England's success at the women's Euro 2022 football championships has seen a "continuous" stream of would-be players getting in touch with grassroots clubs around the North East - and players and coachers are hopeful that the Lionesses' victory can supercharge the women's game.
A stellar tournament saw a team featuring local lasses like Lucy Bronze - from north Northumberland - and Jill Scott lift the trophy after beating Germany in last weekend's final. From players to coaches and PE teachers, everyone involved in women's football in our region has been swept along by the success - and now key figures have told ChronicleLive that more investment and more opportunities will be key to capitalising.
Lloyd Miller is the Northumberland FA's Football and Development Officer for women and girls. He's also assistant manager of the Newcastle United Women. The county FA already runs a range of programmes to expand the game - such as the Wildcats programme designed to encourage girls of primary school age who may not yet want to play in a team to come along to skills based sessions.
Read more: IT'S COME HOME! England's Lionesses win EURO 2022 after extra time victory against Germany
These sessions act as a gateway, and often participants end up following up their interest by joining teams. A new programme called Squad Goals, aimed at high school age kids aims to do the same thing for an older cohort. Lloyd explained further: "There was already momentum before the Euros and that's just accelerated.
"I was lucky enough to get to see a couple of the games and just to see all these girls with their mums and dads - it felt like a key moment. Since then, in terms of enquiries about playing, it's been continuous. It's a daily thing for me. In terms of numbers, there are more than 3,300 registered players in our system - the vast majority under 18. That's 1,200 up since 2017. The development since then has been fantastic,. It's been brilliant to watch the numbers increase."
Going forward, Lloyd said it would be vital was to ensure every would be female player had the opportunity to lace up her boots and have a kickabout. "I think the key thing now is to ensure that more and more coaches are available for women and girls, he said. "That's about increasing coaching education. More coaches will mean better opportunities and more people will be able to experience a better standard of training. It's going to be about making sure we invest in facilities, in coaches and therefore in players."
Players already in the system have also welcomed the boost to the game seen in the wake of the Lionesses' success this summer. Megan Archbold and Sophie White both play for South Shields Ladies. Megan explained how the support they received has been increasing exponentially even before though.
"South Shields was my first taste of senior football," she said. "When I first arrived here five years ago the support level was much lower than it is now. We have gone from paying to play to having much more support.
"It's a whole new level and that's got a lot to do with how women's football has gained popularity especially in the last few years. When I was going through youth football there was very little, even just in the last five years that changed massively.
"I was at a couple of the games, at Old Trafford and then the final at Wembley. What's been amazing is just being able to see people getting so excited about [the England team] succeeding on a huge stage and getting support from big crowds. It's not just the supporters, it's the big sponsors - Heineken, Pepsi, VISA - all investing in women's football. There's so much more potential to tap into."
At South Shields, the team are getting more and more opportunity to play on the main ground at First Cloud Arena, while the club has invested in its players through gym memberships, and GPS trackers. Sophie added that the past month or so had been incredible.
She said: "It's been incredible. It's been great to see the reception the team's had and how we've expanded and got more and more people involved. It's really encouraged people on the outside to see the opportunities in women's football. Even before the Euros one of the standouts was when Newcastle Women played at St James' Park. A tier 4 team getting 20,000 fans was a massive achievement."
Sophie, who is a PE teacher and plays a role encouraging other teachers to boost football opportunities for girls, said: "The opportunities available now are so different [to when I was growing up]. There are so many pathways for young women The success of the women’s euros and number of people attending stadiums and watching on TV from all over the world is something I am proud of on so many levels.
"If only I had these opportunities when I was younger, I may have just had the chance to become a professional footballer. But now, it is the starting point for change and hopefully young girls and women who are playing football can have that chance and dream that one day they can be a professional footballer, or even still, just be able to play football with their friends or team mates without the worry of being judged."
At an after-school football club she's been running, Sophie said numbers had risen sharply over recent months and that, in younger age groups there was much to be excited about. "Especially from a teacher's point of view, there are so many girls playing in year 5 and year 6. You can see the difference already, it's going to be about maintaining that."
At Whitley Bay Sporting Club, there will be a massive 22 girls teams this coming season. Rob Nixon is involved in running the programme there. He said: "We have seen a huge increase in interest in the girls' football programme in the last three years in particular. We now have 22 girls teams which is about 300 girls, and many play in the mixed teams too.
"England's success has accelerated the interest, we have had so much interest in Wildcats. I would say in our area we're really lucky with the opportunities around for girls. The FA do some really excellent things."
Last season, just in the Northumberland FA area, a range of 20 Wildcats Centres were running, more than 2,100 players took part and a new Lionesses Coach Development programme was launched involving 50 coaches. £5,000 has been earmarked for the county's area to increase provision.
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