Coed Eva Athletic Girls FC are committed to spreading the word of the girls game in South Wales and are quickly becoming one of the biggest girls football clubs in their region. That’s why we chose them as one of our Kitlocker.com Grassroots Grants winners.
The club began life back in 1982 as Golden Harvest, before becoming Greenmeadow AFC and eventually Coed Eva Athletic in 2003. The senior side currently compete in the Gwent County and Newport & District leagues. In 2010 the club began developing a youth structure, with their girls section first kicking off in 2015. Those early sessions started with less than 10 players but the club has gone from strength to strength and now boasts 5 girls’ teams across 4 age groups.
Club Secretary and Under 11s coach Andrew Lewis is in no doubt over the importance of their club within their local community- “The best thing about being involved is the fact that we’re providing opportunities for all ages and genders in our area to come and play football. This helps keep kids active whilst also making new friends along the way and hopefully teaching them lessons in life also.”
Andrew thinks that female participation in football is growing rapidly due to the passion of those involved- “I believe it’s the girls themselves who want to take part and love this sport that make it grow by showing passion and the correct attitude to friends in school or even family members.”
However, he says there are still some barriers left to overcome – “It’s a big barrier to convince girls to play a sport that they know as a “boys” sport, which is far from the case, as I believe the girls are just as good. We try to encourage our current players to bring a friend and get them to try it out and see if they enjoy it.”
In order to continue growth, Andrew thinks that more can be done at school to encourage girls to get involved in the game, as well as more televised matches to inspire the next generation- “I think a lot more can be done to get girls involved in the sport, starting with local primary schools actually starting girls teams and not just boys. Hopefully more televised women’s games too for girls to watch.”
Andrew has big hopes for the future of the club with the long term goal of having a team at every age group, as well as an adult women’s team. He also wants to improve the changing facilities at the club to create a more inviting environment for girls looking to join. Their Grassroots Grant will be put towards much needed equipment and match kits for the age groups without a sponsor.
At Kitlocker.com we love hearing about the clubs up and down the country dedicated to improving the inclusivity of grassroots football. It’s clear to see that with Andrew and the other hard working volunteers at Coed Eva Athletic around, the future of women’s football in South Wales looks bright. Congratulations to the club on winning their Grassroots Grant and their continued success in the game.