At midday on Saturday, the Charlton Athletic Supporters' Trust (CAST) will be launching an exhibition of fan portraits in the Meantime Fans' Bar at The Valley ahead of the Addicks' final fixture of the regular season.
Charlton is the original community club - founded not by a school, church or factory, but by a group of mates who just wanted to play football. Since then, at its best the club has led the way on community values including anti-racism.
After a difficult 10 years, there is now a feeling that community is back in the driving seat and the club is coming back together again off and on the pitch.
As part of this positive momentum, CAST is partnering with Fans for Diversity* on a campaign under the banner 'All Different. All Together. All Charlton.' The aim of the campaign is to enable current fans to feel and love their difference and togetherness and to enable those who are new to the area or haven’t yet been to The Valley to get the sense they will find themselves welcome amongst a group of friendly and diverse fans. The campaign kicks off with an exhibition in the Meantime Fans’ Bar at The Valley ahead of the last men’s first-team match of the regular season.
The exhibition features the work of photographer Rhea Spencer-Newell. Throughout the men’s and women’s first-team's 2024/25 season, she has taken candid shots of Addicks fans in and around the ground, capturing everyone’s individuality and shared love of Charlton. Designer Oliver Watts made the photos into football stickers inspired by Charlton swappable collectables of old.
The exhibition features 30 Charlton fans' enlarged stickers - each with its own story. A Syrian refugee whose family never misses a men’s or women’s game; the captain of LGBTQA+ team Charlton Invicta; a young man who was brought up in Milton Keynes but now supports a club ‘with a soul’; someone who has recently won Pointless, and a group of boys, who, you never know, may be the great grandsons of those mates who just wanted to play football all those years ago.
The exhibition is just the start. Look out for more and the online sticker book and how Addicks can have their portrait added to the sticker collection.
Fans for Diversity Campaign Manager Hannah Kumari said: "'All Different. All Together. All Charlton.' is an evolution of our My City, My Shirt initiative which we are proud to support. My City, My Shirt is all about celebrating the identity of a club; local iconic landmarks and fans of all ages and backgrounds. This is encapsulated perfectly in Charlton's campaign. It's great to see a range of fans which truly reflect the diversity of south-east London, whilst the idea to turn those portraits into retro football stickers is a wonderful celebration of classic football culture."
Photography: Rhea Spencer-Newell (Rhea is currently studying photography at university and has a passion for photographing football. She is a Charlton fan and has been documenting the club for over a year now. More of her photographs can be viewed on Instagram @rheaphotographs)
Designer: Oliver Watts
Exhibition opens from 12pm BST on Saturday, May 3rd in the Meantime Fans’ Bar.
*Fans for Diversity is a joint venture between the Football Supporters’ Association and Kick It Out and campaigns to ensure all football fans feel safe, welcome and included at the game regardless of their age, disability, gender, race, faith, sexual orientation or any other protected characteristic.
