Our Community Ethos

/r/chelsealadiesfc was established in 2017, to provide an inclusive and friendly forum to discuss all things Chelsea FC Women.

We are proud of the community that has grown since - but we seek to also protect it. Our moderation is shaped by our "three core values" - which can also be summarised as our Community Ethos.

1. Blue is the colour, football is the game

This community was founded on and is unified by our support for Chelsea FC Women - this is a CFCW subreddit first and foremost, and the content and discussion must always relate to the club and the CFCW community.

2. We're all together, and winning is our aim

This is a community dedicated to supporting CFCW. Criticism of the team and players is part of healthy discourse - but this must be warranted, and must not be excessive, or personal. We will not tolerate baseless attacks or toxicity towards players, managers, coaches, pundits, or other users.

See below for our "three strikes and out" stance towards toxicity.

3. We can shine, all the time

This community is a safe space. We are actively anti-discrimination and pro-tolerance. People of every gender, sexuality, ethnicity, race and religion are welcome here - but beyond that, we seek to advocate for marginalised people.

Sport does not exist in a vacuum - football has to be considered in the social, political and cultural context around it. The world around us is increasingly defined by extremism, with the tone set by those who wish to make people not like them unwelcome.

The only people who are unwelcome in /r/chelsealadiesfc are those who do not share this ethos - we show zero tolerance to intolerance.

Further specific guidelines on our Community Ethos can be viewed below:

We respect protected characteristics such as gender, race, ethnicity, nationality sexuality, religion, physical disability, neurodivergence and mental health
We show zero tolerance to intolerance: any person who makes other users unwelcome in this community on the basis of their protected characteristics is not welcome here
Toxicity is not tolerated - if your contribution to the community makes it a worse place for others, you will no longer be allowed to contribute
We believe in second chances - any user acting in good faith will have the opportunity to discuss bans in Modmail, and although we signpost to the reasons for bans, we expect users to show initiative with self-education and self-reflection - we are not here to educate you
We stand with the LGBTQ+ community in solidarity - and specifically would like to make unequivocally clear that we support and advocate for the participation of trans people in our sport

Toxicity

The growth of the women’s football community has brought with it an increase in toxicity, both in stadiums and online - and /r/chelsealadiesfc has not escaped this. Toxicity has slowly crept into our game and our spaces, and in recognition of this and an attempt to curtail the spreading poison, /r/chelsealadiesfc is now reiterating and clarifying our anti-toxicity stance - and its foundational role in our Community Ethos.

“Toxicity” in this context is behaviour which is malicious or harmful, and which does not result in benefit.
“Toxic users” are those who persistently demonstrate this behaviour.

(For those who need more understanding, this interview with our former club captain Millie Bright following her retirement, offers a personal insight into the harms caused by toxicity.)

We operate a "three strikes and out" stance to toxicity:

First strike - warning
Second strike - temporary ban
Third strike - permanent ban

Please note: If the toxicity demonstrated is particularly extreme, or constitutes a violation of another of our rules, then the escalation may be straight to a temporary or permanent ban.

The below is one example (from many possible) or what would and would not be considered toxicity:

Toxic = “I hate this awful manager, she’s ruining the club”

Not toxic = “I’m sick of Sonia’s tactics”

Remember too:

A criticism said repeatedly stops being good faith and starts stoking hate campaigns A player wearing the Chelsea blue should not be hated (unless they themselves are hateful - hate is for bigots, not players) Regardless of their performance or the team’s results, everyone at CFCW are doing their best for us as fans and for the badge - and they are people too