Craft, Culture and the Game:
Together with the FWA

Football has always had two faces.

There are the floodlights and the glamour. The sharpness of elite athletes doing things most of us can’t even picture, let alone pull off. A kind of dream made real, every weekend, for millions.

And then there’s the deeper stuff. The history. The traditions. The loyalties you inherit, not choose. Shirts passed down. Stories retold. Legacies that live through generations.

That duality is exactly why football makes sense for Lyle & Scott.

We’ve stood for the same values since 1874. Craft, integrity, trust. Style with substance. Heritage that still moves forward. Football carries that same mix. Ritual and reinvention. Community and culture. A game that belongs to everyone, but lands differently for everyone who lives it.

So when we chose our first official football title partnership, it had to reflect that.

The Football Writers’ Association was formed in 1947 and remains the oldest organisation of its kind in the world. Nearly 900 full and student members spanning the whole football media landscape. Household names and future ones. Established broadcasters and former players, alongside the journalism student taking their first steps and learning the ropes.

Their Footballer of the Year dinner is a marker in the season. A room full of the people who chronicle the game, celebrate it, question it, and help define its culture. The roll call of winners reads like a history of English football itself.

This partnership isn’t about attaching ourselves to famous names. It’s about being close to the game where it really lives. Where football is watched, argued over, written about, filmed, photographed, and carried into everyday life.

Lyle & Scott has been part of football culture for a long time. Worn on terraces, in stands, and on streets. It’s never been something we’ve had to force. It’s been there, because it made sense.

More recently, we’ve put real focus into what football looks like now. The clubs and communities that keep it going. The next generation coming through. The people shaping the culture around it. Creators, photographers, filmmakers, stylists, writers. Football moves through all of it, and the stories around the game are part of what the game becomes.

That’s why we’ve backed initiatives like Kits for Clubs, supporting grassroots teams and the communities that keep football moving week in, week out. It’s why we’ve worked with platforms like Rising Ballers, who bring fresh energy and new audiences into the conversation. It’s why partnerships connected to foundations and youth programmes matter, because the future of football starts long before anyone walks out under stadium lights.

We’re not turning up for a photo. We’re here to do the work.

We want to build long-term relationships inside the sport and bring something meaningful to the table while we do it. Perspective, participation, and consistency.

Together with the FWA, we’ll help more young people find a way into football media. Through the traditional routes, and through the new ones too. Social, content, creative, digital. The modern game needs modern storytellers, and the talent is already out there. It just needs backing, structure, and access.

That ambition builds on the FWA’s existing mentorship programme. If Lyle & Scott can help open more doors, we will.

Because standards matter. The FWA holds its members to the highest level. We do the same in our own work. Integrity isn’t something you say once. It’s what you show, season after season.

We’re starting this partnership by celebrating excellence.

Our first moment together honours Dame Sarina Wiegman and what she’s built with the Lionesses. Not only the results, but the level. Calm under pressure, clarity in the details, and a culture that makes winning feel earned, not lucky.

Her record speaks for itself. Back-to-back European Championships with England, and three on the bounce when you include her title with the Netherlands. Finals reached. Expectations raised. A generation of players trusted to play with freedom and edge, because the structure underneath them is elite. She hasn’t followed a trend, she’s set the standard.

That’s why this recognition matters. The FWA award is about influence as much as achievement, and Sarina’s influence is obvious. She’s helped change what women’s football is allowed to be in this country. Bigger stages, bigger belief, bigger ambition. And she’s done it the hard way, through work and consistency.

It’s fitting that the FWA recognises her in this way. And it matters that we’re there too, because it underlines something bigger.

Our commitment to the women’s game isn’t a one-off. Supporting women in sport means backing the whole ecosystem. The players and coaches, the people building it behind the scenes, the coverage that gives it weight, and the next generation watching and deciding what’s possible.

And with the FWA, we can help make sure the women’s game is covered with the depth, credibility, and craft it deserves.

A proper beginning. A shared table. A clear direction.