Women and girls celebrate spectacular 3-year rise
A women and girls' football celebration event, organised by Canterbury Eagles FC, attracted more than 120 players on Saturday.
Teams from the Eagles girls' youth section took part in training sessions and friendly matches, along with the women's first team and the club's recreational section, Canterbury Old Bags United.
The club, which has provided grassroots football in the city since 1979, only started a female section three seasons ago, with two teams entering the Kent Girls' League. This season they hope to have eight youth teams plus a senior women's team, but they say a lack of facilities in the City is hampering their efforts.
Women and Girls' football development lead, Jo Treharne said: "Our female section has absolutely exploded in the last couple of years. We've got some amazing coaches too, and our parents are wonderful, but the lack of training facilities means we can't expand any further and we're really struggling to find winter pitches for all our squads."
The club's female section used to train on a Saturday morning but Jo says that is becoming impossible due to player development. "A lot of our girls have really come on strongly and are now part of junior premier league clubs which means they can't train on a Saturday. We urgently need winter training but everywhere is booked up.
"Simon Langton Girls' School had a planning application in for an all-weather facility with extensive community use which could have benefited thousands, but a handful of people objected and the application has been withdrawn, so we're completely stuck. We are absolutely inundated with enquiries and could easily expand further but until the lack of facilities in the city is properly addressed our hands are tied. Our aim is to get as many local girls playing football as possible as we know how transformative it can be for both physical and mental health, but we are literally turning people away."
The event on Saturday saw the Eagles' under 13s play East Kent Roses while Canterbury Old Bags walking football team beat Margate 8-0.
