When Brighton travelled to play Leicester this season, the away fans were subjected to a depressingly familiar line of abuse. Homophobic bile follows Albion around the country, but this time something was done about it. A number of the abusers were ejected from the stadium, two were arrested and three were banned by Leicester. A positive move, but a reactive one, punishment of an offence after the fact. In south-east London, something more proactive is happening.

In August, Charlton Athletic announced they would be the first professional football club in the country to lend their name to an LGBT‑friendly team. Bexley Invicta were formed in 2011 and play in the London Unity League but from this season they will be known as Charlton Invicta, formally affiliated with the club’s community trust, taking Charlton’s name and playing home games at their training ground. They are the first LGBT-friendly team to have such an arrangement: others are more loosely connected (Queens Park Rangers have a partnership with London Titans, for example) but no other club have lent their name.

This month they played their first home game, in Charlton colours, and while the red kits took a bit of getting used to (they previously played in blue), it didn’t hamper them too much: they beat London Titans 4-0.

“I’m 34, and I didn’t play football from when I was 18, 19 to when I was 31,” says the player-manager, Gary Ginnaw. “I never felt I could be myself and play football. I know what Sunday league teams are like: you go to the pub, people ask if you’ve got a girlfriend, or say: ‘Look at her, she’s fit.’ You’d feel uncomfortable being yourself. I didn’t want to live a lie with my team-mates, so I just avoided playing altogether. I wish I knew about clubs that were open to everybody 10 years ago, because I would have jumped at the chance.”

Invicta is not an exclusively gay team: in fact, only about a third of their players are gay. The point is to provide a team where LGBT people feel welcome where they might not elsewhere. “We’re here for everybody,” says Ginnaw. “But one thing we have to understand is that if you’re not accepting of LGBT people, then you’re probably not going to fit in with the club and its ethos and what we’re trying to achieve.”

Nick Coveney’s relationship with football was even more distant. After being outed at school he associated the game with the subsequent bullying from his peers, and actively pushed it away. “I decided I was never going to watch football,” he says. “I allowed myself to be very dismissive of football and football fans. I used to slope off whenever Match of the Day came on, because there was a perception that football wasn’t for me – or people like me.”

But, after seeing an advert for Invicta in a supermarket, he joined this summer. It does not particularly matter that he had little playing experience, or that he has a fair bit of work to do before getting into the team: what matters is he has been welcomed into a sport which he previously thought of as actively hostile to his identity.

“One of the things I found really interesting about being in a relationship with a gay guy who is really passionate about football is that the kind of prejudice about football exists in the gay community as well. There’s almost a knee-jerk dislike for football, because homophobia has been such a problematic part of people’s experiences.” Clubs such as Invicta can change attitudes both ways.

LGBT-friendly football teams are not new: there are dozens around the country but one carrying the name and the endorsement of a club who were in the Premier League not so long ago is. This does not seem to be a token gesture from the club either: Charlton’s first‑team manager Karl Robinson, captain Johnnie Jackson (or “God” as Ginnaw, a Charlton fan, calls him) and chief executive Katrien Meire were at the launch at The Valley and gave their full support to the team.

“Homophobia is a big issue around football,” says Michael Seeraj, head of equality, diversity and inclusion for the Charlton Athletic Community Trust. “We did stuff around race 25 years ago, so we thought we’d bring that experience and expertise to work with the LGBT community, acutely aware there is no other LGBT-affiliated club within professional football. We want to provide structure and playing opportunity for LGBT players but also look at what we can do in a wider framework about tackling homophobia in society.”

Making teams such as Invicta part of a Football League club is a proactive way of creating a more inclusive atmosphere around football Photograph: Alex Sturrock/The Guardian

The thought does occur that Charlton might not have been everyone’s first choice to join up with in a partnership. Under the ownership of Roland Duchâtelet they have sacked a string of managers, been relegated to League One and eroded the goodwill of large sections of their support. Did Ginnaw worry about becoming affiliated with such an unpopular regime? “I’ve got a few friends who have said similar things but it’s not something I gave too much thought to. I think the fact Katrien Meire was at the launch was quite important. I wondered whether, if it was another club, would the manager, the assistant, the captain and the chief executive be there?”

Thus far the response seems to have been broadly positive but inevitably there will be some opposition, partly from those who wonder what the need for an LGBT-friendly team is. “Part of this is trying to educate everyone,” says Ginnaw. “In an ideal world, we wouldn’t need an LGBT-friendly club or league, you’d just play in any league. But there’s still homophobia in football.”

In February the culture, media and sport select committee released a report that, among other things, quoted a number of surveys. One said 72% of fans have heard homophobic abuse at football matches; in another, 73% did not believe youth sports were a “supportive and safe place” for LGBT people; another said 40% of LGBT people have been discouraged from participation in sport; and a 2016 BBC survey suggested 8% of football fans would stop watching their team if they signed an openly gay player. That latter number initially seems low but last season an average of around 350,000 people attended Premier League games last season: 8% is, 28,000 people, basically a stadium full of homophobes ignorant enough to turn their backs on their team. And that is just the people who go to games.

It should thus go without saying there is still work to be done. Invicta’s chairman, Paul Driscoll, believes we are a generation away from eradicating the problem, and Seeraj estimates that, in terms of combating abuse, homophobia is roughly where racism was 25 years ago. This is obviously not to suggest racism is no longer a problem, but most who attend games will tell you racist abuse is far more likely to be called out than homophobia. It is still thought of as acceptable banter by some, but it drives people away from the game.

Making teams such as Invicta part of a Football League club is a proactive way of creating a more inclusive atmosphere around football. It will encourage more players, like Ginnaw and Coveney, to take up the game; it is another step towards preventing the sort of abuse those Leicester fans were punished for; and it may also help create the conditions for what is still often seen as the holy grail: a top-level, current male professional feeling comfortable enough to come out.

“If, when I was 15 or 16,” says Ginnaw, “I’d seen a high-profile player come out, it would have given me the confidence to think: ‘Well, if he can do it, and he’s in the spotlight, then I can tell my mum and dad or my best friend.’ That would be great for youngsters coming to terms with their sexuality, but it’s entirely up to an individual and it has to be handled right.”

It is not just the obvious needs of the individual that will form part of that decision. “One of the things that might be holding a gay player back is the thought it wouldn’t just harm them but might harm their team,” says Coveney. “It shouldn’t be this way but they might think they’re creating ‘a talking point’ which people will latch on to and target in a negative way.” Again, making Invicta part of an established club should help reduce that concern.

There was some encouragement on this point from Robinson. As he was about to head to the Invicta launch, he asked the Charlton first-team squad whether they would have a problem if a team-mate came out. Apparently, they gave him a slightly quizzical look, as if to say: “Of course not.” This is all in theory, but it does at least help.

But until that point, simply welcoming people into the game is enough. “For me, joining this team and growing to love football does feel like a very active piece of agency, reclaiming it,” says Coveney. “It’s a statement that ‘I can enjoy this if I want to, I feel welcome now.’ I’m part of Charlton Invicta, and I have a team to support me.”