Jade Keshia Gordon

Photo by Jade Rey as part of the 2023 FIFA WWC ‘Momentum On’ campaign.

“Change still needs to happen. It needs to start from the grassroots, putting more funding into those teams. So that more young girls that have the opportunity to go further can.”

By doing more projects like this, I hope more young girls that look like me will feel more included.

⸺Who is Jade Keshia Gordon?

My name is Jade, and I am the co-founder of MOLO with Martha. Owner of JKG Photography and Studio, photographer for 13 years+. Jade is a football fanatic, supporting the Arsenal Womens and Mens team since she was a teen. Having played for Crystal Palace under 16s team, she is extremely passionate about the game and the representation of women in the sport.

⸺What team/country do you support and why?

I guess growing up in Croydon, you would support Crystal Palace. So that's my hometown. But I would say I started supporting Arsenal from the age of probably secondary school, and I'm not actually sure why because a lot of the guys they supported like Man United. My dad supports Liverpool, my mom don't support any teams, so I don't know how I gravitated towards Arsenal, but it's probably because they're the best. It's probably why.

I think maybe their team is extremely multicultural. I think that's one thing. Their team is extremely multicultural. They will travel to look for the best players, regardless of skin colour. I think that's what I think I probably liked about it. Plus, they just play good ball.

Generally speaking I support Arsenal, Jamaica and England.

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

In regards to women's football, I would say just a little bit before the Euro, so I'm pretty much a newbie to it, which I'm quite ashamed to say so considering I used to play myself.

However, the reason for that is because we haven't been seeing it anywhere. The struggle to even find it online or to watch on TV has been so, so hard. Since England winning the Euros, I think there has been a massive change in the sense of how we've now been able to see it. The fact that it's on ITV and BBC, which is the biggest broadcasting platforms, is absolutely amazing.

But change still needs to happen. I think it needs to start from the grassroots as well.

In order for people like myself, children that look like me to want to grow up to become footballers, they need to see themselves on big screens. I think by doing things like this and us speaking about it from a fan's point of view will hopefully show those who have the ability to make the changes, make those changes.

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

There's so many talented footballers out there and I think they deserve that chance. I don't know. I just feel like putting women, again, women football, women this, again, is very draining. As a photographer myself, I think when I first started I used to say, Oh, female photographer, and all of that stuff. Now I'm just like, I'm a photographer. Take me as I am and the same way you should take footballers as they are.

I think men too can amplify the women's side of it, and that's from everything that we do. I think I've definitely saw from an Arsenal point of view, because I'm an Arsenal support, so I think I can talk a little bit more about that, I definitely saw a lot of the men's Arsenal players, they were amplifying their Emirates, allowing them to have their bigger games. The North London derby being at the Emirates is actually amazing. I went to that one and we won. I think we just basically need more of that.

Obviously, the England as well. I definitely saw Declan Rice. He was wearing one of the England tops as well.

⸺What actions do you think could be made to encourage more diverse younger girls to continue playing and support our current players?

I played for Crystal Palace on the U14 and then on the U16. When I moved to Orpington, I played for Bromley FC in my final season before I basically stopped. I struggled at playing at Bromley FC.

I was the only black girl on the team and they made me know it.

I think I fell out of love with it because of that. I think if people saw more people that look like me, everyone would just be nicer and kinder. I think in life, we just need to encourage everybody. We're all here to play the same game. Let's just have fun and win..

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

Having these conversations, they can be difficult, but nothing that's easy as ever not difficult. Something that needs to change is always going to have a little bit of difficulty around it. This is why we're doing this today. It's a passion project for both of us.

I think we just want people to see it through our eyes, the people who pay to go and watch these games, the people who are invested from a fan point of view, rather from a player point of view. I think more just needs to be done. Funding needs to be put from the lower, from under-16s, under-14s, so that when it gets to that point of Premier League status, it's just so much easier.

They shouldn't have to be playing on grounds that are not fixed properly, then it causes ACLs. The amount of ACLs that have happened throughout the Premier League is absolutely atrocious.