EFL Celebrates Female Football Fans
English Football League (EFL) clubs will celebrate female supporters through various events this weekend across England and Wales ahead of International Women’s Day on 8th March.
To mark the occasion, the EFL has produced a video featuring some of those dedicated supporters’ groups, including Lincoln City’s Lady Imps Supporters Association, the Amber Belles from Cambridge United and Huddersfield Town fans who are behind their ‘Women at the Game’ initiative.
In the video, the fans discuss their individual experiences, how more women are attending matches, and their love for their clubs and football.
Next week, Huddersfield Town FC will also launch a steering group of female stakeholders to support their ‘Women at the Game’ initiative, which will invite females to experience a matchday for the first time.
The EFL’s Head of Equality, Diversity and Inclusion, David McArdle, said, “This weekend, the EFL and its clubs will be celebrating female fans across England and Wales, to champion the message that watching football is a passion that everyone can enjoy.
“In recent years, clubs and supporters’ groups have undertaken great initiatives to enhance the matchday experience and the league will continue to explore how this can be improved further to help inspire a new generation of women and girls into the game we love.”
EFL clubs and club-related community organisations have also organised additional activity to support the campaign this weekend, including Newport County FC introducing all-female commentators and announcers for their fixture versus Bristol Rovers FC tomorrow (5th March).
With the aim of giving a new generation of fans a taste of life in the EFL, the league’s partner, eBay has also offered hundreds of tickets to female asylum seekers, refugees and migrants from Migrants Organise who will be attending Queens Park Rangers FC’s Championship clash with Cardiff City FC.
More than 2.9 million female supporters attend EFL matches per season with an average of 64,000 female supporters per matchday.
The most recent EFL supporters survey revealed that 91% of female supporters stated that nothing can beat the live football matchday experience, while 84% said that football is an important part of family life.
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