Women's Euros: Supporting Leeds girls to play football as England take on Spain in quarter finals - James Murtagh

This will be the 13th edition of the Uefa Women’s Championship, the quadrennial international football championship organised for the women’s national teams of Europe.

For the second time in the competition’s history, the championship includes 16 teams, with England playing host to the tournament, and defending champions, the Netherlands.

After the Lionesses’ comprehensive victory over the Netherlands at Elland Road in June and a historic 8-0 victory over Norway in the group stages last week, the remainder of the tournament looks set to be one packed with excitement, especially with the home team down as the favourites.

With all of this action taking place at the start of the summer, there’s never been a better time to celebrate the women’s game.

With dedicated and passionate grass-roots organisations driving quality in the upper echelons of the sport, what better way to get involved, than to support the future of the game?

As a result, Savvy is proud to have sponsored the Rothwell Juniors U12 Girls Away kit.

The Rothwell Juniors U12 Girls have completed a prestigious treble this season, with the highlight being victory in West Riding County Cup, after securing the Division 1 Championship title.

This is a season which has so far involved 27 games, resulting in an overall positive goal difference of +102. The girls have also competed in their first beach football tournament, the East Coast Soccer Competition in Bridlington, with Rothwell conquering 21 teams and taking the title.

Subsequently the team were asked to represent Leeds in a national tournament in Nottingham, where they made the quarter finals, placing them in the top eight teams in the country.

This continued success is a fantastic achievement, not only in trophies and medals won, but in encouraging girls to get involved and play a sport that they love.

Women’s football is now the top participation sport for girls and women in the UK, with more than 2.5 million registered players; alongside the extremely positive outlook for the Lionesses in the Euros, the FA have a chance of securing two of their eight objectives, outlined in their strategy to progress the womens’ game, called Inspiring Positive Change, which spans every level from access to football in primary school, all the way up to winning a major international tournament.

The FA campaign, which started in October 2020, is a four-year strategy pledging to create a sustainable future for women’s and girls’ football in England.

It aims to get every primary school-aged girl to have equal access to football in school and in clubs, create “the best professional women’s sports leagues and competitions in the world” and win a major tournament.

Moreover, the strategy aims to recruit and support a motivated, diverse range of local leaders organising football for their communities; support the development of exceptional coaches at every level of the game who are representative of our society; and ensure that every female referee is afforded high-quality bespoke learning and development opportunities from grassroots through to the elite game.

In terms of coaching, the strategy also committed to formal learning opportunities for all levels of the game and the establishment of a sustainable refereeing recruitment drive, embedded into local communities, clubs and higher education and further education establishments.

Upon the strategy’s launch, then England women’s captain Steph Houghton said: “When I and many of my teammates were girls, opportunities to play the game were few and far between, so to see the breadth and scale of the FA’s ambitions in the next four years is extremely exciting.”

For our part, Savvy’s involvement as a sponsor speaks volumes about our commitment to engagement in sport at every level and forms the foundation of our relationship with sports client – we really are passionate about what we do.

A huge well done to the girls on a fantastic season, and best of luck to the Lionesses as they continue on their Euros campaign.

- James Murtagh is Project Executive at Leeds-based marketing agency Savvy.