The Game Changers

Welcome to The Game Changers. It’s hard to believe this is series 16 of the podcast, which celebrates the trailblazers in women’s sport exploring critical issues around equality in sport and beyond.

We are so pleased that again this season of The Game Changers is supported by Sport England through a National Lottery Award. We’re incredibly grateful for their ongoing support, which enables us to share the stories of these inspiring women working across the sporting landscape.

My wonderful guest list for this series includes: 

Jess Carter, an incredible professional footballer who was part of the Lionesses team that won the Euros in 2022 AND silver in the World Cup in 2023. Jess also plays for Chelsea in the WSL.

Claire Taggart - ranked number one in the world at Boccia, Claire represented Paralympics GB in Rio and Tokyo and looks all set to medal at Paris 2024.

Sue Redfern, a former England Cricketer who is now a blazing a trail as a much respected cricket umpire in the men's and women’s games.

Sabrina Pace-Humphreys – an ultrarunner, author, social justice activist AND co-founder of the community and campaigning charity Black Trail Runners. 

Lisa O’Keefe – former Scottish International Rugby Player and director at Sport England who is now  Secretary General for the International Working Group for Women in Sport

Kristen Dusting – a silver medallist for England in the 2014 Roller Derby World Cup and multi-medal winning skater for London Roller Derby. 

Steph Harries - Managing Director at Women’s Sports Group, who was formerly Controller of Production for BBC Sport 

And 

Mo Hunt – a legendary England rugby player who’s won a World Cup, numerous Six Nations Championships and represented Team GB at the Rio Olympics. Mo’s now captain of Gloucester Hartpury, leading her team to victory in the 2023 Premiership. 

This new series of The Game Changers will be released on Tuesday February 6 so please subscribe now and don’t miss out on these fascinating, inspiring conversations.

The Game Changers is available for free across all podcast platforms, or you can listen directly from our website at fearlesswomen.co.uk. 

This is also where you’ll find details of all the trailblazing guests featured in previous series – there are over 170 of them. You can also listen to my book ‘Game On: The Unstoppable Rise of Women’s Sport’ for free on the podcast. You’ll find the entire audio of the best-selling book in series 13.

The Fearless Women website is also where you can find out more about the Women’s Sport Collective, a free, inclusive community for all women working in sport. Membership includes access to networking events, regional groups, webinars, mentoring schemes, our LinkedIn Group, monthly newsletters, free places 

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

Now entering its 5th year, The Game Changers continues to evolve, providing a safe space for female athletes and senior women in sport to share their stories and explore critical issues around equality and inclusion.

Ahead of series 16, which launches in February, we're sharing a special highlights episode from 2023.

Preeti Shetty, Director at Brentford Football Club, shares her shocking first experience as a spectator at a Millwall game and her challenge in raising funds in sport and tech as a woman of colour.

Paralympic legend Ellie Simmonds shares the ongoing impact of the bullying culture in Paralympic Swimming ahead of Rio 2016, and we hear from Juliet Slot, Chief Commercial Officer at Arsenal FC, about the blatant sexism and misogyny she faced as the first female director at Fulham FC in the 90s.

International Football Manager Kelly Lindsey highlights what needs to change if we're ever to see more female professional football coaches, and the Guardian's Suzanne Wrack explores what we can all learn from the brave actions of the Spanish team after last summer's FIFA Women's World Cup.

UFC Champion, Molly McCann, talks of how her tough upbringing enabled her to become the fighter she is today and finally, Jeanette Kwakye, Olympic athlete turned broadcaster, says that despite loving the tiny bikini bottoms she wore to compete, she now sees the dramatic impact inappropriate sports clothing is having on girls participation in sport.

The impact of The Game Changers podcast was also recognised by Sport England in 2023, when they awarded Fearless Women a three-year grant to create a further 9 series. We're so grateful for their ongoing support and thanks also to our fantastic Executive Producer, Sam Walker.

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 was originally released as part of Series 3 on April 7, 2020.

Widely regarded as one of the greatest-ever female players, Kelly Smith MBE is England women’s record goal scorer and four-time Women’s Premier League winner with Arsenal Women.

Kelly talks openly about how tough it was playing football as youngster and being kicked off two teams for being a girl, how England is now the best place for any young girl wanting to play professional football and why she feels it’s so important to now talk openly about her past struggles with alcohol to encourage others to open up and talk more openly about mental health. 

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

A re-released episode originally published as part of Series 3 on May 19, 2020.

At the time of the original release Casey was Manager at Man United Women, and had been capped over 100 times for England and captained the Lionesses and Team GB during the London 2012 Olympics.  

Casey talks us about how she was bullied for playing football as a girl, her surreal first cap in front of a crowd of 45,000, what makes a great captain and leader, the difference in life as a manager versus a professional player and how she’s managing life as Manager at Manchester United Women.  

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 was originally released as part of Series 2 on Sept 17, 2019.

Former England Cricket Captain, Clare Connor has transformed the game from grassroots to the elite level, she is now ECB Deputy Chief Executive Officer and Managing Director England Women.

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 was originally released as part of Series 1, on July 16, 2019.

Team GB’s most decorated female Olympian with 5 Olympic rowing medals (including Gold at London 2012) Katherine is now the Chair of UK 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

This episode was originally released as part of Series 1 on June 4, 2019.

Four times Ironman World Champion, Chrissie is now Global Lead of Health and Wellbeing for Parkrun.

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

Today’s guest is the most successful female sailor in Olympic history - Hannah Mills OBE.

Hannah won a silver medal for Team GB alongside Saskia Clark at London 2012, before the pair went on to win Gold in Rio 2016. Hannah retained her Olympic title with new partner, Eilidh McIntyre at the Tokyo Games in 2021, and was also the Team GB flagbearer for those games.

Off the water Hannah’s hugely passionate about the environment. She’s an International Olympic Committee Sustainability Ambassador, who launched the Big Plastic Pledge in 2019, and co-founded Athletes of the World, an athlete group campaigning for positive impact around climate change. 

In 2021, Hannah joined Sir Ben Ainslie’s SailGP Team as its first female sailor as part of SailGP’s Women’s Pathway Programme. And in 2022 she returned to the water just a few months after the arrival of baby Sienna.

Hannah was awarded an MBE in 2017 & an OBE in 2022, for her services to sailing and the environment.

From her first experience on the water, through an extraordinary Olympic career, Hannah talks so openly about her journey to become the most decorated female sailor in Olympic history.

Her journey since Tokyo has also been incredible, and we explore Hannah’s transition to a SailGP team on the Women’s Pathway and what the future holds for women in this very male dominated sport.

Hannah is refreshingly honest about the challenges faced in returning to sport after having a baby, and it’s wonderful to learn about the support from SailGP that’s made this possible.

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

Juliet Slot is Chief Commercial Officer at Arsenal Football Club and a board director at the British Olympic Association.

At Arsenal Juliet heads a department with a broad remit including marketing, data and insight, commercial partnerships, ticketing, hospitality, conferencing and events, retail licensing and new commercial ventures.

Juliet's whole career has been in the sports industry, with senior roles at adidas, Fulham Football Club, London 2012 and Ascot Racecourse, before she joined Arsenal. In exploring her earlier roles in sport, we talk about selling sports clothing to women and what Juliet learnt from the challenging experience of getting partners on board for the London 2012 bid.

Passionate about gender equality in sport, Juliet is leading the way through her work at Arsenal FC, which has long been a driving force in women's football.

Juliet is incredibly open in sharing her learnings, as we explore everything from the data and insight needed to market women’s sport and drive ticket sales, to finding new sponsors for the women’s team while managing the expectations of elite female footballers, who are now household names. 

Sharing some shocking stories from her time as the first female Director at Fulham Football Club in the 90s, Juliet reflects on how much things are now changing for women working in football, especially at clubs like Arsenal. 

This is a fascinating interview with a woman leading her field, generously sharing her learnings with others across sport. 

A huge 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

Jeanette Kwakye is former international athlete turned broadcaster.

This British sprinter was five-time British champion, Olympian and world indoor silver medallist, competing in the Olympic final of the 100 meters in Beijing 2008. 

Since retiring as an athlete and becoming a journalist in 2013, Jeanette's become a regular broadcaster across the BBC, Sky Sports and Channel 5. Jeanette works across many sports, having anchored world championships and athletics, swimming and taekwondo, along with Olympic and Commonwealth Games. 

In 2020, Jeanette became the first Black woman to present boxing on British TV and regularly presents the BBC Women's Football Hour show, BBC Five Live Breakfast and Fighting Talk. She's also hosting an exciting new show for Sky Sports' this autumn, bringing the British Basketball League, Men's and Women's games, to our screens. 

In 2017, Jeanette wrote a children's book called Femi the Fox, which teaches the younger generations about West African culture, and in 2021, she was awarded an MBE in the Queen's Birthday Honours List for her services to sports and sports broadcasting. 

Jeanette is incredibly open about her life as an elite track athlete - who as a youngster was sometimes a challenge to coach. 

We talk everything from the issue of drugs in sport and the revealing sports kit worn by female athletes (which Jeanette loved when competing) through to her own challenges with injuries and how it felt to miss out on London 2012, having started the year as Britain’s fastest woman. 

We track Jeanette’s career path to becoming a prominent sports broadcaster in a space where there were few black women, and how it feels to now be on the other side of the microphone being the first person to talk to emotional British athletes as they finish their events at major Championships.

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