International Women's Day 2022 - "It's right to be diverse, equal and fair"

As we mark International Women’s Day, Gender Equality Month... and National Careers Week, read how?Sirayah-Shiraz Koraltan ?of Services in London received industry recognition for her work to improve diversity and inclusion in youth football.

Some people say football’s just a game. But for many, it’s so much more than that. For Sirayah-Shiraz Koraltan, it’s in her blood – and she’s helping young people see?that it’s an industry in which many can make their career and realise their potential.

Football in her blood

“When I was growing up, my dad supported Tottenham and my mum supported Arsenal, so our household was crazy on derby day. I never wanted to offend anyone so I ended up supporting Chelsea,” Sirayah says. “My family have always been very into football. When I was six until 15 I played local Sunday league and then I went for trials at Watford and I played for Tottenham for a bit. Now my younger sister who’s 15 plays for Tottenham and her goal is to be a striker for the England Lionesses.”

Football has not been without its issues with race and racism over the years. Although these issues haven’t gone away entirely, Sirayah feels things have improved markedly in recent years.

“I think representation and visibility has changed, but there have always been minorities within football in England,” she says. “London is very diverse so I think that representation was already there. Even looking at the England team now, we have players from lots of different backgrounds.

“When I was younger, one of the reasons I quit football was because I didn’t think it was realistic for someone like me to have an opportunity to make the first team and I didn’t see people in first teams that looked like me. But I think that’s changed now.”

“There’s been a massive focus on Black History Month, Kick It Out, rainbow laces and the English Premier League campaigns to get young people empowered and coached.”

On sexism too, Sirayah feels progress has been made in recent years.

“I think in the past the authorities listened to the trolls online and avoided having female officials, commentators and pundits. But now it feels like they choose the most qualified person regardless of whether that’s a man or a woman.

“You watch a match now and more often than not there’s a female commentator or pundit involved. I like watching people from all different backgrounds discussing football on TV because that’s what happens in real life all across the world. We’ve got the women’s Euros in England this summer too and I’m really looking forward to that.”

Diversity and inclusion in youth football

Combining her love of the game with her diversity and inclusion work at NatWest Group, Sirayah became involved in youth empowerment work within football in London and the South East, which eventually led to her recent award.

“I usually work with players under the age of 18,” she says. “Working with safeguarding teams advising on their initiatives and what I would do. My focus is from two angles: equality within football, whether that is racial, gender, disability and sexuality equality, and youth empowerment.

“I’ve seen how much football from a young age can teach young people basic skills like hierarchy, teamwork and community building. I’ve worked with a lot of the Premier League teams and their youth football academies, creating boot camps for young people, and hosting career fairs at schools. They can speak to some of these football institutions and find out not just about becoming a football player, but all sorts of roles related to running a football club or the game as a whole, like how to be a physio or manage a stadium.

Whilst the media focus is primarily on on-the-field matters, players and coaches, Sirayah likens the variety of opportunities available in football to what you might find in a bank.

“It’s quite similar to banking in that unless you work within a bank, you don’t understand how many different teams fit into it,” she says. “When you start getting involved in football, you realise there are lots of media and social media roles, HR functions, finance functions and they all have foundations for their charity work.”

Fittingly, with face-to-face events still very limited, Sirayah heard about her Diversity & Inclusion Excellence in Football award, the?news of which she shared in LinkedIn , while watching football.

“The award was from the British Diversity Association and I actually found out while watching a Chelsea game earlier in the season. Like most awards, you’re nominated by your peers or people in the industry so that makes it an even prouder moment to have won.”

A five-year journey

"In London, I walk down the street and I hear 11 languages, that’s very normal. But when I first joined the bank there weren’t a lot of women in my cohort and those women were mainly white."

Sirayah joined NatWest Group as an apprentice five years ago, which she reflects has been an interesting period on matters of race and gender equality.

“I joined NatWest when was 19 and I’m now 24,” she says. “I joined as an apprentice and there were very few people like me in the group I joined with. In London, I walk down the street and I hear 11 languages, that’s very normal. But when I first joined the bank there weren’t a lot of women in my cohort and those women were mainly white.

“When I worked in NatWest Ventures and Esme Loans, I had a senior black woman mentor me and she was an amazing role model, not just from a representative perspective but someone that I could relate to an informal level. That’s really important and it really boosted my career.”

Over and above her ‘day job’ with NatWest Skillbank, Sirayah is actively involved in the bank’s Multicultural Network, Black Professionals Network and Apprenticeship Council. She recalls some big external events during her career which have influenced the bank and its approach.

“After George Floyd was murdered, I took up the role as D&I lead and worked on initiatives for Ventures and for Esme. We had unconscious bias sessions and we had really frank discussions on white privilege led by people from our own business.

“After that, I worked on our community outreach programme with under-represented schools, organising for myself and other colleagues to use their three days of volunteering leave supporting pupils with things like conversations about their own careers, CV and interview advice and Q&A sessions. It was through this that I started developing my youth football connections and getting more involved in that too.”

Euro 2020 and all that

Following a tumultuous 2020, matters of race came to the fore again in the summer of 2021 with the UEFA European Football Championship, including matches in England and Scotland. Sirayah saw both sides of football during that summer.

“Overall I think there was more positivity that came out of the Euros than how it ended. The atmosphere on trains, in pubs and in the country in general was great, really friendly – people from all different backgrounds getting behind the team. The likeability and diversity of the team was a factor too – a group of young men from different clubs and backgrounds coming together for a common goal.

“I watched the final from Trafalgar Square, in the middle of the biggest crowd I’ve ever been in in my life. For the most part until we lost, it was a really great experience. But, after the game, we left immediately in segregated groups because things got very rowdy and a bit hostile. I actually wrote a blog on LinkedIn about it called?‘We are Black, British and Proud’ .

"I like how we’ve changed and I hope that we continue to play our part in the public debate, because we do have a certain respect and people do look up to what we at NatWest say, so it’s important we lead in the right way."

The racist abuse of England’s black players following the final prompted a huge outpouring of support from across the country, including a public statement from NatWest.

“The online abuse and public support thereafter raised awareness of the fact the players are not just talking about issues of race and taking the knee for fun. This is what black players deal with far too often. When they stand up to take a penalty, they know if they miss there’s additional hate they’ll have to deal with.”

“I think it’s good that NatWest stood up and we said something, but we had to. We have to practice what we preach. Not only is it morally correct, it’s profitable to be right, to be diverse, to be equal and to be fair.”

Although the abuse shows there is still some way to go to tackle racism in football and society, Sirayah thinks things are changing for the better.

“I think since George Floyd was murdered a lot of things changed in the corporate world – people feel much more confident to make statements and come out and have these conversations,” she says. “I like how we’ve changed and I hope that we continue to play our part in the public debate, because we do have a certain amount of respect. People do look up to what we at NatWest say, so it’s important we lead in the right way.”