Argyle to support Trevi at Watford game

Following the overwhelming success of the recent dedicated women’s game, Trevi is bringing its award-winning ENOUGH campaign back to Home Park for a second special match, this time for our Sky Bet Championship match against Watford on Friday, 22 November.

As Plymouth faces some of the highest rates of violence against women and girls, this event marks a powerful step in raising awareness and advocating for a zero-tolerance approach within the city. 

Building on the impact of the women’s dedicated match, the ENOUGH campaign aims to amplify Trevi’s voice and reinforce the message that violence, intimidation, and harassment toward women have no place in Plymouth. The event will see ‘M.A.N Culture’ and ‘Her Game Too’ joining Trevi once again, continuing their collaborative work to foster an inclusive, respectful environment for all supporters. 

Trevi’s return to Home Park comes at a crucial time, with recent statistics underscoring the need for action. In 2023/24, there were 3,966 recorded violence-related domestic abuse crimes in Plymouth, a 6.9% increase from the previous year and a 5.2% rise over the last five years. Domestic abuse now accounts for 37.4% of all violent crimes and 22.1% of all reported crime in Plymouth.   

“We’re delighted to partner once again with Plymouth Argyle for this important match,” said Hannah Shead, Chief Executive Officer of Trevi. “The ENOUGH campaign’s success at both women’s and men’s games sends a powerful message: intimidation, harassment, and abuse in our city is unacceptable. As a charity that supports women, we see the devastating impact of violence against women and girls, and we will continue to campaign tirelessly to put an end to it.” 

According to 2021 research by the BBC, four out of five women who regularly attend football matches in the UK have witnessed sexist abuse, with one in three experiencing it personally. This abuse extends online, as documented by UK-based discrimination watchdog Kick It Out, which reported significant increases in social media abuse targeting female footballers. A 2022 study by The Alan Turing Institute found that over 87% of abusive tweets directed at players during the Women’s Euro 2022 tournament were targeted at female players, much of it sexist and misogynistic. 

“Uniting with Trevi and Man Culture for this game is another important step in our partnership,” said Katie McManus, Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Manager at Argyle. “We have already joined together on one of our women’s team’s fixtures this season, and we were proud to support Trevi’s campaign of awareness of domestic violence during the men’s European Championships in the summer. 
 
“We stand beside them as they continue to raise awareness and to support women and girls affected by domestic violence. As a South West organisation, Trevi have done excellent work, and we are proud to help support what they do. 

“We have a zero-tolerance policy towards discrimination in all its forms. “Home Park – and all football stadia – should be a safe space for all.” 

Andy Hodges, representative of M.A.N Culture, added, “Being part of this campaign and partnering with Plymouth Argyle and Trevi is something we fully support and we are proud to be involved.

"The ENOUGH campaign being introduced to both women's and men's football games is a brave but necessary step to ensure we start to speak about the important issue of violence against women and girls.   

"We hope that through this work and campaign we can reach all supporters and ask them to stand together, raise their voices and be part of positive change. We can no longer stand back and be silent about certain behaviours that affect the daily lives of women and girls, and we as men must play an important role in challenging these behaviours."

The dedicated match follows a city-wide campaign led by Trevi to highlight the issue of Violence Against Women and Girls coinciding with the EUROs. The charity’s Show Violence Against Women and Girls the Red Card campaign called out key statistics around reports of domestic violence, including, when the England national team win or draw, reports of domestic violence rise by 26%. A loss can see this figure spike to 38%. Regardless of the match outcome, reports of domestic violence remain 11% higher than average in the day following a match.  

For those wanting to learn more about this match and the vital work of Trevi and M.A.N Culture, Mel Sevieri from Trevi and Andy Hodges from M.A.N Culture will appear on the Argyle TV Breakfast Show on the morning of Saturday, 9 November. Tune in to hear them discuss the significance of the ENOUGH campaign and the work their organisations are doing to tackle violence against women and girls. 

Football unites us; violence divides us. It’s time to show violence against women and girls the red card. 

For more details and information about Trevi and their ‘ENOUGH’ campaign, click here.