Following the success of England's participation in the 2005 UEFA European Women's Championship, The FA has launched a national campaign to attract more girls to play football.
The campaign is being launched in association with Nationwide Building Society, The FA’s partner for women’s football. It comes off the back of the highly successful Women's Euro 2005, the biggest stand-alone women’s sporting event this country has ever seen.
The creative was used as a teaser campaign prior to the tournament in a major billboard campaign across the north west urging fans to ‘watch England take on the best of Europe’.
The campaign will now centre on a poster and postcard campaign, urging girls and women to ‘now go play’. The campaign features star players Rachel Unitt, Rachel Yankey, Faye White, Alex Scott, Katie Chapman and Fara Williams in action showing the grace, athleticism, skill and dynamism of women’s football at the highest level.
"People have been inspired by the football they have witnessed over the last two weeks and are keen to now go play the game themselves," commented England National Coach Hope Powell OBE.
"Football development officers across the country have been getting requests from potential players and this campaign will help support The FA’s aim to attract and retain participants.
"It’s important that girls now have female role models and that is a key success that has come out of this tournament. This is a fantastic opportunity to create a lasting legacy in this country."
The campaign, called ‘A More Beautiful Game’, will reach over 7.5 million under-16s over the summer months and will support The FA’s development initiatives to further increase the number of girls and women playing football in England.
Postcards featuring the players will go into 900 Secondary Schools over the last three weeks of the summer term and then into 250 cinemas nationwide to coincide with the start of the summer holidays.
England captain Faye White said: "The support for both the England team and the Championship as a whole has been fantastic and the future certainly looks bright for women’s football. It’s brilliant to be involved in a campaign to get even more girls and women involved in football."
Left-back Rachel Unitt added: "There is a brilliant network at grassroots level for girls and women wanting to take up football and it’s the perfect time to do so. Women's Euro 2005 has had a huge effect on women’s football and hopefully people will now go out and try the sport for themselves."
England’s group games at Women's Euro 2005 were watched by a combined TV audience on BBC2 of 8.2 million with a combined total of nearly 70,000 fans attending England’s matches at Manchester and Blackburn. Added to growing participation rates of over 130,000 women and girls regularly playing football, the female game is growing in momentum.
Budding female footballers are urged to visit www.thefa.com/women for information on getting involved. There is information on festivals, kick-start courses and a detailed list of contacts for every county football development officer who can provide advice and support.