There are 100,000 more girls playing regular football than there were five years ago, according to an annual Sport England survey, which also found that secondary school girls are more active than they ever have been since the survey launched.
The Active Lives Children and Young People survey conducted by Sport England found overall that children’s activity levels have recovered to pre-pandemic levels, albeit progress has not been ubiquitous for all groups, as activity levels for children aged seven to nine still lagged 4.5% behind their pre-Covid levels.
But in what arrives as a major positive for women’s sport, the survey revealed that more than 770,000 girls had played football within a formal setting in the week of the survey, in comparison to the 669,000 in 2017-2018.
Informal participation numbers also experienced a spike with 200,000 more girls engaged.
It is believed that an even larger surge in participation levels might have taken place, as the survey was conducted before the Lionesses’ Euro2022 triumph and the accompanying visibility boost, which has set off a chain reaction of record and historic milestones in the women’s game across the nation, including a 200% increase in attendances in the Women’s Super League.
The findings fall in line with the call to action from the victorious England squad, who swiftly penned an open letter following their historic success to then-Tory leadership candidates Rishi Sunak and Liz Truss urging them to commit to allowing all girls to play football in schools after the Department for Education refused to say it would alter the guidance.
A report by England Football, part of the Football Association, showed that less than half of secondary schools provided equal football lessons in PE for both girls and boys.
Citing their own experiences of being stymied from playing the sport they loved, the players reinforced the need to dovetail legitimate action with their recent success to generate real, sustainable change.
“The reality is we are inspiring young girls to play football only for many to end up going to school and not being able to play,” the letter signed by the 23 players said.
Overall, the Active Lives survey found that 47% of children (3.4million) met the Chief Medical Officers’ guidelines of taking part in an average of 60 minutes or more of sport and physical activity daily, with 219,000 more children registering in this bracket compared to 2020-21,
The survey did, however, highlight disparities across gender, ethnicity and affluence. While half of boys now engage in an average of 60 minutes of daily physical activity, girls registered just 45%. The gender gap in activity levels remains largest among Asian boys and girls at 10%, while the proportion of Black boys active remains 7.7% lower than in 2018-19.
Likewise, 52% of children from the “most affluent” families were classified as active but those from less affluence saw levels drop to 42%.
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