WOMEN'S
Words: The Grassroots Post @thegrassrootspost
Images: Chris Wharton @chris–wharton–images
INCLUSIVE & INSPIRATIONAL WITH FOTMOB:
WINTER FEST In each issue, FotMob - the livescore app - are sponsoring a feature on inclusive and inspirational grassroots stories and assisting in their development by providing equipment vouchers to these special football clubs. Sheffield FA recently delivered a women’s football festival called Winter Fest to mark the fiftieth anniversary of the lifting of the ban on women’s football with over forty players participating from a wide variety of backgrounds. Born out of a conversation during a women’s recreational football forum and with December 5th 2021 being 100 years to the day since women’s football was banned on FA affiliated pitches, it was time to recognise the past and celebrate the future of Sheffield’s developing women’s football scene. Winter Fest was specifically aimed at women aged eighteen and over and those that were not currently registered
Taking place at St. George’s Park
help it to continue its great work.
for an eleven-a-side team, with the fo-
Thorncliffe alongside their Christmas
cus on the spirit of recreational football.
market, Sheffield FA partnered with
groups that hadn’t worked with
Offering those that don’t often have the
the Stoppage Time Project to create an
or heard about each other before.
opportunity to play in a safe, non-com-
exhibition during the festival displaying
They supplied fifteen hijabs to their
petitive environment the chance to
stories and clips of women in football in
participants and ensured the venue
meet other groups and teams. Sheffield
and around Sheffield and Rotherham
had a safe space for a group to have a
had also not previously hosted a recre-
over the last 100 years, donating all pro-
prayer room and managed the fixtures
ational tournament for women.
ceeds from team entry to the project to
around prayer times.
The festival drew out teams and
