Girls from The Olive School in Blackburn are embracing football like never before following an FA initiative. Last November, FA Girls’ Football Week saw five days of football sessions at the school and the pupils haven’t lost their enthusiasm since.

Teachers have revealed that the number of girls playing is now the same as the boys and the girls are even struggling to keep the football to break times.

PE co-ordinator at The Olive School, Suhail Sidat said: “There have been a few instances in class when I’ve caught a few girls passing notes to each other. You ask them what they’re doing and they say ‘Sir, we’re just doing tactics for football.”

The school’s head teacher Julie Bradley hopes the school’s new enthusiasm for football doesn’t stop there, she said: “Hopefully one day, one of our girls will be the captain of England, who knows?”

Tauheedul Education Trust, to which The Olive School belongs, was recently designated as an FA Girls’ Area Hub, joining a network of organisations that support and deliver girls’ football across the country.

This week The FA announced that they will be increasing their investment in the women and girl’s game by an additional £50m over six years. The increased investment will help ensure the sustainability of successful participation initiatives.

Report courtesy of the FA via Pitch