Jill Scott and Beth Mead hit the road with Vicky Park Rangers as part of the Kick On campaign. Photo: Kick On
Access to the field was not an issue for me when I played on the men's team as a child. The first time I experienced this was when I played for the women's team. We used to have hours from 7pm to 9pm and sometimes the field wasn't even lit – and there were no toilets – so we did a lot of running on the beach instead. Even at the beginning of my senior football career we always had last time at 20:00-22:00 after the boys and academy had trained.
Given the recent growth of the women's game, I had hoped that course parity would have improved by now, so it was a surprise to learn that over 50 percent of women's players had booked a course and then found that their place had been provided. instead to the men's or men's team. This needs to change immediately. Access to the field should be equal, with the same number of training spaces for all genders and no last-minute seat shifts.
Beth Mead and I recently went to Vicky Park Rangers where the women's team had been kicked out. Last year I went to the boys team. This highlighted the fact that there is still a lot of work to be done – until this happens, the game will not develop.
A solution needs to be found because women are now twice as likely as men to consider leaving football due to access to the pitch. What you also need to remember is that many of these women and girls will be coming to training after a long day at work or school, and the last thing they want is to show up and find that they have no presentation. To achieve this, you need enough, without additional uncertainty. Additionally, there are safety concerns as the courses are located in areas where players do not feel safe or where they have to travel late at night.
There is a desire to get more women into the game, but how can you do that and maintain growth if you don't have equal access? transmission?
Starling Bank's 'Kick On' manifesto highlights the changes that need to happen to level the playing field for women and girls and why equal access to the playing field is so important. This is part of a wider 'Pitch Pack' which is full of advice on how teams can reach out to local communities, presentation providers etc to gain equal access. People probably don't know how to deal with serve parity, so this is a great tool for women's and women's teams that may not know where to start.
More than 50 percent of the girls were kicked off the field to make room for the boys' team. Photo: Kick On
The manifesto also highlights the importance of having women-specific facilities in place. Girls are different from boys, women from men, and it is important for us that we have the necessary conditions. This could be something as simple as installing a sanitary tank in your toilet. We've seen a lot of work done to change women's teams wearing white shorts because players are worried about period leaks, and a small change like that can help girls stay in the sport. I don't think this is a topic we should shy away from. Women have periods, men do not. You want girls and women to be as comfortable as possible.
We want as many girls as possible to play football and if you look at the bottom of the pyramid the numbers are going up. However, as I mentioned earlier, there is also a significant drop off in the middle and lack of field access plays a huge role in that. There may be future Lionesses aged 12 or 13 who are uncomfortable in the dressing room, who cannot find suitable conditions or access to the field and leave the sport.
The teams at the top may be thriving, but you don't want to create the chasm below where teams will not be able to reach the next level because the pyramid is only as strong as its foundation. Equal access to fields is vital to closing the gap.
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