“Football again, Mummy?”
These are the words that former England defender Laura Bassett is getting used to hearing from her four-year-old daughter, not yet grasping why a mother who was raised around football and has made a career from the sport is always keen to put on any game being shown on television.
“She’ll give the ball a good whack in the garden, we’ve got a goal. She loves wearing the kits,” Bassett says to 90min of Saede, whose father is also Manchester United Women manager Marc Skinner.
“But it’s so interesting. If I said we’re going to do this and run here, throw and catch the ball, she’s a bit [disinterested]. But if she makes up the rules and throws and catches it, the enjoyment is through the roof, like if she also sets up a goal for herself.
“I don’t try and push it on her,” Bassett explains, wary of inadvertently having the opposite effect. “In spite of parents, she’ll not like football, so I want to avoid that at all costs. Hopefully at school she’ll get opportunities and find her [own] way.”
Opportunities to give football a go at school are exactly what young girls have increasing access to.
England’s win at Euro 2022 last summer was a historic moment for women’s football in the country in more ways than one. Not only was it a first major international trophy for the Lionesses, it raised the profile of the women’s game enormously and left a legacy of inspiration.
Sport England’s most recent Active Lives survey revealed there are 100,000 more girls playing regular football than five years ago. Similarly, in the three months that followed the Euro 2022 final last July, England Football reported a 196% increase in women’s and girls’ football session bookings.
Straight after the final, the victorious Lionesses collectively put their names to an open letter to Liz Truss and Rishi Sunak, at the time vying to be the next Prime Minister, urging the government to commit to giving girls equal access to football and sport in school.
Figures from the FA at the time highlighted that participation in football among girls drops with age from primary school to secondary school, while only 40% of secondary schools were offering girls the same access to football as boys in the form of afterschool clubs.
The rallying call was met with the promise of making the same sports available to girls and boys and overall funding pledges in excess of £650m over two academic years.
With eyes firmly on the Lionesses again as the 2023 Women’s World Cup is set to begin, there is an expectation that interest in football among girls and women will continue to increase.
But participation is just the first barrier. Girls have to enjoy football, and sport in general, to want to stay engaged and nearly half that have been active at a young age disengage after primary school. Where more than half of boys says they enjoy participating in sport and exercise, little more than a third of girls say the same. It is known as the ‘enjoyment gap’.
“We know enjoyment drops off [for girls] at a certain age and they don’t return,” Bassett says. “The easy part is the participation boom, but now we’ve got to keep them with us and stay active.”
Bassett played for the Lionesses more than 60 times and went to two World Cups during an international career that spanned 14 years.
By her own admission, the now retired centre-back wasn’t the most naturally talented of the girls she grew up playing with. But while Bassett had the opportunity to stick with it because of support and getting enjoyment out of playing, she made it all the way to the highest level, whereas others went on to drop out of the sport.
“Some of the girls that I played with, as well as getting interested in other things, maybe time and travel support wasn’t there,” Bassett reflects.
“I just think the enjoyment wasn’t there or they didn’t see a path for them. It was so sad and now they’re not really involved in sport. The scary thing is I probably wasn’t the most talented, so imagine if one of those girls stayed at it and found their way [in football].
“I think the majority of the Lionesses in my era would probably say that – that there are a hell of a lot more talented girls out there that maybe we didn’t tap into.”
Among the big factors for Bassett sticking with football and excelling to the point where she became an elite player were support, opportunity and enjoyment. She grew up around it. Both her parents were heavily involved with the local village football team – Bulkington Sports & Social Club – and from a young age she would help with things like putting up the goalposts and corner flags for matches. She also describes getting the better of her older brother growing up as her ‘challenge’
At primary school, Bassett started playing with boys in the playground – “I’m surprised they let me because if I mistimed a tackle in my Dr. Martens, you’re getting a whack on the shin” – but she was fortunate enough to have a teacher who could see her passion for football and made it possible to host games and tournaments. Outside of school, the blossoming talent also joined local team Bedworth United Girls, where Laura Harvey – former Arsenal manager and current OL Reign boss – was a teammate. There, coaching also played a role, in keeping her and other girls engaged.
“When I joined there was a group of maybe 10-12 players and they were all 2-3 years older than me. Seeing other girls that play. They were really good and older than me, so that inspired me and challenged me,” Bassett explains. “We had a really good coach that gave up his free time and could see a lot of potential in us. But his main [message] was play with a smile on your face and enjoy it.”
Within a few years, Bassett’s Bedworth United were invited to play a friendly at Highfield Road, the then home of Coventry City and a Premier League stadium. “It was massive looking back,” she says. “I think was when we saw there were bigger and more structured opportunities when we were older. Most of the Bedworth United girls went into the first-team at Coventry City.”
With her teammates a little older, Bassett eventually followed after turning 14. She then joined Birmingham a few years later, where her club and international career would take off.
Now, Bassett has been back to Bedworth United to help with a new campaign called Play Their Way that encourages coaches to adopt child-first methods, with the intention of making football as enjoyable as possible to ensure young girls have the incentive to keep coming back.
“With child-first coaching, it’s about what happens when a girl comes to their first session. We know that first impressions are huge. It’s not about a coach telling a child what to do from the first minute to the last minute, because the enjoyment won’t be there and they won’t come again,” she explains.
“So it’s really about creating an environment where the girl feels included, that they can be seen and heard, have fun, feel uplifted and that they enjoy it.
“It’s great to come back to Bedworth and it’s a bit of a full circle moment because Hayley Bennett, who I used to play football with, is now a coach and is thoroughly on board with the campaign and really believes that girls should play with a smile. There’s a great website called playtheirway.org where coaches can go for resources, free articles and ideas for sessions. I’m so passionate that girls have good first impressions [of football sessions] and enjoy themselves.”
Although it is easy to get wrapped up in talking only about the biggest stars, especially with the biggest ever Women’s World Cup around the corner, playing football isn’t solely about targeting a future at the elite level. Even casual participation at grassroots level is tremendously rewarding because, not only is it vital for physical health, it builds things like teamwork and confidence.
“From my own experience and speaking to a lot of girls, if you can find sport and stay active, feel included, the confidence and self-esteem, learning to communicate with older and younger people, it gives you life skills,” Bassett reflects.
“That’s why this campaign is great, but it’s not about changing the way everyone coaches all of a sudden. A lot of coaches at grassroots have this environment and put on these training sessions where, for example, the girls lead the session, choose the rules or the next part of the session. They feel empowered, they have a voice and a choice. It’s also to celebrate coaches out there who are doing great, but can we give you a little bit more support with more ideas?”
Play Their Way is calling on coaches to put child-first coaching at the heart of their approach to tackle the sporting ‘enjoyment gap’ between girls and boys and make sure girls have positive first experiences of sport that make them more likely to stay active later in life.
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