Sport England Active Lives poll shows 100,000 more girls are playing football than five years ago | football news

An annual survey by Sport England found that 100,000 more girls play football today than five years ago.

Children’s activity levels have also recovered to pre-pandemic levels, although the Active Lives Children and Young People survey found seven- to nine-year-olds are still 4.5 per cent below pre-Covid levels.

But the big positive for women’s sport showed that more than 777,000 girls had played football in a formal setting in the week of the survey, compared with 669,000 in 2017-18. The number of informal participants has also increased by 200,000 since 2017.

It is believed that participation rates could get a further boost as the survey was conducted prior to the Lionesses’ Euros triumph.

The survey found that 219,000 more children were classified as active in 2020-21, and a total of 3.4 million children (47.2 percent of those surveyed) were classified as active, in line with the chief medical officer’s recommendation of participating in sports or physical activity participate at least 60 minutes a day.

However, the data highlights areas of inequality, as half of boys are now physically active an average of 60 minutes a day compared to 45 percent of girls, while 52 percent of children from the “most affluent” families are classified as “affluent”, that drops to 42 percent in less affluent families.

Activity levels for different ethnic groups are back to pre-pandemic levels, although the proportion of active black boys is 7.7 percent lower than in 2018-19. The gender gap in activity levels remains largest among Asian boys and girls at 10 percent.

“More needs to be done”

Sport Minister Stuart Andrew said: “It is very encouraging to see a wave of children and young people returning to enjoy the benefits of physical activity since the pandemic. But I realize that more needs to be done.

“That’s why we’re investing £230m in grassroots sports facilities and developing a bold new sports strategy. We will continue to work with Sport England to ensure every child has access to the right facilities and opportunities, both inside and outside of school.”

Tim Hollingsworth, Managing Director of Sport England, added: “This overall growth is positive but there is more to do to help children and young people from all backgrounds enjoy the benefits of sport and physical activity.

“That is why we will work to ensure that children and young people, particularly those who face inequalities and are less likely to participate in sport and physical activity, have a voice in decisions that affect their experiences to ensure that those experiences are positive.”

The number of visitors to the WSL has increased by 200 percent compared to the previous year

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Manchester United women’s head coach Marc Skinner believes they have a duty to continue to perform well in order to continue to increase attendances

Viewers in the Women’s Super League are up 200 per cent year-on-year on the back of England’s success at Euro 2022.

Kelly Simmons, the director of women’s professional football, celebrated a record-breaking first half of the season ahead of the final round of play this weekend before the winter break.

“As the 2022-23 season began, we knew we had an exceptional opportunity to introduce the Barclays Women’s Super League and Barclays Women’s Championship to a new audience,” said Simmons.

“The Lionesses’ victory took women’s football to a new level in this country and it was important for us to capture and capitalize on that momentum.

“It has often been said that a successful England women’s team will help generate interest in the domestic game. That’s certainly true, and I’ve been really blown away by the response we’ve seen from fans – new and old – in the first half of the season.

“I am pleased to report that we have seen close to 300,000 spectators at Barclays Women’s Super League games since the start of the season. This just goes to show how big the appetite for world class women’s league football is.

“We’re currently averaging nearly 6,000 fans a week in the Barclays Women’s Super League going into the final league games of 2022 – that’s over 200 per cent more than this time last year.

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“The Barclays Women’s Championship is also going extremely well, with an average attendance of over 85 per cent over this time last year.”

The highest attendance was an individual club record when Arsenal and Tottenham played in front of 47,367 fans at the Emirates Stadium in September.