FEMALE participation in soccer is now at an historic high across Northern Ireland with more than 10,000 girls and women playing football every week - a figure that has risen by 25 per cent over the last two years alone according to statistics collated by the IFA and Electric Ireland.
The remarkable increase is reflective of wider societal changes with opportunities for girls and women to make it to a professional level of sport now more accessible than ever before.
Locally, new initiatives from Electric Ireland and the IFA such as the Electric Ireland 'Excellence' and 'Shooting Stars' programmes, part of their wider ‘Game Changers’ campaign, aim to change the landscape of female sport in Northern Ireland and encourage participation and elite opportunities for local players.
Commenting on the success, Clare McAllister, Residential Manager for Electric Ireland NI, said: “Our aim is to continue to inspire the next generation of female footballers and support ambitious outreach initiatives to get more women playing football in Northern Ireland, creating more game changing moments for our next generation of game-changers.”
The Shooting Stars Initiative in particular (for girls aged 4-7 year) has seen a dramatic uplift in young girls participating in soccer and has clocked more than 2,000 hours of football in the past four months alone. The programme aims to provide coaching ‘hubs’ across all 11 council areas over the next two years delivering age appropriate coaching and start Northern Ireland’s young talent on a player pathway towards future participation and success.
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The initiative is continued by the newly launched Electric Ireland Excellence Programme (for girls aged 11-15) which offers regional Excellence Centres in Belfast, Jordanstown, Limavady, and Cookstown and forms an integral part of the Elite Player Pathway into the NI senior women’s team; helping girls fulfil their elite potential by honing their skills alongside nutritional and lifestyle advice reflective of a professional career pathway that has been available to young boys for years.
These initiatives are helping sow the seeds of future success and creating an environment in which female sporting achievements are nurtured and celebrated at every age throughout a player’s development.
Clare McAllister concluded: “These recent statistics are incredibly encouraging and reflect well on the effort being put into the grassroots initiatives across Northern Ireland. The benefits of sport cannot be underestimated so to see such a significant increase in participation is something we are very proud to be part of”.
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Women's Football has never been so popular in Northern Ireland and we want to continue that trend!
— Official Irish FA (@OfficialIrishFA) April 12, 2019
Even Mary Quinn (@TaraLynneONeil1) from Derry Girls agrees....?? pic.twitter.com/IulPLLSJhy
