Josh Denzel: ‘We Need To Teach Young Men That Sexist Football Banter Is A Catalyst For Violent Behaviour Towards Women’

Ahead of the FIFA World Cup next month, when instances of domestic violence are set to spike, sports presenter Josh Denzel talks to Grazia about his new campaign with the Home Office.

Josh Denzel

by Georgia Aspinall |
Updated on

The 2022 FIFA World Cup has officially begun. After a summer of incredible wins for the women’s team, the nation is set to go feral for football once more. But while we’re celebrating the best of sport, there’s also a sinister issue that lies beneath the surface: domestic violence.

During every world cup tournament, instances of domestic violence spike. According to data from the National Centre for Domestic Violence (NCDV) there is a 38% increase when England lose, peaking around 10 hours after kick-off. In 2020, there was a 5% increase in reported domestic violence compared to the previous year, and around 20% of women attending football matches report suffering unwanted physical attention.

Now, the Home Office are launching a campaign with Love Islander turned sports presenter Josh Denzel to raise awareness of football-related abuse towards women in England and Wales.

‘I’ve been involved in football as a fan since before I can remember and as part of the media, it’s something that’s never really been addressed in the right way or with enough vigour from voices that young people will understand and listen to,’ Josh told Grazia. ‘I’ve seen it improve but improving isn’t necessarily good enough.’

As part of the campaign, Josh is part of a video-series where he sat down with young fans to talk about the importance of changing perspectives around domestic abuse.

‘They key messaging for me, and I’m definitely not a leading voice in this but just one of them, is just to teach your friends by educating rather than embarrassing them,’ Josh explains. ‘You don’t have to make it a big scene at the time of the event happening, speak to them privately and try and educate them in softer way explaining why that behaviour might be perceived as sexist or why it’s unacceptable.

‘You might get the reaction “Oh it’s just a joke mate” but if you really explain the reasoning behind why you’re having that conversation and holding your friends accountable, that is key,’ he continues. ‘And it spirals, once you educate one person they might go to another group of friends or someone from the pub or a work colleague and pass on that message as well.’

Talking to young people about football-related abuse, Josh says that one of the main learnings he took away is the need to better young men’s understanding of how so-called lads banter can perpetuates attitudes of violence towards women.

Football is an intimidating place.

‘It’s what they perceive to be slightly softer “banter in a group chat” or call “a bit of a laugh”, they don’t realise that adds fuel to the fire and is a catalyst for more violent or serious behaviours in the real world. They think it’s just a meme to save face in a group chat, but this really does steer peoples moral judgements on the issue.’

It affects how they act towards women at games too, something Josh further hopes to educate young men on. ‘Football is an intimidating place, for me as a 14-year-old on a coach going full of grown men going to watch Manchester United away travelling around Europe, that’s a scary place for a male teenager let alone women,’ he recalls. ‘If I’m one of 50 guys on a coach or 300 guys on a train, and you’re the one or two or even 10 women on the journey it’s already intimidating – so men have to understand how their comments or views will affect negatively the people that around them, these women have the same love for the game you do and grew up loving the game, we can’t make it a hostile place for them.

‘Look at the women who won the EUROS this year, it was incredible, and you see stadiums full of women, that’s what we want to do, if you make football a hostile environment for women it’s only going to go backwards.’

If you or someone you know need help, you can visit the Women's Aid website here for information and support.

To find out more about the campaign, visit the gov.uk/enough website for information and examples of how to intervene safely, information on support services, how to report violence to the police, and guidance for individuals worried about their own behaviour.

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