FA Launches We Can Play Initiative

The Football Association has launched ‘We Can Play’, a new campaign aiming to change pre-conceptions about women’s and girl’s football, as well as boost participation in the sport.

According to research from the governing body, peer-to-peer pressures, gender stereotyping and derogatory results of internet searches all contribute to a perpetuation of a negatively distorted image on the women’s game.

Now, as England’s Women’s World Cup campaign gets underway in Canada, the FA has released new data to tackle the issue among 7-11 year old girls and their parents.

Among girls surveyed only half felt that football was a game for them, while among young girls that do play football, four out of five of them don’t feel confident in doing so.

Meanwhile parents are far less likely to encourage daughters to play football than sons – and significantly, they are also more likely to discourage daughters from playing than male children.

‘We Can Play’ is aiming to canvass the support of 100,000 girls and parents as part of its drive to boost participation.

Kelly Simmons, the FA’s director of the national game and women’s football said: “We need to ask ourselves – why do these perceptions still pervade?

“The FIFA Women’s World Cup is currently taking centre-stage and domestically, the FA Women’s Super League continues to grow. The profile and professionalism of the women’s game has never been greater.

“The FA is doing its part to ensure the game is an attractive mass participation sport for girls and women, but we should ask why does society allow antiquated attitudes to persist?

“Let’s have an open and honest discussion – in doing so we want to shatter the myth that football is for boys, and give thousands of girl the opportunity to enjoy our beautiful national game and all the benefits of taking part in team sports.

Russell James, head of marketing at The FA, commented: “We Can Play is one of the most powerful and hardest hitting campaigns from The FA to date. Women’s and girls football has come a long way in recent years but now is the time for society to question why antiquated attitudes towards girls playing the nation’s favourite game persist.

“The work of adam&eveDDB and Mischief PR to date has helped take us in a brave new direction. The campaign is specifically designed to drive debate and shatter perceptions – with women’s football so heavily on the news agenda at the moment we hope the timing is right to drive participation levels too.”