FA launches scheme to make sure every girl has opportunities to play football at school

The Football Association has promised to make sure every girl has opportunites to play football at school, with dedicated schemes being rolled out across the country.

The FA’s director of the women’s professional game, Kelly Simmons, made the pledge as part of Women in Football’s #WhatIf campaign, which sees clubs, companies and individuals making pledges to improve the conditions for women and girls in the industry.

The commitment mirrors the aims of the Telegraph’s Girls, Inspired campaign, which seeks to close the gender gap and inspire physical activity in schools amid alarming trends that show that millions of girls are missing out on the life-long benefits of sport. Just eight per cent of girls aged between 11 and 18 are meeting the chief medical officer’s recommendation of a daily hour of activity - exactly half the figure for boys.

Throughout the last academic year, the FA and the Youth Sport Trust have developed the FA Girls’ Football School Partnership network to improve girls’ access to football at over 6,000 schools. Barclay’s, the new title sponsor of the Women’s Super League as of next season, are the lead partner of this scheme.

In secondary schools, the FA has launched the Game of Our Own programme, using football to develop girls’ self-esteem and resilience. in a pilot involving 100 schools, the scheme has reached just shy of 17,000 girls through over 3,355 football lessons. 56% of girls aged 11-14 have never played football before. This is part of the FA’s ‘Football For Learning’ outlook, aimed at highlighting the educational benefits of sport through dedicated teacher training and support.

The FA’s head of women’s football, Baronness Sue Campbell, told Telegraph Sport: “We think this pledge will be really transformational for the women’s game. We’re not anticipating that every girl will love it and every girl will want to continue playing it, but every girl should have the opportunity to play the game and to enjoy the game.

“I think that the best way to create this change is to actually present programmes that are thought through carefully and are educationally good. We know we’ve got to present the sport in a way which helps girls with that bigger picture.

“Game of Our Own is about helping girls with some very, very important personal qualities like resilience, self-determination, confidence, self-esteem. We know that young girls are really struggling with both physical activity and physical obeisity but also a massive rise in emotional issues. What we’re trying to do through our football programme in secondary schools is provide a programme which helps girls with those characteristics: help young women be succesful while learning and enjoying the game of football.

“I think we’ve got a big job to do. We have to provide football programmes and opportunities which meet the wider objectives at schools - otherwise they carry on doing the traditional sports that they’ve always done. It’s going to be talking to decision-makers in schools. We’re not pretending this is easy - but [girls’ early access to football] is nothing like boys’. We know those early experiences set people for life. If they don’t get an early positive experience, it’s very unlikely that they’ll come to the game later on.”