East Worthing and Shoreham Labour Party

First Match of the Season

At the end of last year I was appointed captain of the New College Women Football Team. While I was hugely honoured at being given the opportunity, I was rather daunted by the prospect.  We had a fantastic captain last year, but we didn' t get the best results. Our worst defeat was 15-1, while the best was a mere 4-0. Even though I was in goal for much of the season, I still had a great time and made lots of friends within the team, not to mention getting fit playing week-in week-out.

Thus last Sunday we had our first game of the season, a league match against the team from St Catherine's College. An extra hour of sleep had given us all a boost, and even though we hadn't quite mustered a full team of 11 players we were all feeling enthused and ready for a fight, and I was just hoping we would do better than the huge losses of last season!
In the end, we played brilliantly (even if I do say so myself). We went off at half time ahead by 1-0 - almost unimaginable last season - and every player had given 100% for the whole half. Although we ended up conceding a last-minute goal to end up at 1-1, it was a brilliant performance by the team, many of whom had never played football before!

Women's Football may not be as popular as Men's premier league football, but let's not forget how amazingly successful England's Women team has been recently, reaching the final of Euro 2009. Not only that, but we are the Current Champions' League holders, after winning the two-legged finals 18-0. I think it is a real shame that the superb performance of the team, led by Hope Powell, was not more widely celebrated and recognised by the media and the public. They all worked incredibly hard and I think they deserve far more attention than they received.

Let us not forget that, in great contrast to those men playing in the Premier League and for England, these women are not paid millions - in fact far from it. Unbelievably, it was only in May 2009 that the FA awarded central contracts to England's star women players, and the amount - £1.28m - is to be shared by 17 players over a period of 4 years. That's an average of less than £19 000 each!  Some Premier League men earn 5 times this amount in a single week! This is in stark contrast to stars of the Men's game, who earn this entire sum in less than 6 months. Many professional players have to take second jobs to survive. The achievements of England's Women's is thus is all the more impressive.

The FA has also come under criticism for not fulfilling its promises to develop the Women's game, as recommended by the Burns report in 2005. Claire Wheatley, the development manager of Arsenal Ladies told BBC 5 live's Breakfast programme: “We need to make sure that there is a massive investment of capital behind the game, so we can have a real solid foundation of a good league...At the moment there are problems with facilities, games are often called off, so people won't generally come back if they've turned up and the game's off, and there's some real basic issues we need to deal with.” Let's hope this wish can become a reality. You can follow more on the Women's game here: http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/women/default.stm

It reminded me of the time in Primary School where I was not allowed to play on the football team because I was a girl, which I still think was a shocking decision. What kind of message is that sending to a 9 year old girl? You can't get involved in a sport you are passionate about just because of your gender? If I was good enough to get in the team, why was I not allowed? It might have been different if I was a teenager, but I was only 9 years old. In recent years, the FA has raised the age barrier allowing girls to continue to play in teams with boys, so I hope young talented girls footballers will never be barred from playing in the future.

Like many women's footballers, I first started playing football with my family; ever since I can remember I was getting involved with matches and kick-abouts with my Dad, brother, cousins and uncles. I used to look forward to watching Match of the Day to see my favourite club, Tottenham Hotspur, in action (if only they had won a few more matches!).

I also got involved in an excellent scheme run by my local club, 'Crystal Palace in the Community'. Every school holiday they would run affordable football courses for local primary and secondary school students. Led by dedicated, professional and motivating coaches, it gave many youngsters opportunities they would never have had. They also ran courses in primary schools - and I was very lucky to have one in mine.  The fact that I was never going to be a professional footballer was not the point; it helped me get fit, and taught me a great deal about self-discipline and working in a team. It also gave me - and many others - the self confidence and belief to achieve in other areas of life.

The belief that sport can help young people fulfill their potential in all areas of life is shared by one of my heroes, Dame Kelly Holmes. I have always admired her dedication; having faced so many challenges, she not only overcame them but then went on to become, arguably, Britain's greatest middle distance runner when she became double Olympic Champion in 2004. She is a powerful example of how if you have the talent, self belief and perseverance you can achieve anything you set out to do.

I had the honour of meeting Dame Kelly recently at the Labour Party Conference, and had the opportunity to learn about her inspirational new charity, the Dame Kelly Holmes Legacy Trust. I urge all of you to check it out at www.dkhlegacytrust.org/dkh-p-home.htm. It helps disadvantaged young people to find and believe in their own talents, and an explanation of the charity's vision can be seen here www.dkhlegacytrust.org/dkh-p-BelievingInTalent.htm.

As I have said before, as a PPC, and in my career, I want to work towards a society where the talents and potential of all young people - whether it be sporting, vocational, musical, or academic - can be realised. I truly believe that the DKH legacy trust, and its programmes with positive role models and elite sport performers, will help this become a reality.
As ever, please get in touch with me at emilybenn@ewaslabour.org.uk, I'm eager to hear what you think,

I am now off to wash the kit in preparation for next week's game!
Emily