Over 16 teams and 150 girls take part in Girls United’s schools football league in South London.
Ana is not only a coach but a player for Dulwich Hamlet FC who works on our “Trailblazer” programmes, focused on providing female role models to support our sessions and schools leagues. Read about her experience.
The Girls United team win the student Community Action award, supported by Mayor of London, for #FindYourGame in the King’s Civic Challenge.
We have signed Vero Boquete as our newest Girls United Global Ambassador. We believe that together we can keep helping girls around the world, making football more accessible and empowering them to succeed.
The growing world of women's football is full of inspiring stories and role models. Girls United’s Play Like a Girl event series was created so that we can hear from those who have paved the way before us and support those who are storming through the barriers.
Jackie Bushell from the FA in England came to Girls United Mexico to give 15 girls the opportunity to become FA Level 1 accredited coaches. She writes about her experience saying, “I have to say it’s been one of the best experiences of my life - I love coach education and supporting people develop, but this group has blown me away.”
When recently publishing the profiles of their Ballon d’Or nominated players, European powerhouse Olympique Lyonnais opened their description of Amandine Henry with the words: ‘it is rather rare to find defensive players leave with the prize, or [to] even be named in the finalists, despite their crucial roles on the field.’ Indeed, one quick glance at the shortlist proves the bias towards attacking players with two big exceptions being defensive duo Lucy Bronze and Wendie Renard, also of Lyon and both well regarded for their ability to get forward as well as their defensive prowess.
Ballon d'Or: who deserves it in 2019? Megan Scott dives into some of the favourites and controversies of this year’s winner, find out more before the awards ceremony on Dec 2nd, 2019.
While the title of greatest footballer is always going to be a subjective point of contention, it is simultaneously proving increasingly frustrating and imperative to make strides in awarding those deserving rather than those most known.
From the beautiful lagoon, dancing salsa at 3am, delicious local food from friendly faces and serving a meaningful cause - Bacalar is a place of dreams.
This summer was anticipated by many to be the turning point in women’s football history with the 2019 Women’s World Cup garnering more viewers and coverage than ever before. While the women’s football movement grew across the globe, we wanted our Girls United club players from the small town of Bacalar to be able to experience this phenomenon. Mari, Luiza, Melissa and Kim were sponsored by Adidas, Equal Playing Field, ADFP Global and our Crowdfunder supporters to travel to Lyon and London, leaving their home town for the first time in their lives.
Girls United London U15s vs North Dulwich Charter School - 23.05.19
Our U15s played their first match on May 23rd and did so brilliantly! A well deserved win, including 3 screamers from Rachel.
Girls United London U12s vs Athenlay FC - 19.05.19
The Chicas Unidas Bacalar Club fought hard against vastly more experienced opposition in a competitive friendly against the Chicas Unidas Miguel Hidalgo Community Club, in a game that featured no less than nine goals.
Eventual winners Miguel Hidalgo started strongly with 3 goals in the first ten minutes from their powerful forward, but by half-time our Bacalar Club grew in confidence to make it a more competitive second half.
A great team move was finished with a fantastic left-footed strike from wide midfielder Luisa before central striker Melissa finished from a quick counter attack to bring the game back to a tight 3-2 scoreline. With the midday heat intensifying, Miguel Hidalgo took advantage of the option to rotate players, bringing more experienced players from their Liga Rapido squad, which ultimately made the difference, as they extended their lead further by 3 goals. Chicas Unidas scored a late consolation goal with the final kick of the game, concluding the match with a 6-3 win for the hosts.
Despite the final scoreline the Bacalar Club can be very proud of their performance against considerably older opponents, who in some cases were more than double their age. A rematch awaits in when Miguel Hidalgo travel to Bacalar in April.
Girls United London vs Athenlay FC
The U12s made up of no less than 12 girls came together for their first match representing Girls United! The game kicked-off on a beautiful, sunny day. With face paint and great attitudes, the team battled for the whole match in spite of an early goal against. All of the players played some incredible football, getting out of their comfort zones in new positions and, most importantly, working together to the very end.
The match ended a 4-1 loss with our goal, a long-range screamer from Sylvia. Though the scoreboard wasn’t in our favour, the girls deserve a great round of applause for their performance. They had us on the edge of our seats, so much so that everyone forgot to take photos!
A special shout-out to the Girls United fans (parents and siblings) who never stopped cheering and putting all their support behind the players! I am sure we can expect to see the community just get better as the team progresses.
We are so excited for a rematch and for many more matches to come!
Picture this – it’s match day, a 7am start on a Saturday morning, we meet the girls at the pickup point ready for departure to an away fixture. The minibus is working on Mexican time arriving at 8am for the prearranged 7.30am pickup. A one-hour drive follows, along one of Quintana Roo’s remote jungle ‘roads’ slaloming between mild potholes and actual craters.
No radio signal, no phone signal – we might even have passed a town named: ‘Middle of Nowhere’ along the way. Arriving minutes before the agreed kick-off time at 9am, we are worried at the sight (or lack of sight) of the opposition. Precisely 3 girls, neatly dressed in their white Girls United league t-shirts, three-quarter length jeans and sandals, share a bottle of Coca-Cola for breakfast outside the only shop for miles. Opposite the shop the venue for today’s contest is located, and although not Wembley, the pitch is in good condition all things considered. I take a few minutes to mark out the perimeter line with cones and clear off the remaining clutch of baby chicks out of harm’s way.
With no sign of an opposition coach or even a responsible adult, I venture up to the shop to open extremely limited conversation with my extremely limited Spanish and enquire with the girls as to the whereabouts of the rest of their party. In response I receive directions to the coach’s house and what I understand to be a suggestion that more players will join us shortly. The crackling of the public announcer (a tall pole with a tannoy speaker attached, jutting out of the roof of the shop) interrupts conversation with the voice of little Maria Jose, whom the store is named after, broadcasting news of our arrival to the village. After a short while, having received the announcement, the remainder of the opposition players arrive at the pitch in small clusters from all directions - only one of which arrives with attire even remotely suitable for a football match. With still no sign of the opposing team’s coach, I call the girls from both teams together for a quick ‘warm-up’ under the 25°C morning sun.
We eventually kick-off a mere 40 minutes later than planned with what I would suggest is at least close to a record attendance at this venue, with around 25-30 men, women and children watching on and supporting the girls - not bad in a village that has a total population of somewhere around 350 mark.
As well as taking on the role of coach for both teams, with duties of organising both line-ups and offering some of the few words of encouragement I could recall in Spanish, I also took on the job of refereeing the game, learning the words for throw-in and goal-kick in the process. The match was a competitive one, with our Bacalar Club ultimately running out 3-1 winners against the hosts.
Far removed from anything I’ve known in football before - the jeans and dresses, the bare feet, the chickens, the far corner of the pitch doubling up as part of a road and every other bizarre event of the day – the experience left me fascinated and grateful that I was able to provide the opportunity for these girls to play, which they otherwise simply would not have been granted without Girls United’s programmes.
This is the town of David Gustavo Gutiérrez Ruiz or as Google Maps labels it: ‘unnamed road’.
This was an experience that inspired me to put together the Club Mexico – Communities page for the newly updated Girls United website.
A town in such a beautiful setting, with such a unique way of life in comparison to what I know was something I was keen to explore further. Girls United works regularly across five local communities, including David Gustavo. Of these towns, most have no internet access and only one has an employment rate of above 30% for its total population. Alarmingly, when considering employment rates for the women of these communities - not one of the towns has an employment rate of over 5% for its female population specifically! This is further evidence of the importance the work Girls United does in engaging girls in sport along with the inclusion of life skills development within the community coaching programmes.
The towns may not all be recognised by Google yet – but each of Girls United’s communities now has a dedicated section and a team emblem on the website, each derived from Mayan Hieroglyphs. Below is an overview of each emblem’s creations and significance.
Want to find out more about the demographic and programme at each community, visit https://www.girlsunitedfa.org/mexicocommunities
Click the images from the gallery to enlarge
Girls United are excited to announce our International Women’s Day celebration which will be an opportunity for people of all ages and gender to come together and promote females in sport!
The day will feature a range of activities, sessions, challenges, food, drink and prizes!
10-11am - Arsenal Women’s coach, Nancy Baker, will be coming down to train with Girls United players aged 7-14 - there is no charge for the session so please feel free to bring any daughters, younger sisters or anyone who is interested.
10:30am - Registration for teams - Teams from both the men’s and women’s competition will prepare to play!
11:00am - The first games will kick off - the 5-a-side tournament will be a friendly environment with, of course, some healthy competition.
11:00am to 3:00pm - Skills Stations - There will be skills stations around the venue for you to have a go at some challenges and learn a thing or two about women’s in sport.
3:30pm - Prizes and awards - The awards ceremonies, including prizes and trophies for tournament winners, most valuable players and raffle prizes from the Skills Stations.
We are very excited to bring the community together on this celebration that is raising the profile of women doing amazing things in all industries and around the world!
There is still time to sign up, please find more information here: https://www.girlsunitedfa.org/iwd
If you would like to find out what else IWD is about, click here.
Girls United is launching a session for young women of 15 to 17 years old with the support of London Sport.
SESSION DETAILS:
Venue: Alleyn’s Sports Hall, Townley Road, SE22 8SU
Time: Thursdays at 6:30pm to 8pm
Dates: March 7th to May 16th
ONLY £1 PER SESSION
Get active, learn skills and have fun!
London Sport Satellite Sessions: Aimed at helping young people become active or build regular activity habits and/or targeting under-represented groups in physical activity and sport. Activity is designed to get young people active, create regular activity habits and develop into regular physical activity and/or sport appropriate safeguarding standards must be in place.
Ada Hegerberg recently became the winner of the first Women’s Ballon D’Or, take a read of her piece in the players tribune which details her rise from a little village in Norway to the winner of the biggest individual prize in football.
https://www.theplayerstribune.com/en-us/articles/ada-hegerberg-not-here-to-dance/
On a recent weekend, I had the pleasure of playing in my university’s alumni games, in which past members of the football club come together to challenge this year’s current team. As a recent graduate, this was my first alumni tournament, and I saw the event as an opportunity for loads of banter, some friendly competition and a potential post-match pint. The event was planned weeks in advance and all my favourite people were set to be in attendance. Genuinely, what a nice way to spend a Saturday afternoon.
Except on this fateful day, some divine power decided to produce a temperature of 7 degrees and non-stop rain, and my alumni match dreams were ruined.
Prior to detailing out how miserable the weather made me feel, I really must mention that the King’s College London Women’s Football Club consists exclusively of the most wonderful people this world could offer. Off the pitch, these people reach a level of lovely that could rival Michelangelo’s cherubs. And on the pitch, their football skills are better than that of all of the Premier League’s players combined. However, given the current forecast, even the lovely company could not remedy the environmental situation. I’d really hate to sound dramatic, but I don’t do cold, I don’t do rain and I *definitely* don’t do wind.
So I have decided to expose how entirely pathetic I am when it comes to the weather and share 10 thoughts that came to my mind on this blustery afternoon. My hopes are that you can either whole-heartedly relate to my weakness or you can burst out with judgemental laughter.
1. Why are we doing this to ourselves?
Before even arriving at the grounds, I am looking for an explanation; I am eager to know why I have agreed to this and why I don’t have a greater level of self-respect from letting me make poor decisions like agreeing to play football in seven-degree weather.
2. How can I get out of this?
Before the ref even blows the whistle, I am brainstorming ways to get sent home. Perhaps I can injure myself now? Or even better, I can convince my teammates that the injury I had three years ago feels like it is coming back? Is that a migraine I feel coming on? What can I possibly do to get out of the next ninety minutes without losing the respect of all my teammates?
3. Will I be too hot after running around for the first ten minutes?
This thought usually dawns on me even before I leave the changing rooms, as I start to debate how many layers is appropriate for the match. In hindsight, this thought is so stupid that I almost embarrassed to write it down. Why do I even contemplate not wearing the maximum number of layers? I can’t believe I even considered leaving a warm garment in the changing rooms instead of bringing all possible options out to the pitch.
4. Why can I not think of a single word that isn’t a curse word?
About half-way through the second half of this match, I can vividly remember a moment in which I was trying to communicate to my three other defenders, and I genuinely could not make out a single word that was not a four-letter swear.
5. Note to self: tell my flatmate to never let me leave the flat again this winter.
No explanation needed. Hibernation is suddenly so appealing.
6. Halftime: Alright, lads, let’s move this chat to the changing room.
Maybe I can convince the team to move the rest of the match into the changing rooms. It will be cramped, and the keepers might have a tough time, but gosh, will it be warm or what.
7. Second half begins. This is worse than ever. I am warm with wet clothes on and they expect me to go outside again to face the wind in my damp wet clothes.
At this point, I have decided that we are half way through the match and positive thoughts are the only thing to get me through to the end. With my new positivity energy, I can vaguely feel a desire to smile.
8. I think I am just going to run around loads to warm up, and hopefully the team will just think I am really keen defender.
Here is why I choose whether I sympathise more with my personal lung capacity or my dire body temperatures. Considering that I can no longer feel my toes (and I am unsure if feeling will ever return), I am going to have to rely heavily on my rather weak lungs. However, my team will thank me and I’ll be a hero.
9. Goal is scored and the human pile is a little gross but warm.
Not typically a fan of physical affection, but this human-pile up really is toasty.
10. Note to self: Move to a hotter country ASAP.
This thought accompanies another mental note to self, which is that upon moving to a warmer climate I must continue to play football because today was fun and football is fun. Being back on the ball today has reminded me of the value of football and how sport can bring us together. #WholesomeContent
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I have realised that after publishing this no football club will ever welcome my membership ever again. I would like to make it clear that I did survive the entirety of this match, and I even managed to smile at the end.