international womens day – English Schools' Football Association

The English Schools’ Football Association (ESFA) has been creating opportunities for girls within schools’ football since the mid-1990s and the Association continues to see record-breaking rises in girls’ football activity season after season.

The theme for International Women’s Day 2024 is ‘inspiring inclusion’, a celebration of diversity and empowerment. The ESFA has worked tirelessly since the introduction of its first girls’ football competitions in 1996, to grow the opportunities available for schoolgirls across England and, particularly in the last 5 years, the Association has seen substantial growth year on year, with record breaking numbers of girls’ participation each season.

(c) Garry Griffiths | ThreeFiveThree Photography

Activity across the country

At present, the Association runs 54 National Cup competitions for pupils from U11 – U18 and 20 of these competitions are specifically for girls’ teams to continue the development of the players within the girls’ game. Furthermore, girls are permitted to take part in National Cup competitions as part of mixed teams across all age groups (in accordance with FA rules), providing a large scope of footballing opportunities for girls across the country.

The ESFA estimates that at least 40,000 schoolgirls across England have taken part in National Cup activity this season as a direct result of its competitions, over 120,000 girls took part in Schools’ Football Week activity during the dedicated event from the 5^th – 12^th February and through its network of 44 County Schools’ FAs and hundreds of District Schools’ FAs across the country, countless more players are taking part in activity each week in England.

The Association’s U15 England Schoolgirls’ squad are currently in the midst of their international season and these 18 players are working to increase their skills and opportunities, but also to inspire other young players to work hard and push to make the most of their hard work and talent. Their final friendly fixture of the season against the Wales U16 Schoolgirls’ team will be streamed live via the ESFA’s YouTube channel, ESFA TV, this Sunday (10^th March) from 10:50am.

Growing new opportunities

International Women’s Day 2024 “calls for action to break down barriers, challenge stereotypes, and create environments where all women are valued and respected. Inspire Inclusion encourages everyone to recognize the unique perspectives and contributions of women from all walks of life, including those from marginalized communities.”

The ESFA recognises the hugely diverse nature of school pupils within all schools across the country and continues to work to create opportunities for footballing activity for everyone, whatever their background or identity, from the fun, friendly introductory sessions to football brought about through the Premier League Primary Stars festivals (formerly “Kickabout” festivals), the Hotshots intra-school football campaign, providing schools with a chance to receive money to invest into their football programmes, to the Deaf Schools’ Football Finals, the festivals hosted in partnership with the Association for Muslim Schools and the upcoming Blind and Visually Impaired ‘have a go’ days. The ESFA works hard to learn more about the barriers in place for children across England that may hinder their ability or willingness to take part in football and will continue to work with partners to try and break these barriers down to ensure that all children have the opportunity to enjoy playing football with their friends.

Women & Girls in ESFA Activity

Aside from the hundreds of thousands of girls participating in schools’ football, the countless teachers that inspire their pupils to achieve their goals through the National Cup competitions and the Team Managers in the U15 Girls’ international setup, the ESFA’s voluntary network also boasts women working hard to support activity locally.

The Association’s voluntary network across the country is always looking for new volunteers to support, create or improve activity within local areas and the newly created Reward & Recognition Awards are designed to celebrate these volunteers and their achievements.

To find out how you can get involved locally, head to the ESFA’s volunteer section of the website and see how you can support your local area with its schools’ football provision.

Sharing resources

Credit: https://www.premierleague.com/news/3924550

ESFA partners, Premier League Primary Stars have created some fantastic resources for primary schools in partnership with Nike. Their Active Allies campaign has been designed to grow self-belief in girls and inspire allyship in boys.

“As well as shining a light on inspiring women and girls within the game, the Premier League wants to instil positive behaviours in children by growing self-belief in girls and inspiring allyship in boys – so football can be truly everyone’s game.

The recent launch of the Premier League Primary Stars Active Allies resources with Nike, is an initiative that aims to empower girls to play football, with advice and support on creating an inclusive school environment, challenging bias within the school community, challenging gender stereotypes and supporting boys to be active allies.”

You can access and share the Premier League Primary Stars resources via the link above.

Happy International Women’s Day from all at the English Schools’ Football Association. The Association hopes to continue to spread the message of inclusivity and equality for children in schools’ football across England.

Links:

Hear from Claire Foster, General Secretary of Berkshire County Schools’ FA on the work they do within their County: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iiqHbjcNryY&t=3s

Watch a recap of the England U15 Schoolgirls’ training camp at St George’s Park in February, ahead of the 2024 international season: https://youtu.be/uS7DGhUlGTU

Hear from Sian Williams, England U15 Schoolgirls’ Team Manager, talking about the 2023 training camp in Fleetwood: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yUp3IbJsjh0

The English Schools' FA

The National Governing Body for Schools’ Football in England.

In a time where Girls’ Football is being promoted and encouraged more than ever, International Women’s Day provides the perfect opportunity to highlight the advances the ESFA has seen in girls’ football over the last 26 years.

The Association began running specific National Cup competitions for girls in 1996 and now offers 13 National Competitions for girls’ teams from U11 – U18 Super League, including District and County representative competitions. Alongside these opportunities for girls’ teams to be crowned National Champions each season, the ESFA also boasts an England U15 Schoolgirl squad, which, after a gruelling trials process, gives 18 top-flight players the opportunity to represent their country each season.

Holly Tickle, 21/22 England U15 centre back said about her opportunity to be part of the England squad “There was so many girls at the trials at such a high standard, that I was really happy to be selected. Playing schools’ football gives you the opportunity to meet new people, have new opportunities and meet new coaching staff.” Ella Baker, England U15 winger added “It’s nice playing with another group of people, other than your usual football team and making new friends.” when asked what advice she would give to other girls thinking of trialing for representative football she said “Just keep going. It’s crazy how much you can do, if you just keep at it”

Through its huge network of volunteers, the ESFA’s County and District Schools’ FAs also offer local footballing opportunities for girls in a variety of formats, right across the country.

Whilst girls are able to play in mixed squads up to the age of U18, the ESFA has created and maintained opportunities for girls to represent their school, district or county in teams dedicated purely to the development of the girls’ game. The current 2021/22 season has seen a record number of girls’ teams io ESFA competitions, creating opportunities for around 30,000 players to take part in activity.

The ESFA’s Schools’ Football Week campaign, in association with Haier, which ran from 7th – 13th February 2022 had a specific focus on girls’ football and encouraged schools that took part to create and amplify activity specifically with this focus in mind. The campaign saw over 57,000 girls have access to activity generated for their needs with over 300 schools stating that they would like to regularly run girls’ football.

The Association’s newly launched Hotshots intra-school campaign will provide a new opportunity for more schools to embrace intra-schools football and will hopefully provide a route for more girls’ activity to be prioritised within schools over the coming weeks. The ESFA is hopeful that, leading on from February’s Schools’ Football Week, ESFA Hotshots will create an extended platform for schools to further their participation in girls’ football.

Andrea Chilton, CEO of the English Schools’ FA said “As the National Governing Body for Schools’ Football, it has always been a priority for us to ensure that football is available to be accessed by all children regardless of gender, age, ability or geographical location. We have been delighted with the numbers of schools we’ve seen return to National Cup competitions, post-pandemic and to see the record breaking number of girls’ teams participating in activity in 21/22 has been a real boost to us. It’s as important to us now, as it’s always been to ensure we create opportunities to develop the girls’ game across all age groups and ensure that we continue to provide high quality experiences, competitive or otherwise, to engage girls in football and share with them the many benefits it brings to school children”