This weekend our fixtures will celebrate women in football, and in sport in general, as we endorse the ‘Her Game Too‘ message.
The club is affiliated with the #HerGameToo movement, an organisation founded in May 2021 with the aim of raising awareness and educating others on the importance of inclusivity and diversity in sports.
We are proud to be one of hundreds of clubs, in both the professional and semi-professional/grassroots settings, to be affiliated in the UK.
Whilst starting within football, and by a group of female football fans spread across the UK, HerGameToo has resonated significantly across the sporting landscape, with like-minded initiatives now set up covering cricket, rugby, ice hockey and gaming, as well as branches in Wales & France. The start of the campaign highlighted the inequality felt, particularly by women, in the stands at football grounds across the country. But this is not limited to football supporters on the terraces, we want to see the same acceptance and inclusion on the pitch and behind the scenes.
We’d like to give a special mention to our Bury FC HGT ambassadors: Samantha Harman, Kirsty Green, Nicola Parker, Steph Jackson, Cath Kenyon and Amy Thomas.
Club #HerGameToo Ambassador, Sam Harman
On Saturday, we will welcome our women’s first team as well as our youngest female players, aged just 4-7, who attend our Bury Ballers sessions at Gigg Lane on Monday evenings. The latter have recently played their first ever match in a Bury shirt; the start of a long and fruitful journey we hope and the former, now in their second year in the North West Women’s Regional League, are currently in very good form.
They started the season brightly with wins over Tranmere Rovers and Fleetwood Town but several long-term injuries halted their progress and a difficult run before Christmas has now been turned around. Unbeaten in the last 6 matches, with a notable win and draw against the second and third placed teams in the league, as well as good cup runs with a dominating 5-0 result in the league cup against local rivals Radcliffe, puts us in a good place for the business end of the season.
They have also reached the semi-final of the Manchester County Cup and will meet Hyde FC, to hopefully win a place in the final for the first ever time.
Alongside these teams, we proudly have another 350 or so women and girls who regularly represent the club. Our under 9s, under 16s and under 18s in the youth section and we have no less than 11 other adult female teams.
Additional initiatives introduced more recently are walking football for those over 40 and Squad Girls’, an FA supported programme to get more teenage girls playing football.
These opportunities span from toddlers to retirees, and nothing makes me prouder than seeing so many females kicking a ball on the pitch at Gigg Lane. As a club we really are advocates who proudly demonstrate that it really is HER GAME TOO.
Speaking ahead of the weekend, our HerGameToo ambassador Sam Harman said: “There is now a huge difference, in attitude towards women participating and watching in football.
“More women are now watching and playing football at Bury we want to provide a safe environment for them to do so it’s great to see so many females involved.
“Also having so many female teams is huge for us and that’s every female that plays for us from the first team down to those women who do walking football it’s so inspiring to see so many females playing at Gigg Lane.”
If you hear or are subjected to any sort of sexist abuse or sexism, please report it straight away to the club and Her Game Too; please take this seriously and don’t suffer in silence. The club, our ambassador Sam (pictured above) and Her Game Too take all complaints and discrimination seriously.
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