Vanarama National League South side Slough Town are the latest club to join the ‘On The Baw’ campaign to provide period products in the ladies toilets free of charge.
The club confirmed in a tweet on Saturday that the initiative would begin at Arbour Park in time for the home defeat to Oxford City: “We’re pleased to have joined the On The Baw campaign and will provide free period products in the ladies toilets at Arbour Park.”
The Rebels are the 106th club to join a campaign that includes the support of clubs as high up in UK football as Liverpool and Manchester City as well as LA Galaxy and Brazilian side Sport Club do Recife.
One regular Rebel, Claire Perry, speaking to Football in Berkshire said: “I was trying to think of the equivalent in the men’s loos and I could only think of condoms, but then I thought, no, having sex is optional, bleeding isn’t” so they hit the nail on the head with “essentials” In a typically male environment, good for them.”
Who’s behind the campaign?
On The Baw began as a campaign after three Celtic supporters, Erin, Orlaith and Mikaela succesfully petitioned their club to make period products free and accessible to women at Celtic Park.
The trio then began the fan led campaign to encourage more clubs to do the same: “The response to On The Baw has been phenomenal and people from the UK and beyond have shown that Football, a typically male-dominated environment, can be a platform for good, playing a huge part in changing social attitudes on issues including on the taboo subject of menstruation.”
A full list of clubs that are involved in the campaign is here on ontheball.com
We’d love to see more Berkshire clubs joining the campaign, read up here on the website and get in touch with your club.
Read and watch more on the campaign:
- Football grounds to pubs: Our fight for free tampons (BBC iPlayer)
- The Celtic diehards helping football tackle the taboo around periods (The Guardian)
- Scottish football is the new frontline in the fight against period poverty (The Big Issue)
There’s a new facebook group called We Love Slough, come and join us!
