Dropping in to Swanage Town and Herston Football club in Dorset, Celebrity Traitors star Jonathan Ross offered his allegiance (or was it an alliance!?) to the club’s under 11 girls’ football team.
Jonathan who owns a home in Swanage, signed some prizes to help boost a fundraising raffle for new equipment for the team, and brought along a message of support for the girls personally recorded for them by England football star Chloe Kelly.
England star Chloe Kelly recorded a special video message for the Swanage team which Jonathan Ross played to them
Special video message from Lioness Chloe
In a video message, Lioness Chloe wished the Swanage team all the best for their footballing careers and asked them to keep following the game they all love, calling them England’s future superstars.
Jonathan spent almost an hour chatting to the players and staff, posing for photographs, playing table football with them, signing autographs for them and giving a few little insights about his time on the BBC TV programme Celebrity Traitors – the result of which is still a closely guarded secret.
He agreed to make the surprise visit to Days Park, the home and training grounds of Swanage Town and Herston Football Club, after Sabrina Ramsay – whose husband Wesley coaches the Under 11 girls team – sent him an Instagram message.
Jonathan walked over to the club with his dogs Spooky and Pumpkin and told the team that he would be very keen to watch them play one of their matches in the future.
Sabrina Ramsay (left) and Sarah Atkins with Jonathan Ross after Sabrina sent him an invite on Instagram, which he happily accepted.
“Youth teams should be supported”
Sabrina Ramsay said:
“The team manager left last season and my husband Wesley and Oliver Jones took over, volunteering to give up so much of their time to help rebuild the side.
“Whilst they have been coaching, the girls have gone from strength to strength, growing in confidence and self esteem, building friendships and above all having fun and feeling safe – we are like a family and try to go above and beyond for the girls.
“Quite often, youth teams get overlooked when they should be supported more, as they are our future, after all.
“So as the girls need more equipment and team building sessions, Sarah Atkins and I decided to do a Halloween fundraiser with fancy dress, a disco, food and a sweet and treat cart.
“Local businesses have been extremely generous and donated some wonderful prizes, and our tickets are sold out, which is fantastic.”
The girls of Swanage and Herston FC’s Under 11s were thrilled to get a celebrity visit
“We are so proud of the girls!”
Sabrina added:
“We have families within the team who are financially struggling and can’t even afford new boots, so we created a swap shop where people can donate boots that no longer fit so we can pass them on to others in need of them.
“We also plan to have a quiz night at the Swanage British Legion and will be taking part in table top sales all to raise money for the team.
“Some of the funds raised will be to buy these children new boots and we are also taking the girls to see a Bournemouth Ladies match on Wednesday 29th October 2025, they are so excited!
“We just want to raise awareness and financial support for local youth teams, to make children with special needs aware that they can participate in all sports and not be judged.
“This sport keeps the children’s passion alive, gives them hope that they can achieve no matter what, and makes them aware that they don’t need to be hanging around on the streets. We are so proud of the girls!”
Wesley Ramsay (second from left) has been delighted by the level of commitment from the team he took over this season
Early success in cup matches
The Under 11 team, which is sponsored by Bournemouth Glass Company, Jones and Prior, Nathan Streams decorating and property maintenance, and The Fish Plaice, is made up of girls from local primary schools, and plays in the Dorset League.
Although that can mean some long journeys to away matches as well as regular training sessions, the girls are putting in a huge effort and have had early success in cup matches
But the cost of equipping, training and running the team mounts up, making fundraising a vital part of growth and success
Jonathan says that he and his family want to engage with the Swanage community whenever they can
“I love being in Swanage”
Speaking to Swanage.News, Jonathan Ross said:
“Sabrina contacted me on Instagram and asked me if I would come down and give some support to the team as they were trying to raise funds, which so many small clubs find hard these days, and I was very happy to.
“I’m going to come back and watch the girls play and see if I can persuade Chloe Kelly to come with me – although she is busier than I am, so I don’t know whether her calendar will allow it! And I look forward to the Swanage girls joining the England team very soon!
“I love being in Swanage – one of the things my wife and I wanted was to engage with the community, I don’t like the idea of being someone who has a holiday home and doesn’t try to engage.
“All the people in the shops down the high street know me, we do enjoy walking along the beach, I always try to help the carnival out, I do feel that if you are lucky enough to have a place down here you should engage.
“It works both ways, it’s nice for us as well, it is nice when you go out and recognise people you know and you can chat with them, and I like knowing about things like this, so I get as much out of it as anyone.”
Jonathan found being a Traitor an uncomfortable experience
“Being a Traitor was really challenging”
Jonathan was happy to talk about his experience in Celebrity Traitors – without giving away any twists yet to be aired – and said:
“Does anyone watch Traitors? You know I’m a Faithful, right? Because there have been some rumours about me…
“Unfortunately, we don’t get to keep the traitors’ gowns, though I think that Alan Carr might have made his own when he got home, he really loved it!
“But I found being a traitor was really challenging because you are lying all the time – even to the celebrities I didn’t know very well, because they are all really nice people.
“It’s not nice to lie to bad people, but when lying to really nice people it really troubled me. Cat Burns was better at it than me as she was able to compartmentalise it thanks to her neuro divergency.”
Everyone joined in with trying to beat Jonathan at table football
“I had to look dear Stephen Fry in the eye”
Jonathan added:
“We had a chat after we got up to our murdering business in the turret and she said I looked really miserable – it was because I was finding it so hard, but she tried to make me see that it was just a game.
“But I think it landed on me harder than the other two. Alan just saw it all as funny, but for me it was upsetting, lying to people wasn’t nice, even though you know it’s a game.
“I had to look dear Stephen Fry in the eye and swear to him that I was telling the truth.
“I’ve known him for about 35 years and he is such a decent, lovely man, who was confiding to me his thoughts and I had to tell him I thought he was right, when I knew he was wrong… I would never do anything like it again!”
Mollie-Mae – like all her teammates – was delighted when Jonathan signed her football boots
Further information
- Follow Swanage Town and Herston FC
- More about Celebrity Traitors is on the BBC website
