Local Conservative County Council candidate Julie MacLusky calls for funding to improve access to community sports facilities for women and girls.
The success of the National Women’s football and rugby teams has led to a massive increase in women participating in sports at a local level. According to the FA, women and girls playing football has increased by 56% over the last four years alone. For Rugby, the RFU has stated its ambition to grow women’s rugby to 100,000 female players by 2027. Yet many local clubs were built only to accommodate male players, with simple “home” and “away” changing rooms. This limits the number of matches that can be played, and raises issues of safety for females in sport.
In addition, according to the Women’s Sports Foundation, girls who play sports are less likely to drop out of school or have an underage pregnancy than those who don't; girls and women who play sports are more confident, and have better self-esteem and lower levels of depression, better body image and general well-being than those who don't play sport.
In the past, Malvern Hills District Council (MHDC) has supported Malvern Town Rugby Club to fulfil their plans to update facilities, by providing an extended lease at preferential rates. MacLusky states assistance should be extended to Malvern Town Football Club, and sports facilities in the wider area such as Upton Rugby Club. She is calling on local councils to look at providing support to enable local sports clubs to grow and expand changing facilities for women and girls. MacLusky states “I am delighted to support an initiative that tackles some of the greatest challenges for women and girls in our area: the negative impact of social media upon mental health and body image. The Women's Sports Foundation's research shows that girls who play sports will do better in life.
When England's Lionesses brought home the European Cup in 2022, there was a call for more grass-roots development of otherwise un-tapped young talent. I am proud to help do my part in supporting local girls to achieve their goals!'.”
Leader of the Conservatives at MHDC, Jeremy Owenson, agreed. “Many of our local sports facilities are run by volunteers, and I invite them to get in touch to ask how MHDC can assist.”
