A key feature of the success of Girls and Women’s Week in the upper North Island has been the contribution of schools and clubs, who teamed up and joined their local federations to help hundreds of females fall in love with the beautiful game.

The Girls and Women’s Week initiative is part of New Zealand Football’s wider ‘GET IN to Football’ campaign, which is focused on the key strategic goal of more New Zealanders playing and loving football.

In a significant change from previous years, the week was run by each federation at a time most suitable to their own needs and situation, rather than all federations running them in the same week.

Northern Football and WaiBOP Football both ran their Girls and Women’s Week early this month while Auckland Football’s took the form of a pre-season tournament in February.

Local schools and clubs came to the fore in each region with the aim of providing girls who may not have played football before with a positive experience, leaving them wanting to continue to their new-found passion for the sport and register to play.

Girls and Women’s Week was a resounding success for Northern Football, where Women’s Development Officer Hayley Stirling oversaw a range of inspirational events.

“Our week has seen over 500 current and new football players engaged in girls-only activations,” she says.

“Clubs and schools joined forces to help deliver the activity, such as Greenhithe Football Club, who hosted a four-vs-four festival which attracted 35 girls from three different clubs and a couple of teams from Flanshaw Road School,” she adds.

“Parrs Park then played host to a primary schools festival which attracted over 130 participants from various schools in the West Auckland region. The day was filled with smiles, goals and fun and what was really pleasing was the number of female teaching staff and parents that provided support for the girls to really make it a real female event.”

Northern also held an ethnic tournament involving teams from New Zealand, Tuvalu and Japan with the latter coming out on top after beating the Kiwis on penalties in a scoreless final.

On the futsal front, the junior girls futsal league continued to provide an opportunity for players to enjoy the small-sided format and Northern’s senior team dropped in to pass on some pointers to those looking to follow in their footsteps.

To wrap up the festivities, an exhibition match between Northern’s women’s futsal team and their Auckland Football counterparts was held at the North Harbour Netball Centre, following a morning of junior girls futsal league games. Throughout the morning, members of the senior team were on hand to help the junior players on court and were also involved in the refereeing of matches.

A crowd of over 50 spectators stayed on after the junior matches to support the Northern women’s team in their battle of the bridge and, for most of the junior players, it was the first time they had seen a senior futsal game.

“Most spectators noted how fast the game was and how quickly players were able to pass and move into space,” Stirling says. “It was a good day for everyone involved and the first time the senior and junior players had been integrated together to strengthen the link between the age groups within the futsal pathway.”

Up in Northland, prominent local coach Kezia Singleton promoted the girls game in several primary schools and was assisted by Caitlin Alabaster and Anya Gross, well-known footballers in the area who helped pass on their knowledge to over 160 girls.

It was a similar story in the WaiBOP federation, where six primary school festivals were staged across the region, namely in Whakatane, Rotorua, Hamilton, Papamoa and Tauranga. Ten different schools were involved and over 360 players took part, many of whom were enjoying their first taste of the beautiful game.

In a further promising sign for the further development of football, WaiBOP staff were assisted in delivering the festivals by many female college-aged students, who shared their love of football with their younger counterparts.