Hundreds of girls had the opportunity of a lifetime as Girls and Women’s Week activities spread to the South Island this month, getting to have a kick round under the roof at the world-class Forsyth Barr Stadium.

The stadium opened its famous gates to the grassroots game for a day as hundreds of children from local primary and intermediate schools streamed in to get a taste of what it’s like to play on such hallowed turf.

For many, it was their first experience of playing football and their response to the beautiful game will live long in the memory of Tessa Nicol, who oversaw the week’s activities in her role as Women’s Development Officer for Football South.

“It was a special experience that the girls will always be able to look back on fondly,” she says. “Seeing so many young girls playing football with smiles on their faces was one of the best experiences from the week.”

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.

Football South and Mainland Football both held their weeks in the past fortnight as thousands of females were introduced to football throughout the South Island.

In the Football South region, the activities were focused mainly on the younger age-groups with the hope of installing a lifelong love of the game.

“There’s been a big focus on getting young girls participating in football, getting active, and simply giving football a go,” Nicol says.

The week also saw Dunedin Technical run their first Girls Only Football Tournament with 60 girls participating across five different teams. This was a huge success, with a Central Otago team making the journey down to Dunedin especially for the weekend.

Local club Dunedin Technical also joined in on the celebration of female football, running its first girls-only football tournament with 60 players participating across five teams. This was deemed a huge success with a Central Otago team making the journey down to Dunedin especially for the weekend’s action.

Off the pitch, Football South had the privilege of hosting Julie Paterson from Women in Sport Aotearoa, an organisation that aims to transform sport for the betterment of girls and women. Paterson gave a presentation to a variety of sporting code representatives, including players, coaches and managers. Meanwhile, Roslyn Wakari AFC are soon to host an Intro to Refereeing Course for both females and males involved in the girls and women’s game.  

“We’ve had over 200 girls participating in the week so far and, with journeys to Oamaru and Invercargill to run Soccer Sisters and a Southern United training day to go, the week has had plenty of activity and football fun,” Nicol says.

There are more events coming up in the coming months with Football South hosting a school futsal tournament in May and looking to kickstart a girls-only winter futsal mini-league, as well as continuing to visit lots of schools around the federation.

In the week leading up to Football South’s activities, Mainland Football staged their own Girls and Women’s Week with over a thousand girls joining in on the fun. There were a number of highlights as Football Ferns star Annalie Longo, who also works as Mainland’s Women’s Development Officer, overseeing a wide range of events across the region.

A mid-week schools competition was staged at English Park, where over 300 girls from schools around Christchurch came together for a day-long 5-a-side tournament. A number of those taking part had never played the game and many more were likewise introduced when a have-a-go day was also held at English Park, involving more than 350 girls.

It was a real festival atmosphere with an inflatable pitch on site, a BBQ firing out sausages to the players, parents and coaches and giveaways on offer, including a signed Football Ferns shirt to the winner of a colouring competition.

Louise Trappitt, a member of the New Zealand Football Player Welfare Team, was also on hand to deliver messages of the Fit4Football programme, taking members of the Mainland Federation Talent Centre (FTC) through the needs specific to a female player.

“It was great to give exposure to female-only initiatives and provide the girls with a fun but quality experience,” says Longo, who became New Zealand’s youngest senior international footballer when she made her debut in 2006.

“It was really positive to see a number of girls experiencing football for the first time and it will be awesome to see how many carry on in the game.”