We were extremely honoured recently to be invited to collaborate with an exciting Football Festival that took place right here in Wythenshawe in mid-July - Ball Together Now.

Ball Together Now is a Trans inclusive festival of football for women and non-binary people. They held their first event in 2023 which was a roaring success so decided to do it again this year with double the participants involved, going from 32 teams to 60 taking part across the entire weekend.

Organisations and incentives from across the UK and Ireland came together for one big celebration of inclusiveness and togetherness to promote opportunities for Women, Trans and Marginalised Genders to have a safe space to play a sport they all love without any prejudice or stigmas attached. It was a real pleasure to be invited along to see the festival happen and the impact it is having on the football world and the wider society as we move towards a more inclusive community.

To find out more about the festival, you can follow them on Instagram (@BallTogetherNow_Festival) or X/Twitter (@BallTogetherNow), plus check out their website www,balltogethernow.com

Thanks to the participants and incentives featured in this special show, which were: Ball Together Now (@BallTogetherNow_Festival), Happy Somedays (@Happy_Somedays), Pride Sports (@PrideSportsUK), Football For Foodbanks CIC (@FootballForFoodbanks), Rainbow Devils (@RainbowDevils), Diversity Role Models (@Diversityrm), and Manchester Laces (@ManchesterLaces)

Thanks to all the teams who turned up across the weekend to the festival. Thanks as well to everyone who stopped but simply couldn't chat to me as they were too busy playing or having to attend to other duties. Disclaimer: This includes Manchester City and City In The Community. I asked them, but they were not allowed due to media rights.