Campaigns aim to stop thousands of girls giving up on sport

A million teenage girls are giving up sport because of deep-rooted negative attitudes – but could the England Women’s Rugby World Cup victory change that?

I arrive at a sports hall as a group of 11 and 12-year-old girls play netball and laughter is ringing out.

Their PE teacher, Liz Brown, says she is passionate about boosting their confidence through games like this and exercise.

“Sport and PE is the vehicle. My real job is to create personalities, confidence and resilience,” she tells me.

As they move the ball around, shoot and practice, the students tell me that playing sport is helping with their mental as well as physical health.

One of them, Ellie-May, says: “It makes me feel happy and it’s enjoyable.”

These are the kind of teenage girls which a new campaign is targeting, with the hope that England’s success in the Women’s Rugby World Cup will help stop them dropping out of sport.

Research by the charity Women in Sport discovered that a million teenage girls, who enjoyed games at primary school, gave them up after moving on.

A fear of feeling judged by others, a lack of confidence and not feeling safe outside were among the negative attitudes behind the decline, cited by the study.

Back at the sports hall, at Perton Middle School in Staffordshire, near Wolverhampton, Ms Brown says she feels girls want to be part of sport.

“They want to be part of a community, they want to get out there and enjoy themselves,” she tells me.

“If these girls can see it on TV and social media, they understand and they follow, and they will enjoy it.”

Among the girls, Valentina and Kiara say: “It doesn’t really matter if you’re not good at it because you can always get extra help.”

Ahead of the World Cup, the Red Roses launched a campaign called For the Girls aimed at inspiring women and girls to be more active and confident.

“The social media, the World Cup TV coverage, the TikTok dances and all of that is having a major impact on the students,” Ms Brown adds.

One of the girls in the sports hall, Scarlett, says everyone is good enough at sport and “it doesn’t matter what you do or how you do it, just give it a go and you’ll be fine”.

Grassroots sport is getting £400m from the government, ministers said in June, to promote health and remove barriers to sport for groups including women and girls.

For Stephanie Hilborne, chief executive of Women in Sport, efforts needed to be made to bust a myth “that teenage girls drop out of sport simply because their priorities change”.

“They’re being failed due to early years stereotyping, inadequate opportunities and a complete dearth of knowledge about managing female puberty,” she added.

The Women’s Rugby World Cup has drawn huge crowds, tickets sales have beaten those from the previous tournament and its popularity across the country has been noted by those who play the game.

At Worcester Rugby Club, Jessie, who plays for their under-16s team, said the buzz around the tournament had been great.

“I’ve had my friends from school talk to me about the World Cup who don’t even play rugby and we’ve had about four or five new players this year,” she said.

“I’d love to be able to play professional rugby. Whatever happens I’ll keep on playing, I’ll never give it up.”

“I turned on my phone after school today and all I got was rugby social media and I was loving it,” added Elinor, a flanker in the team.

Their team has a strong connection to the Red Roses as they are coached by the first woman to score 60 international tries, former England winger Nicky Crawford, who is also Jessie’s mum.

“If you’re playing with your friends, then you’re more likely to carry on with sport afterwards and you develop lifelong friendships,” she said.

“The World Cup can get the word out there just how great the world of rugby is, just how accessible it is to everybody and just what fun it is.

“When the Red Roses are scoring the tries and doing the celebrations afterwards, just the smiles on their faces is just rewarding in itself and it inspires girls to say ‘I want to do that’.”

The success of England’s women is something that the Rugby Football Union is looking to build on with data from Sport England showing the number of women and girls playing rugby is rising.

They aim to get 100,000 female players of the sport registered by 2027 and are working with the government and other groups on the legacy from this year’s World Cup.

Funding worth £12.1m has been promised for England and the home unions to create more rugby opportunities for women and girls.

In 2022, the Worcester club launched what they claimed was the first women’s mixed ability team in England and they now hope to start a Midlands and national squad in the future.

Their approach offers a safe, welcoming, inclusive space and the age of players ranges from 17 to 57, with those involved choosing to take part in contact or touch rugby.

Jennie Hussain said she was nervous when she first came to a training session but is now at the club three nights a week.

“I was worried as I wear a hijab and I thought it would get in the way or people would judge me but everybody’s been so inviting,” she said. “I haven’t looked back since.”

Elsie-May has been playing a year and said she loved sliding in the mud.

Her dad David added: “The women and the coaches are amazing. There are lots of different standards here but she loves the rugby and the socialising.”