FA Girls' Football Week - what is happening at the AFA
The week will run from 5th-11th October and has been developed from the success of previous Women’s Football Weeks, which were targeted at higher educational establishments. It is being delivered in partnership with Independent Schools FA (ISFA), English Schools FA (ESFA), Association of Colleges Sport (AoC Sport) and British Universities and Colleges Sport (BUCS).
This year the programme has been extended to include primary and secondary schools, colleges and universities along with clubs and community groups, who are also invited to participate.
In 2014, more than 2,000 people took part in the sessions across 80 institutions. It is aimed that this year, 5,000 girls and women will play football during the week.
Women’s football is the largest female team sport in the country and the third largest team sport after men’s football and cricket. During the FIFA Women’s World Cup, the FA also launched #WeCanPlay, a campaign to encourage more females to play football.
This week will see a number of AFA clubs/organisations delivering activities to increase the awareness of female football and those playing.
Kew Association FC, in partnership with Kingston schools are hosting a girls tournament for those in year 3 and 4. Twelve schools from the Kingston area will play in a round robin festival. This is the third year they have held the festival and all taking part are looking forward to a fun afternoon of football.
A number of universities have also organised activities, including St. Mary's and Royal Holloway.
St. Mary's University will be holding cross bar and heading challenges throughout the week and offering Soccercise sessions to students. They will also run a festival and finish off the week with a league fixture.
Royal Holloway will be running a number of activities including a Futsal and Soccercise sessions. They are also holding a charity tournament on Wednesday 7th October, which will see 10 teams from across the university take part. Have a look at their video encouraging girls to get into football https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mckKv2OzOJk
For more information on Women and Girl's football, please contact samantha.brown@amateur-fa.com
