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Women's Football News

Mixed trial ratified

Women's Football News 2 Jul 2007

At the Summer Meeting of the FA Council this weekend, it was agreed to allow a one season experiment into mixed football.

This dispensation will only apply to those boys' leagues where they can demonstrate evidence of girls who show a strong desire to continue mixed football.

Leagues and their member clubs will not be encouraged to actively recruit girls for this as the FA still wish to see the majority of girls remain in the female player pathway. 147,000 girls and women were playing in FA-affiliated clubs last season, and with 52 Centres of Excellence, young girls have the opportunity to then progress to England level from under-15s upwards.

Any League given dispensation must commit to work with the FA and County FA to monitor and evaluate these experiments on a bi-monthly basis, as well as support debates in Counties regarding the overall views of mixed football.

Particular areas that will need to be discussed are the social, technical, psychological and physical aspects as well as demand, injuries, facilities and welfare matters.

Leagues will need to complete an application form and send it to their local County FA if they wish their boys' football league to experiment in allowing girls to play mixed football. This is for season 2007-08 only and for girls aged under-12, 13 and 14.

It is hoped that a fully consulted proposal can then be reached based on facts and evidence and can be brought to the FA Council next year for their recommendations.

More information on the monitoring and evaluation process will be available in time for the start of the new season.