Hannah Baptiste

“I think for me, watching the journey, it has been beautiful. I do wish I was 10 years younger so I can enjoy it a bit more.”

⸺Who is Hannah Baptiste?

Hannah is a former England Under-16 youth international who now plays senior football for Guyana. Former Dulwich Hamlets FC Midfielder and Diversity/Inclusion in Women’s Football Advocate.

She has been playing football since she was four, and at the age of 16 represented England in a four nations tournament in Northern Ireland.

During her time at Richmond, based in Kensington, she played for AFC Wimbledon, and her previous clubs include Charlton Athletic and Fulham FC.

⸺What team/country do you support and why?

Crystal Palace, Guyana and England

She added: “I haven’t played internationally since I was 16 because I’ve been busy with my studies. But my grandparents are from Guyana so I can qualify for their team.”

⸺How long have you been watching women’s football and have you noticed any changes within the sport?

Is still a men's game. Why can't we just stand on our own? I think we as women are constantly fighting in society to free ourselves and to just show how powerful we are and that we don't need to rely on the men, no offence, to actually break barriers and do amazing things.

I think it just needs to stand alone.

It needs to be a science sport.

We don't need to associate it within the men side of things in order for us to do well and to... It's frustrating. I would say for me, it's just keeping it separate and allowing us to do our own thing. That's a big thing for me. It's just keeping it separate and also doing the right things.

⸺What impact do you think the 2022 Euros had on women’s football and poc girls?

Even though I feel like the Women’s Euros propelled the Women’s game and inspired a generation. I feel like there was a massive lack of diversity.

And for me, watching that, it was quite difficult to support these women, even in the Euros. Because i’m looking at their team and there's no one that looks like me, there's no one that represents me. And then I think back to when I was a little girl playing football and I was the only woman of colour playing and I was hypervisible in those spaces and had no one to support me.

Even though it was amazing for women's football, I think there's still so much work that needs to be done for girls of colour that want to play sport and just want someone that’s playing for England to look like them.

⸺How do you view the future of women's football?

I think it's bright. I think from getting the Euros and how the world has all paid out and just seeing the amount of people are watching it, you have the most random people that you could never imagine watching it and really engage and really enjoy it. I think it is moving in the right direction, it's going to grow up and it's going to be unreal.

I think there's still a lot of work to do in order to connect grassroots, to connect diversity in terms of skin colour, in terms of disability, in terms of everything. There's so many different work that need to be done. In terms of just accessibility, that's a massive thing. I think there's loads of work that needs to be done, but I think we're going in the right direction and it is to be able to see if we look back 10 years, boy, we were nowhere near where we are now.

So I think for me, watching the journey, it has been beautiful. I do wish I was 10 years younger so I can enjoy it a bit more. It’s beautiful and i’m quite excited to see how it’s all going to play out.