That’s according to Sport England’s latest Active Lives Childrens and Young People’s Survey Compared to 2017/18, 100,000 more girls are now playing football. We’ve also seen significant growth among adults, particularly in the 16-24 age group, an age at which we know young women turn their backs on sport far too often.
It’s fair to say that this increase was no coincidence. There may be some disagreements within the national team at the moment that need to be resolved quickly, but the Football Association has invested heavily in women’s and girls’ football in recent years (driven by the unbeatable Baroness Sue Campbell). their excellent Inspiring Positive Change strategy The aim is to enable equal access to football by 2024.
Programs like Wildcats and Just Play have acted as a catalyst and today two-thirds of schools offer girls equal access to football in physical education classes. This gap will continue to close.
At Sport England we are doing everything we can to support that growth. We are investing £26m in the FA between 2022 and 2027 and a further £2m in support of SQUAD, a new leisure activity for teenage girls aiming to fill the 12-14 year olds gap.
We have also committed £2.25m to create an inclusive and accessible talent pathway to ensure future national teams are representative of the population and supported offers in cities where EURO matches have been played to ensure that last summer’s tournament had a lasting impact.
Our long term Unite the movement The strategy aims to tackle long-standing inequalities, and the gender gap is an important part of it.
The Lionesses’ success and the way they have behaved can and will inspire a new generation of girls to lace up their boots and hit the pitch, while our partnership with the FA will ensure that girls do , no matter what level they play at, have the opportunity to get involved and enjoy the benefits of the game of football and physical activity.
This can also be greatly supported by the expansion of pitches and other facilities, including smaller and more informal pitches in urban areas, which is being driven by Government, Football Association and Premier League investment in The Football Foundation.
While today hurts, I have no doubt that what the team has accomplished will have a lasting impact that will benefit millions of girls for generations to come. And who knows, after this world-class performance, you might even be able to buy your daughter a Mary Earps goalie jersey…
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