The Game Changers

To celebrate the Football World Cup we’re re-releasing episodes of The Game Changers podcast with incredible trailblazing women in football.

Professional footballer, media personality, lawyer, philanthropist and now best selling author, Eni’s high profile racism case against the FA led to critical reforms within the sport.

Thank you to Sport England who support The Game Changers Podcast with a National Lottery award.

Find out more about The Game Changers podcast here: https://www.fearlesswomen.co.uk/thegamechangers

Hosted by Sue Anstiss
Produced by Sam Walker, What Goes On Media

A Fearless Women production

To celebrate the Football World Cup we’re re-releasing episodes of The Game Changers podcast with incredible trailblazing women in football.

With 172 appearances for her country, Fara Williams is the most capped player in the history of English football. 

Fara shares her experience of being homeless as a young player, and how she went on to have an extraordinary 20-year career. Fara talks about her plans for the future and her hopes for the future of the women's game, having recently announced her retirement from professional football.

Thank you to Sport England who support The Game Changers Podcast with a National Lottery award.

Find out more about The Game Changers podcast here: https://www.fearlesswomen.co.uk/thegamechangers

Hosted by Sue Anstiss
Produced by Sam Walker, What Goes On Media

A Fearless Women production

To celebrate the Football World Cup, we’re re-releasing episodes of The Game Changers podcast with incredible trailblazing women in football.

Today it’s one of the world's leading female professional players, Lucy Bronze.

The UEFA Women’s Player of the Year in 2019 was also named The Best FIFA Women's Player in 2020 and won the Euros with the Lionesses in 2022.

Having played in the US, and at several British clubs including Man City, Lucy went on to spend 3 years in France at Olympique Lyonnais, Europe's most successful team, before returning to Man City in 2020. Lucy now plays for FC Barcelona.

We're loving watching the contribution Lucy is making for England right now.

Thank you to Sport England who support The Game Changers Podcast with a National Lottery award.

Find out more about The Game Changers podcast here: https://www.fearlesswomen.co.uk/thegamechangers

Hosted by Sue Anstiss
Produced by Sam Walker, What Goes On Media

A Fearless Women production

In this final episode of season 14, we talk to Eilish McColgan, an incredible distance athlete.

Eilish holds the European record for 10,000 on the road, as well as British records at 5,000m and 10,000m on the track and road, and in the half marathon. With European medals indoors and outdoors on the track, Eilish represented Team GB at 3 Olympics in London, Rio and Tokyo. 

In 2022 Eilish became Commonwealth Games Champion over 10,000 metres, a feat that repeated her mum's victory 36 years earlier and broke the Commonwealth Games record.

A few days later, she was back to take a silver medal over 5,000m. And then, in 2023, Eilish broke her own British Half Marathon Record and became the first British Woman to win the Berlin Half Marathon. She also eclipsed Paula Radcliffe's UK record, running 10k in 30 minutes.

In this episode we explore Eilish’s incredible sporting journey and her pathway to success. We hear about how severe injuries led her to dramatically adapt training, how she’s embraced social media and become an outspoken advocate for body positivity in sport and the challenges athletes face today around sports sponsorships.

Thank you for Sport England who support The Game Changers Podcast through a National Lottery grant.

Thank you to Sport England who support The Game Changers Podcast with a National Lottery award.

Find out more about The Game Changers podcast here: https://www.fearlesswomen.co.uk/thegamechangers

Hosted by Sue Anstiss
Produced by Sam Walker, What Goes On Media

A Fearless Women production

Molly McCann, also known as Meatball Molly, is a mixed martial artist, formerly a Cage Fighters champion, who is currently competing in the Ultimate Fighting Championship.

In this very open interview, Molly takes us back to her life growing up in Liverpool, surrounded by alcohol and addiction, and the childhood experiences that led her to follow a different path and become a world famous MMA fighter. 

We explore what it’s like to lose your privacy and how Molly now deals with the negativity and trolling that arise from her growing profile. 

Molly is a cousin of Katie Taylor and we discuss the huge positive impact female fighters can have in society. 

Molly is already using her profile to drive social change, especially when it comes to providing opportunities for her home community, and there’s no doubt she’ll continue to have a huge impact as she considers a move into politics in the future.

Thank you to Sport England who support The Game Changers Podcast through a National Lottery grant.

Thank you to Sport England who support The Game Changers Podcast with a National Lottery award.

Find out more about The Game Changers podcast here: https://www.fearlesswomen.co.uk/thegamechangers

Hosted by Sue Anstiss
Produced by Sam Walker, What Goes On Media

A Fearless Women production

Louise Minchin is a journalist, presenter, author and podcaster, who presented BBC’s flagship morning show, BBC Breakfast, for over 20 years.

Louise also has a passion for endurance sport. Having raced her first triathlon in 2013, she went on to compete in her Age Group at five World and European triathlon championships before completing a number of extreme events including some of the toughest long-distance triathlons in the world.

Louise talks frankly about how she re-discovered sport in her 40s, having regrettably stopped competitive swimming as a young girl, put off by the shape of her muscular arms. 

We explore Louise’s activity as a vocal campaigner for menopausal women – talking openly about her own struggles on the BBC – along with her experiences as a contestant on shows like ‘I’m a Celebrity’ and ‘Masterchef’.

Louise’s has just published her second book ‘FEARLESS, Adventures with Extraordinary Women’ and it’s a joy to hear about the impact of the inspirational women featured. It was also fascinating to explore how taking on physical challenges can help women be bolder elsewhere in their lives.

Thank you to Sport England who support The Game Changers Podcast with a Nationl lottery grant.

Thank you to Sport England who support The Game Changers Podcast with a National Lottery award.

Find out more about The Game Changers podcast here: https://www.fearlesswomen.co.uk/thegamechangers

Hosted by Sue Anstiss
Produced by Sam Walker, What Goes On Media

A Fearless Women production

Our guest in this episode has been instrumental in the success of the British Paralympic team, helping them to achieve record-breaking medal hauls at 10 Paralympic Summer and Winter Games.

Penny Briscoe competed for Great Britain in Canoe Slalom before becoming Senior National Coach for the GBR team at the Atlanta 1996 and Sydney 2000 Olympic Games.  She has worked in para sport as coach, team manager, performance director and is now Director of Sport at the British Paralympic Association and is also the Chef De Mission for Paralympics GB. In 2017, Penny was awarded an OBE for her services to disability sport.

In this fascinating conversation we explore Penny’s path into para sport and how the role and profile of the British Paralympic Association has changed over 20 years.

Penny shares the enormous impact of London 2012, the challenges that followed in Rio 2016 and Tokyo 2021, and her ambitions for Paris 2024.

If you’d like to hear from other senior women leading British sport, previous episodes of The Game Changers include interviews with Baroness Tanni Grey-Thompson, Sally Munday OBE, Dame Liz Nichol, Dame Katherine Grainger, Sue Day MBE, Baroness Sue Campbell and Clare Connor CBE.

Thank you to Sport England who support The Game Changers Podcast through the National Lottery. 

Thank you to Sport England who support The Game Changers Podcast with a National Lottery award.

Find out more about The Game Changers podcast here: https://www.fearlesswomen.co.uk/thegamechangers

Hosted by Sue Anstiss
Produced by Sam Walker, What Goes On Media

A Fearless Women production

This episode is a slightly different format, as I talk to a panel of game changers about a specific topic – and in this case it’s women in sports coaching. 

Just 10% of accredited coaches at the Summer and Winter Olympics over the past decade have been female and we rarely see women in high profile coaching roles in our biggest sports. 

This conversation explores why this is and what needs to change? 

My guests for this episode were:

• Kelly Lindsey, Sporting Director at Lewes FC & former Head Coach of the Afghanistan women’s national team and the Moroccan women’s national team 
• Giselle Mather, Director of Rugby at Ealing Trailfinders and formerly Director of Rugby at Wasps Women who was the first female Level 4 rugby coach in Britain
• Jess Freeman, Community Coach at Harlequins & a rugby coach at Dorking
• Sarah Kelleher, former Irish Hockey Captain who is now a national coach for teams in England and Ireland

Having discussed their own experiences and journeys as women in sports coaching we explore the current gender balance in football, rugby and hockey in grassroots and elite coaching, and consider which sports are doing things well. 

We discuss why having more women in coaching matters, what makes a ‘good’ coach and what’s preventing equality. Finally we consider what needs to change for the future and my guests share some fantastic advice for other female coaches.

Thank you to Sport England who support The Game Changers Podcast with a National Lottery award.

Find out more about The Game Changers podcast here: https://www.fearlesswomen.co.uk/thegamechangers

Hosted by Sue Anstiss
Produced by Sam Walker, What Goes On Media

A Fearless Women production

This is an utterly fascinating conversation with Preeti Shetty, a hugely well-respected figure in sport, particularly in the area of sport for positive social change. 

CEO and founder of Upshot, Preeti is also a Board Director of Brentford Football Club, the Vice Chair of Street Child United, a Director of London Sport and sits on Women in Football’s Board committee.

As the head of Upshot, Preeti focuses her efforts on proving the difference non-profits can makes to people's lives and communities through impact measurement and evaluation.

Having grown up in Dubai, before moving the UK to work at the BBC, Preeti shares how she discovered the power of sport to change the world.

We explore her work at the Football Foundation and the challenges she faced as a woman of colour seeking to gain investment to buy Upshot from her employer.

Having been spat at on her first visit to watch a Premier League Football match at Milwall, she could understandably have walked away from the sport, yet she now sits as a Board Director of Brentford FC.

It’s little wonder that Preeti is so respected and admired in the sports industry.
Thank you to Sport England who support The Games Changers Podcast with a National Lottery grant.

Thank you to Sport England who support The Game Changers Podcast with a National Lottery award.

Find out more about The Game Changers podcast here: https://www.fearlesswomen.co.uk/thegamechangers

Hosted by Sue Anstiss
Produced by Sam Walker, What Goes On Media

A Fearless Women production

Eve Muirhead OBE is one of the world’s most successful curlers, who became Olympic Champion as skip for the British team at the Beijing Winter Olympics in 2022 having carried our flag at the Opening Ceremony.

Eve went on to become World Champion in the Mixed Doubles later that year before announcing her retirement from curling as current Olympic, European and World Champion. She was awarded an OBE in the Queen Birthday Honours. 

As well as her extraordinary accolades on the ice, Eve is also highly accomplished golfer and bagpiper.

We’re so grateful to Eve for her openness in this conversation where we discuss everything from the pressures of being skip of a team and her mental health struggles during COVID, through to the joy of returning to Scotland after winning Olympic gold and what the next chapter of life might hold.

Thank you to Sport England who support The Game Changers Podcast with a National Lottery grant.

Thank you to Sport England who support The Game Changers Podcast with a National Lottery award.

Find out more about The Game Changers podcast here: https://www.fearlesswomen.co.uk/thegamechangers

Hosted by Sue Anstiss
Produced by Sam Walker, What Goes On Media

A Fearless Women production