With a rise in popularity for girl's football in Kent, one small club is trying to raise £5,000 to buy new equipment.
Category
📺
TVTranscript
00:00Crunching tackles, putting your laces through the ball and scoring in the top corner, the
00:04infectious excitement of football is universal. After the Lionesses won the Euros in 2022,
00:101,500 new girls teams were formed the following season.
00:14But across the country in certain teams, demand for equipment is struggling to keep up with
00:19the increasing interest, even though the Football Association claims they are trying to make
00:23the game more accessible.
00:25Some say that in football scoring goals is the only thing that matters and that's not
00:28true. The defensive side of the game is important as well, but the actual physical goal itself
00:33is vital to the game. Without the net, crossbar and two posts, you just can't play.
00:38For East Kent FC in Sandwich and the Kent Girls and Ladies Football League, they've
00:43had to start looking elsewhere for funding to be able to provide their girls with goals.
00:48Their GoFundMe page is currently just under £1,000, but the target is five times that
00:54to be able to afford the 11-a-side and 9-a-side goals they need.
00:57According to development lead Richard Parker, counsellors, companies and even ordinary people
01:02have just been donating to the club, but it's not yet enough, despite the subscriptions
01:06parents already give.
01:08I'm a big believer that we can't keep going to parents and carers and asking them to put
01:13their hands in their pocket. It's really important that we're able to provide the basic infrastructure
01:20for their girls to be able to play football.
01:22They're already having to fund aspects of the club through monthly subscriptions to
01:27cover our insurances, our accreditations, affiliations, kit, referees, pitch hire.
01:34I simply don't think it's right to ask them.
01:36Here in Kent, it's all the more relevant, with Alessia Russo, the Arsenal and England
01:40forward who played for grassroots team Bearstead FC, being from Kent, made stone originally.
01:46Currently the girls team plays and trains using the facilities of a local school, but
01:51at the start of the new season they won't have the access they need for the girls to
01:54do their favourite skills.
01:56What's your favourite thing to do in football?
01:58It could be tackling.
01:59School goals.
02:00School goals.
02:01Yeah, school goals.
02:02Being strong.
02:03Tackling people.
02:04Probably attacking and scoring in general.
02:05Yeah, my heart's skidding at the moment.
02:06It's a bit of both of them.
02:07Squat.
02:08My beautiful shot power.
02:09Tackle and dribble.
02:10And what's your girls' favourite thing to do in football?
02:11Score.
02:12Score.
02:13Score.
02:14Score.
02:15Score.
02:16Score.
02:17Score.
02:18Score.
02:19Score.
02:20Score.
02:21Score.
02:22Score.
02:23Score.
02:24Score.
02:25Score.
02:26Score.
02:27Score.
02:28Score.
02:29With girls' football growing exponentially, the parents of the players and organisers
02:31of the club are faced with the dilemma of how they're going to reach their funding goals.
02:35Finn McDermid for KMTV.