S03E12: The football club bringing male allyship to the beautiful game - Gender-equal Lewes FC blows the whistle on misogyny and VAWG (Violence Against Women and Girls)

Our Guests:Karen DobresElected Director, Lewes Football ClubKaren Dobres has a unique voice on the Lewes FC Board as she had no interest in football before encountering the club’s equality initiative in 2017. Since then, she regularly gives talks at business and sports conferences on equality in football and its effect on driving gender equality in the wider world. Karen has also created the club’s SisterShips programme which is building a network of women’s organisations keen to support the club in solidarity with its equality stance, whilst the club promotes the member organisations’ work in return.Karen is a writer and trained counseling therapist, including creating and managing an internal counseling service for PolyGram Records (now Universal). Prior to this Karen has also worked as a fashion model. A co-owner of the Club since 2010, Karen leads on the board for ‘Impact on the World’.Joe Vines,Assistant Manager Lewes FC Men’s 1st Team Joe joined Lewes FC Men’s 1st Team as Assistant Manager in 2021, with Tony Russell who became team Manager. This heralded Joe’s return to the Lewes FC family, having been an ex-player for the team. Joe also had an extensive playing career with Cray Wanderers in the Kent League, Isthmian Premier, North, South and South-East. His move into management for Cray happened in 2017 when he became became Russell’s right hand man at the club. Joe is also the Director of Talent Operations at Boosta, a specialist talent consultancy that helps technology driven organisations acquire the best talent in the market. Joe’s 20 years+ experience in recruitment comes with roles with some of the leading names in Consulting, Investment Banking, Retail Banking, Insurance, Telecoms, Digital Agencies and around the Internet of Things.