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TRANMERE ROVERS SPORTS DINNER
What happens when you combine three former Tranmere Rovers ’ players , an exciting night of inspirational and emotional talks , and a very worthy cause ?
Well – actually – many good things happen , as we saw earlier this month when Tranmere Rovers launched their first of a wide-ranging series of Sporting Dinners . The former players have all developed some amazing careers after having played for Tranmere and they shared some heart-warming moments with the capacity audience in the Ian Muir lounge at Prenton Park .
Stacey Copeland , England International footballer , the first English female Commonwealth boxing champion , and now founder of the charity Pave the Way , showed her determination and grit in overcoming gender prejudice in her two favourite sports . From cutting her hair to look like a boy in order to avoid touchline abuse as an 8 year-old , to waiting for the law to change until she could box , to now standing up for many young children of both sexes , and being an outstanding role model .
Stacey was joined by Joe Thompson , who also played for Rochdale and has shown his resilience in overcoming cancer twice , and if Stacey had us in tears through her gritty refusal to give up , Joe had us there with the emotional and brutal honesty of his journey .
It fell to Mark Palios , the Rovers ’ Chairman and another former player of course , to round off the evening with a number of fine examples on how the club has a zero tolerance of gender bias .
The evening was sponsored by the club ’ s legal partner Hill Dickinson , with their CEO Peter Jackson describing the firm ’ s commitment to diversity . Peter also showed his own generosity by donating back the signed Tranmere shirt which he had just won in the Heads and Tails , to be auctioned for the evening ’ s cause .
Martyn Best , not a former player , but an Associate Director of the club , hosted the evening and led the way in extracting further fine generosity from the guests which will enable the Educational arm of the club to purchase the professional camera and video equipment they desperately need .
The club ’ s vice-Chair , Nicola Palios , highlighted the success of the evening , “ We wanted to bring to life the difficult issues of diversity and inclusion across all areas of gender , race , sexuality and ability in a thought-provoking but entertaining way . Our legal partner Hill Dickinson have an equal passion in these fields , and agreed to support the fantastic evening which saw Stacey and Joe share their experiences in a provocative , moving and funny evening . We plan to have more sporting dinners over the season , and I hope you can join us for the next one .”
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