Foundation of Light has launched Get Girls Playing Month in June, a regionwide push to get more girls across Sunderland and the North East involved in sport, with former England Lioness Jill Scott lending her support. Hundreds of girls are set to take part over the month in pathway trials, school tournaments and participation events delivered across the city.
Scott said the aim is to show that football is for everyone and to make the activities feel open to girls whether they are brand new to the game or already play regularly. She said the month offers a chance to get involved, bring friends, stay active and hopefully encourage even more girls to give it a try.
The campaign sits within Together Through Sport, a regional collaboration bringing together Foundation of Light, Newcastle United Foundation, Durham Cricket Foundation, Eagles Community Foundation and Newcastle Rugby Foundation. Backed by North East Mayor Kim McGuinness, it is part of an ambition to make the North East the UK’s first Region of Sport.
That ambition is being tested by a familiar problem: sport is meant to be open to every girl, but the campaign exists because barriers to participation still remain. Foundation of Light says Get Girls Playing Month is designed to raise awareness, create opportunities and make sport feel like something that belongs to girls and young women, not something they have to find a way into.
Activities across June include girls pathway trials, football tournaments, Delilah’s Decathlon, the Big Sis, Little Sis event, Wildcats sessions and Little Lionesses football sessions. Lesley Spuhler said the programme is about showing what can happen when organisations across the North East work toward the same goal, and about making sure every young person has the chance to take part, feel included and thrive.
The immediate measure of success will be how many girls turn up this month. The bigger test is whether a June campaign turns one-off curiosity into lasting participation, because the region’s sport leaders are trying to close a gap that has been there for years, not just fill a calendar.
