'Football is No1 for girls'

By Pete Sanderson in Oslo

"A minute without a football is a lost minute," said Karen Espelund, chairwoman of the UEFA Women's Football Committee, as she began an absorbing talk on grassroots football for girls.

Practical session
It seemed a fitting way to start her presentation on the second day of the 5th UEFA Grassroots Course in Oslo, especially after a morning schedule which had seen UEFA Technical Director Andy Roxburgh take a training session with some local Norwegian youngsters.

On the up
Espelund, who played for Norway's national team in the 1980s, is now one of the leading figures in the women's game and has been influential in its extraordinary rise over the past decade.

Game for everyone
"Football is the No1 game for girls as well as boys," Espelund told the key players in the grassroots game from UEFA's 52 member countries. "I will never forget the moment I was told as a seven-year-old that girls should not play football. I could not believe what I was hearing. I used to play in the streets with the boys and I liked the game as much as any of them - it did not seem fair.

Football mission
"Ever since that day I have worked to prove those words wrong," said Espelund, who is also general secretary of the Norwegian Football Association. "I am pleased to say the women's game is now as strong as ever. In Norway there were 95,000 female participants last year and the game is still growing so the future looks bright."

Leading lights
Women's football is particularly popular in Norway, who won the FIFA Women's World Cup in 1995 and continue to be one of the top sides in the female game. Since 2001, there has been an 18.4 per cent rise in participants, with over 5,349 teams competing in leagues throughout Norway.

Holiday camps
There was also an insight into the increasingly popular world of Holiday Football Camps from Robin Russell, technical co-ordinator at the English Football Association (FA). More than 400,000 children attend camps in England each year and Russell, who joined the FA in 1978 as a coach, believes they can play an integral role in the growth of the sport.

Organisation is key
"If a great deal of thought goes into the organisation of holiday camps they can be hugely successful," said Russell. "In the USA over 5,000,000 children go to summer camps to play football. A key factor for these camps is that parents know their children will be playing in a safe environment. If we can prove to them this is the case then camps can become just as popular all over Europe."

Get behind football
Willi Hink, head of Amateur Sport, Referees & Women's Football at the German Football Association, also gave a fascinating presentation on organising grassroots events and community-based football in the city. "If you give the city the chance to get behind football - especially in tandem with a major event - then it can only help the game," said Hink.