A UNIQUE course aims to address the lack of female leaders in football and offer women the chance to forge careers in sport.
The Female Football Leaders Programme offers recruits the opportunity to learn leadership skills, gain confidence and contribute to the game locally.
Keen to follow in the footsteps of the European and world governing bodies of football, the Irish Football Association (IFA) developed the programme as part of the Score 2 Project.
Following the success of the 2013 course, the IFA is about to commence recruitment of eight new leaders for the 2014 programme. This time the association will be targeting females aged 18-24 who are seeking careers in sports development, sports journalism and sports management in the hope they can use the course to enhance their career prospects.
Funded through the Uefa HatTrick Women’s Football Development Programme, this initiative is the first of its kind to be developed and piloted by the IFA. The programme concentrates on improving the leadership competencies and confidence of women working locally in football.
By investing in the development of a new training programme for women involved in football, the IFA hopes to prepare them for the rise in demand for senior posts within the sector. Commenting on the course, the IFA women’s domestic football manager and programme organiser Sara Booth said: “We conceived this programme to address the lack of females within leadership positions in football and ultimately encourage more women to get involved in decision-making roles within their local football clubs.
“The programme has exceeded all ex-pectations and we are really proud of the women who took part. The confidence lev-els of the women have improved dramat-ically and the programme has influenced additional areas of their lives that we hadn’t anticipated.
“Two of our participants gained employment while undertaking the programme and Valerie Heron, treasurer of Killyleagh Youth FC, secured a major grant for Killyleagh Youth Football Club.”
Seven women who completed the inau-gural Female Football Leaders Programme graduated at a ceremony in Parliament Buildings, Stormont, last week. Speaking at the event the newly appointed director of football development, Michael Boyd, said: “The IFA’s vision is to develop, promote and foster football for all in Northern Ireland. This initiative is both innovative and ground-breaking. I would like to congratulate all the participants, partners, Uefa and IFA staff for making this happen.
“These inspirational and strong women are great role models for young people in the game and will go on to make vital contributions to their clubs and the local game. As a champion of Football For All I am delighted to support initiatives like this which empower change and are transforming the game here”.
For more details contact Sara Booth by email at sbooth@irishfa.com.