Participation of females playing five a side football has doubled at Nottingham’s Female Football Fives...
Created by two Nottingham Trent University graduates, Female Football Fives has seen a rapid increase in the number of women and girls taking part, thanks to the help of the Nottingham City of Football project.
The regular Monday night Female Football Fives sessions in West Bridgford have seen the number of teams and individuals taking part double.
Katie Gibson, founder of Female Football Fives and now programme coordinator at City of Football, commented; “There is a real buzz about female football in Nottingham, and Female Football Fives has seen the benefit of that. We have more and more women and girls playing football every week.
“The on-field success of England and Notts County Ladies during a fantastic summer of football has definitely had an impact on increasing participation for women and girls across the city, and we are getting lots of requests from people just wanting to have a kickabout and enjoy non-structured football fun.”
“Our aim is to be the fastest growing city for female participation across the UK, and we will utilise the excitement within the top levels of the women’s game to increase awareness and participation across the city.
“There are thousands of women and girls still not involved in football activities at the moment, and it is our challenge to do things differently and engage with them on a new level - from football fitness and dance classes, to more traditional team involvement.”
Nottingham was crowned England’s City of Football by Sport England, and will receive £1.6million of National Lottery funding over the next two years.
Key challenges to be met include raising the levels of participation in football in Nottingham by 25 per cent, promoting the cultural, social, health and educational benefits of football, supporting diversity among those playing football, and creating new initiatives which can be replicated across other regions in the country.
Want to get back into the game? Why not get involved in the FFF league? For more information please contact Katie Gibson on femalefootballfives@hotmail.com
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