A York grassroots football team has taken a stand against discrimination with their new campaign.
‘Girls can have short hair – get over it’ is the slogan to support young players subject to unsolicited remarks from players, parents, and coaches of opposing teams.
It comes after two young girls from York Railway Institute AFC U12’s were labeled as boys and accused of cheating during matches, all because of their short hair.
Players Camille and Flo, who are both 11, have been singled out, aggressively pointed at, and heckled.
Sadly, this isn’t anything out of the ordinary for them.
Aimée Little, Camille’s mum, told YorkMix: “If it was one single occasion or one event, we might put it down to just that person. But actually, it’s happened now on numerous occasions.”
Parents from other teams have shouted at the players accusing them of pretending to be girls, and they’ve even received blasts from coaches.
During an FA Cup match, one of the girls scored, which led to the opposing coach stopping the match and demanding to see the team sheet, claiming that the player had to be a boy.
The girls’ coach, Kelly Shepard, said: “He knew, as a coach, that only girls can play in the girls league.
“There’s no way that we can field any boys, but you’ve got adults shouting across the pitch at these girls.”
Players in tears
The commotion brought both of the girls to tears, and they felt they’d brought the whole team down.
Aimée added: “She felt bad, she was embarrassed. It affected the entire game, and none of the girls could play particularly well because they were all so upset, so we lost the match.
“But it’s not about losing the match, it’s about what happened and how it happened.”
The final whistle blew, but the accusations didn’t end there.
The team were subject to a frenzy of social media posts following the game, claiming they were cheating and allowing boys to play in place of girls.
It got to a point where the girls felt anxious about continuing the sport they loved.
This particular incident was the catalyst behind the campaign, the team decided enough was enough.
Flo’s Mum, Wendy Topham, had the idea to kick off the movement.
The team had T-shirts printed with “Girls can have short hair get over it,” branded on the back, and they wear these with pride before every match.
This has made a huge difference to morale.
“When all the teammates wear those T-shirts, it sends a real strong message that they are a team. They’re a unit, and they’re in it together, and that’s been a small but powerful statement,” Aimée told YorkMix.
The campaign was launched at the beginning of 2023, but has recently gained more traction.
Aimée hopes that the message reaches even larger audiences, and changes can be put in place to stop the issue within grassroots football.
She said: “This is an opportunity to really stamp out that kind of gender discrimination based on something as stupid as having a short haircut.”
Coach Kelly has felt the support from clubs across York, as more teams become aware and get behind the message.
“Everything’s changed since the campaign started, it’s all about letting the girls know that you can do what they want.
“Rock up with a funky hair style, so be it, just let them play football, that’s all they want,” she added.
Kelly and Aimée feel that the campaign has come at a pivotal time for these players, as it’s common for young girls to drop out of football clubs as they reach this age.
Aimée said, “they’re sort of becoming young adolescents and this is the time when girls drop out of sport.
“And it’s this negativity which leads to that, those high dropout rates, because they feel like they’re being judged on their bodies and their appearances, when we don’t do that for boys.”