This picture might be familiar, especially if you’re the first or last person at a rugby club in Winter.
Over the past 10+ years I’ve spent coaching, I’ve often been the first person to a club to open up the pitches and set up for a session. It can either be going dark or completely be dark by the time I arrive to set up and dark when the players arrive.
Clubs and their infrastructure can be organised in different ways. There’s been times where I’ve had the means to turn on floodlights. At these clubs, this means I’m only in the dark on my route to and from the pitch.
In other clubs, the floodlights are either remotely turned on or on a timer. This has often meant I’ve not been in control at what time the lights come on. I’ve often been setting up in the dark and players are arriving to a pitch that isn’t lit.
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Safety Work
I’ve recently been reading about ‘Safety Work’. This is a term that refers to the invisible labour that women undertake to try and minimise the risk to sexual harassment in public places.
This includes changing the path to home after work, where to sit on public transport or scanning when walking. Vera-Gray and Kelly have coined the term and done alot of research in the area. They describe it as something that is internalised rather than decisions that are more conscious and casual1:
“From changing routes home to choosing seats on public transport, physically reducing themselves in public, to using headphones and sunglasses as a way of feeling invisible, women and girls globally are routinely making strategic decisions to avoid sexual harassment and other forms of sexual violence. Different women, at different times, are acutely aware of their surroundings, tuned into the presence of unknown men.” - Vera-Gray and Kelly, 2020
I recall consciously doing this. I also have probably done it unconsciously a countless number of times. There’s been times where I have felt uncomfortable travelling alone and I’ve rung my Dad to have someone on the phone. I recently discussed safety work with a friend who spoke about common the act of putting your keys in between your fingers when walking alone.
Safety work permeates everything, including spaces for physical activity. Authors Miles, Broad and Oldham examined how female runners change their routes and routine and had experienced abuse:2
“Women runners’ experiences of abuse not only lead to safety concerns but also impact on their participation in and enjoyment of running. Although some women who had experienced abuse said that it had not affected their running routines, which reflects the need for an intersectional understanding of women’s experiences, most described numerous negative impacts on their engagement in running, including feeling anxious, reduced confidence, reduced enjoyment, being on guard, only running in daylight and/or in built-up areas, avoiding certain paths/routes, choosing ‘safe’ routes, only running with others or temporarily stopping running outdoors.” - Miles, Broad and Oldham, 2026
How safe does your club feel?
Let’s examine how safe people might feel when arriving at a sports club in Winter, when it’s dark in the evenings. Clubs have a small amount of control over the public route to and from any sports ground. However, clubs can examine the routes people will take within their own ground. Don’t walk them in the middle of the day on a weekend. Walk the paths in the dark, in the winter.
I want to specifically examine the lighting of a sports club in Winter. I am not saying that lighting will solve all issues, but it will make a lot of people feel safer. I speak from experience.
For the people who open up the club
The walk you take should start at the boundary of the club. Check whether the person opening up the gate can see a lock easily or whether they have to balance holding their phone on torch mode whilst using a key or combination to open the gate. People may have their car headlights to illuminate them or they may be walking up to the gate to open up.
I’ve been a person that is opening up a sports club or pitches in the dark. It’s quite a vulnerable position. I’ve been on my own, in the dark, walking down a poorly lit path to unlock the gate to the club or pitches.
Just because the gates are unlocked to the club and sports pitches, doesn’t mean the environment now feels safe in the dark. In my experience, paths across car parks and to pitches are often poorly lit or have no lighting at all.
Car parks should be lit for obvious safety reasons. However if you’re walking alone in the dark, the vast expanse of a car park can make you feel more at risk.
Walking to switch on the floodlights or to the pitches often means traversing paths that aren’t illuminated.
I’ve been the lone volunteer/coach setting up the pitches or walking to them in darkness. It hasn’t felt very safe. I’ve often let my Dad know my timings, when the floodlights come on or when someone else is due to arrive. There’s also been some incidents when I’ve been setting up in the dark or when I’ve been at a club on my own preparing for a session.
In my experience, nobody thinks about the route to and from the pitches. Clubs consider the floodlit pitches and the fact that you’re on the club grounds enough.
For the people playing at the club
Not having illuminated routes to and from a pitch can be really daunting, especially for people that are new to the club.
For any existing players, they may arrive in groups and learn how to navigate the dark. This doesn’t mean they feel safe on this route, it means they’ve found a way to walk together and acknowledge the dark path on the way to training.
For anyone new to the club (coming to a women’s rugby taster session for example), the dark path can be unwelcoming and can make them feel like they’re not in the right place.
I’ve received messages from potential new team members who have been stood on a dark path wondering if they’re in the right place. A dark path, even though there are floodlit pitches visible, is not a welcoming site. It does not feel safe.
How can we make our clubs feel safer?
Your club might be a brilliant environment. You might know this. Yet knowing is different from feeling.
If a volunteer has to navigate dark routes to unlock everything, or if players walk an unlit path to get from their cars or the club entrance to their training pitches, then it does not feel safe.
If you’re prompted to go on a walk around your club similar to the one I suggested at the start. You’ll probably identify spaces that need better lighting.
These paths could be towards your floodlight switches, on the way up to the pitches, to and from the kit shed, towards the clubhouse or to the toilets.
This sounds like a major project to add lighting and electrical infrastructure to sports clubs. It might be something your club has to work towards.
There are smaller steps that can be taken to help. A club can start by adding some solar lights to pathways. It won’t provide a lot of light, but it’s better than a completely dark path.
It’s not enough to have a floodlit pitch. Lighting can make areas feel safer and encourage more people to go to. It feels simple and obvious to be discussing lighting. Yet many clubs don’t have illuminated paths.
If you have shared grounds and the conversation around lighting might take longer, there are other options. You could organise a system where people open up facilities together, so no one is on site on their own in the dark. You could also have designated and visible volunteers who are there to help guide people and be there for information, including safeguarding.
I am calling on NGBs to provide resources to help clubs make their grounds feel safer. This includes funding for lit pathways, car parks and entrances.
Did you know there’s now coach memberships? There’s 3 tiers for coaches (or anyone who wants to support the work and wants support), there’s also a special tier for clubs and W&Gs sections. There’s a coaching hotline, access to webinar recordings, and monthly mentoring. Memberships start from £5 a month.
https://durham-repository.worktribe.com/output/1305392/contested-gendered-space-public-sexual-harassment-and-womens-safety-work
https://academic.oup.com/bjc/article/66/1/111/8125895