Womens football was first established in 1890s but it has gone through a lot to be here it is now. In this current generation, some would say that it is not as big as men's football, some would say that it is not as entertaining as men’s football. But through the critic, it has gone through a lot to be where it is now. Influences such as Alex Morgan, Megan Rapinoe, Steph Houghton and Lucy Bronze have made the sport big today and they have also inspired the younger generation to get involved in the sport, although women’s football is at the biggest point it has been. They can take it to another level, this is through an increase in younger girls participating in the sport so that they can create a future for the sport also be a part of the sport. 2019 Women's World Cup was a big event for women’s football, and it helped the sport get the recognition, broadcasted on TV and fans around the world supporting their home country, it was hosted in France and United States won the cup. With it being broadcasted on TV, A combined coverage of 1.12 billion viewers tuned in and watched. In order to get younger girls around the world in participate in the sport is through social media advertising, community work done by professional footballers, more school activities on football and parental support.  

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Social Media Advertising: 

One of the ways of getting girls into football would be through advertising. They have the well-known advert which is ThisGirlCan and this advert was amazing and influential. More adverts like this would help around the world to get the younger generation of girls to participate in women’s football. Professional footballers both men and women would help create a sense of unity as some would agree that men football has a lot more recognition and would be seemed as better than women's football. They should make adverts like hoe Nike invested in the World Cup advert in 2014, this advert gained a lot of views as fans would say that it is intriguing and it was nice advert, no violence or conflict during the advert which helped make it a successful advert. However, men's football gets more views than women's football. So, by getting men footballers in the adverts, it will gain more fans that watch men's football to tune into women's football and there will be more recognition on women's football making the sport equal. In addition, if there are more adverts on promoting women's football then they can promote it on social media. In this current generation, everyone is on social media and it’s the quickest yet easiest way to promote the sport and younger girls are o social media so it will be reached towards them. Creating a future and making history for the next generation to come and participate in the sport. Finally, with more adverts it will pursue more girls to participate and if they like it, they many want to do it as a dream job be a part of the history of women's football if they passionately enjoy it.   

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Community work: 

Another way of getting younger to participate in the sport is through community work. This is because, if professional female footballers went back into the community that they grew up in and they created a session with other girls in the area then, it can create a sense of pride and younger girls will aspire to be like that certain footballer. As she is being humble and never forgetting where they came from. It’s a way to bring girls together and play football, some people would say that football is a men’s sport hence why there’s not a lot of girls that play football. Some girls are even afraid, of being judged. When girls play football, some of the nasty comments they receive is calling them a ‘lesbian’. This can hurt a girl's feelings and it can potentially put them playing football and getting involved in the sport. So, if a professional footballer comes into the area they grew up in and created a training session. Then it will bring the community together and it will influence the girls to take part in football, due to them taking part in it and potentially liking it. Footballers could the give the girls in their community rewards such as a free home game ticket or a jersey, this is to show the incentives they receive as a professional footballer. This can then motivate, the younger generation to participate in the sport and if there are girls already in the sport then it can push them to take football as a serious career path. 

 

Higher End Coaching: 

Another reason in order to get younger girls to participate in football is investing in higher quality coaches. With women’s football the ability is not as the greatest and most football fans would say that men’s football have the better footballing ability this is one of the reasons why there are lower end coaches in women’s football. In order, to make women’s football equal to men’s football they must make sure that they invest in higher end coaching. This is making sure, for the younger generation to develop in football at a young age they need to be able to have the good coaching staff to focus in the fundamentals of technical ability and fundamentals of how to strategically beat a team by using a coaches tactic. By investing in good coaching, it will help produce better players around the world meaning that there will be healthy competition more girls will be inspired in participating in football as well as pursuing a career path from football. In addition, if they invest in higher end coaching then more economically developed countries such as United States, United Kingdom, France and Germany can create a future for their country and create history in international events such as Euros and World Cup tournaments as well as having a good club career. Furthermore, Higher end coaching makes it easier for the girls as they would understand the coach as well as listen and take in the advice the experienced coaches give them. 

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More football education courses: 

In men’s football there are a lot more football education courses so there are colleges that are linked to football teams and they do BTEC Sport courses. Football and education need to be working together, especially for women’s football. This is because, it has been a successful way of getting more men involved in the sport. Others would say that this method is trustworthy. The best way is by implementing more football courses for women at secondary and college level. More courses for women mean that more would participate in the sport only because girls would like to try it and see if they like it. In addition, for primary school stages they should add a girls' team in primary school ensuring that they start recruiting girls at a younger age to be able to develop as a player quicker. Primary school teams should be embracing the sport for both boys and girls equally so that they represent the sport in the correct way, by teaching them at an early age they will be able to ignore the criticism at a younger age and focus on football. They should add things such as, free trials to other girl teams, organising more football tournaments and getting professional footballers to go to schools and give out a training session.  

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Parental support: 

With footballers, most of their stories of becoming a professional footballer will say that their parents never really wanted them being a footballer as it is a known fact that to become a professional footballer it’s hard. However, parents should support their daughters if they enjoy playing football. Parents, often say they want their child being a doctor or nurse as they are jobs that are hard working in addition, they earn a lot for what they do. So, they should be showing support by doing things such as dropping off their daughter to training sessions, watching them play and encourage them if they are doing mistakes, also give them things such as football jerseys on special occasions such as birthdays, Christmas presents. This can help get younger girls to be motivated for a career in football as well as getting younger girls to participate in sport. If more parents supported their daughter, it makes them the younger girls to feel at ease whereas if parents weren’t supportive then girls would feel pressured and would worry if they about not making them happy. It is essential to help them, as they can be the future and they can create another level for women’s football. It’s hard as it is for younger girls as they get judged often for playing the sport but, with parents helping to put in the work and show commitment to their daughter participating in the sport then it can take the sport forwards and to the next level.  

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Written and edited by Axel Ahouzan

10th May 2020, 13:58

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