2,000+ girls in Essex backed the national FA ‘Girls’ Football Week’ from Monday 5th to Sunday 11th October, with a range of events and festivals to inspire more educational institutions to run female-specific sessions.
Schools, colleges and universities, School Sport Partnerships, clubs and venues joined together across Essex to organise lunchtime and after-school sessions, matches, festivals, tournaments, Futsal, taster sessions and ‘Soccercise’. There were also dedicated Vauxhall Football Mash-Up, Mars Just Play and Team 19 meet-ups, plus the FA Skills Team were active during the week to make sure girls aged 5-11 were enjoying themselves.
The week was delivered in partnership with the Independent Schools FA, the English Schools FA, the Association of Colleges Sport and British Universities and Colleges Sport. This year the programme was extended to include primary and secondary schools, colleges and universities, along with clubs and community groups who were also invited to participate. The FA shared free-to-use promotional resources to raise the week’s profile.
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Polly Fildes from The FA has reported that, nationwide, a total of 18,424 girls registered as having taken part in activities, smashing the target of 5,000. Particular areas of growth were in college and university football and there was an average of 56 participants at each institution. Organisers of these events who opted to receive more information from The FA will now be contacted to talk about their next steps in girls football.
Essex County FA’s Emma Burden reacted: “A massive thank you and well done goes to everyone involved with Girls’ Football Week in Essex! It was worth it! There were 39 activities altogether in the county and we’ve received some excellent photos. It demonstrated that we have some really proactive individuals in girls football. We now look forward to seeing if these girls make the step into club football.”
In the Uttlesford region, boys’ and girls’ events took place at Felsted School and at St Mary’s Primary School in Dunmow. Organiser Jackie Coleman commented: “It was great that we had such wonderful support for Uttlesford Partnership Primary Schools. The children have all had a great time. I think we have had over 500 children playing football from our schools, which is a great percentage! A great big thanks goes to all the staff who supported these events.”
80 girls from school years five and six enjoyed Girls’ Football Week at Joyce Franklin Academy in Newport, while the Saffron Walden Girls’ Football Festival attracted 140 players from years three to six. 24 went to Dunmow Rhodes FC’s session and there was a healthy attendance at St John Payne School’s daily events in Chelmsford.
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Abi Holland recalled: “This week has been jam packed with lots of exciting football inter-house competitions. On Monday we were lucky enough to have two Essex County FA coaches to assist with our year eight and nine small-sided competitions, with over 50 girls taking part. On Tuesday and Wednesday we were again joined by the County FA.”
“We delivered various other training sessions, including Soccercise, and the Essex Chronicle newspaper also made an appearance! On Thursday, year sevens played their first inter-house competitions. There were refereeing opportunities for the year tens and elevens, too. The PE Department have been really impressed with the participation, enthusiasm and commitment during the week.”
“The numbers that turned-up to the clubs and competitions reflect how much the students enjoyed the week, and enjoy football. Goodie bag prizes were awarded for sportswomanlike play. Girls need to enhance their skill set at this early age, and need to have the belief in themselves to say “yes, I can! We have now linked with the County FA, and plan to enhance this bond, plus we’ve entered a year seven team into a league and other local competitions.”
Jenny Canty from Redden Court School in Romford, explained: “We’ve been running two girls football clubs since 2013, one at lunchtime and one before school. The attendance at both is 30+ students. During Girls’ Football Week we ran our usual extra-curricular club where they were learning how to switch play in order to create space for a forward pass. We also played in three Havering Cup matches this week – there was one draw, one loss and one win!”
“The girls have loved it! It is important for girls to get involved in football at an early age to change perceptions. They now have role models they can relate to. Previously we have had Rachel Yankey speak to students about her success, students have been taken to see England Women at Wembley and they’ve watched Chelsea Ladies train with a question and answer session afterwards. Schools and clubs should be encouraging participation.”
Donna Rose of Dagenham-based William Bellamy Primary School added: “We encouraged all ages to join in football in different ways. We used part of our lessons to work with a ball using our feet. This encouraged all children to at least try the game. Our girls football team had extra coaching sessions and they encouraged their friends to come along, as well as to our weekend sessions, with four new girls attending on the Saturday.”
“We held a crossbar challenge and fun ‘Space Invaders’ and ‘Find your Planet’ games. We feel it is so important to get the girls involved in football at a young age. As well as the physical benefits it encourages different types of communication skills. The social aspects are also very important to our pupils. They really loved their involvement. We have a new kit for our girls team and have good female role models within our school.”
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