Equal School Sport Opportunities
Today, International Womens Day 2023, and the UK Government has just announced substantial funding aiming to create equal school sport opportunities for girls.
BBC website explains that ‘Schools in England will be required to offer equal access to sports, including football, and deliver a minimum of two hours of physical education per week. More than £600m of funding is to be delivered over two academic years.’
The move comes after England’s European Championship win last year and the Lionesses’ open letter to the government immediately after the win, in early August 2022.
Today Lionesses’ squad member Lotte Wubben-Moy responded to the announcement with her own experiences of playing as a youngster, and tells of how others in the squad compared their struggles for the chance to play.
This story is really close to my heart. Going back 45 years to my own desperation to join a team as a youngster (eventually found one at the age of 15) but also finding out about 6 years ago that actually, despite the huge growth in girls football clubs, in terms of opportunities in schools and playgrounds, nothing much had really changed.
Primary School Tale…
A few years back, when my daughter was at primary school I volunteered every Wednesday afternoon for an hour, to provide a Girls football session for 9-12 year olds.
I did this because at pick-up time I saw a couple of girls running out across the playground in footy kit. When I asked them, they said that ‘every now and then they were asked to play for the school’s girls team’ at tournaments locally. But on further questioning of staff, there was no regular girls football session. These girls were being given no support despite their obvious enthusiasm. I hope my efforts helped in some small way.
Secondary School Tale…
When my daughter moved up secondary school, I took a step back. The school didn’t encourage parent volunteers. The secondary school had no regular football session for girls. As a nod to the enthusiasm of some girls, and on my questioning, the school said they were proud that they had ‘visiting coaches from AFC Bournemouth Women’ for the first few weeks of term. This quickly fizzled out, and the girls football sessions after that were poorly attended, mainly because they were timetabled on the same day and time as the after-school netball. The school were apparently down one member of School PE staff due to maternity leave. Same old, same old.
Year 8 onwards is traditionally the time when a lot of girls stop taking part in sport. I really hope schools are able to make this funding work so that opportunities for the girls are increased.
As football has been known for some years to be the UK’s fastest growing sport for girls – this school-based funding should have been in place and it shouldn’t have taken the lionesses roar to push this one through.
I am really happy about this move, but right now it just reminds me how angry I still am! About the lack of funding for school sport in general, as well as the missed chances of so many girls in the past.
Photo credit: From a random image search just now – what a great photo of Samlesbury Primary School #LetGirlsPlay Biggest Ever Football Event 2023
