palace helped with a very positive start to my career here.

Hopes for your role moving forward: Continue to build positive relationships with colleagues in different departments and growing my skill sets creatively.

What does International Women’s Day mean to you: Feeling safe and seen at work and in my personal life, and being able to take inspiration from other females in and outside of the football industry on how to navigate life as a young woman.

Name: Sandra Gillingham

Position: Matchday Retail Assistant

Role at the club: Serving on matchdays in the club store.

Best thing about your job: Interacting with fans.

Albion career highlight to date: Receiving a 'Thank You' card from Chris Hughton after sending him a 60th birthday card with a poem I wrote for him in it.

Albion career highlight this past year: Still being asked to come back and work for the club!

Best moment watching the Albion: Promotion to the Premier League.

Hopes for your role moving forward: Hopefully being asked to come back for another season and work in the new superstore.

What does International Women's Day mean to you: Women can have careers and jobs as well as men.

Name: Katie Haines

Position: Supporter Services Executive & Disability Liaison Officer (DLO)

Explain your role at the club: Helping supporters with pretty much anything and everything, and in my role as DLO I try to help improve accessibility for disabled supporters, ensuring everyone is able to enjoy matches at the Amex!

Best thing about your job: Getting to help people on a daily basis, and being part of a great department.

Albion career highlight to date: Our Unite For Access campaign 2024 – organising the pitchside interview between Richie Reynolds and our DSA, about their launch.

Albion career highlight this past year: Getting to do the role of Disability Liaison Officer at Roma away.

Best moment watching the Albion: Marseille away – the first Europa League away match.

Hopes for your role moving forward: Hopefully watching the club grow and being able to move into a more focused role of improving accessibility.

What does International Women’s Day mean to you: It is about celebrating and uplifting women across the world, and advocating for equal rights and opportunities for women.

Name: Amaya Wickremarachchie

Position: Matchday Grounds Person

Explain your role at the club: I help make sure the pitch is in top condition for every game, which involves tasks like divoting the surface before kick-off, at half-time and at the end of the game. I also take down goals and mow the grass in preparation for the next game.

Best thing about your job: I get to be a part of the matchday experience while working alongside a great team. I love being on the pitch and getting to see the games and the players up close! It's amazing to watch top-level football while also playing a role in keeping the pitch in the best condition. Being alongside a team who are all hilarious and work incredibly hard is what makes the job even more enjoyable.

Albion career highlight to date: Becoming confident on the Honda rotary mowers. It was a great feeling as I was a bit scared at first as they go so fast. But after many sessions, it’s a skill I’ve really enjoyed developing!

Albion career highlight this past year: Working my first women’s game – Brighton v West Ham – and seeing the team win. It was a great experience to be there and witnessing the victory made it even more special.

Best moment watching the Albion: That was 14 February when we played Chelsea. The highlight for me was Mitoma’s goal, it was brilliant! The performance in both home matches against Chelsea was great and the atmosphere in the stadium was incredible.

Hopes for your role moving forward: I’d love to keep developing my skills and taking on new challenges, while also helping to inspire more women to get involved in this side of the game. It’s a great job, and I hope to see even more diversity in the industry in the future.

What does International Women’s Day mean to you: It’s a time to uplift and celebrate women, appreciating the strength, resilience and contributions of women in all areas of life. It’s also a reminder of the importance of coming together to support each other and continue pushing for equality.

Feature compiled by Lauren Wigdor.