Football set to be top female sport

Is football now the number one choice for girls?

By BBC Sport Online's Claire Stocks

Eight years ago there were barely 80 girls' football teams in England and huge areas where females were unable to play the game competitively.

That was in 1993, the year the Football Association assumed responsibility for the running of the game from the under-funded WFA, now defunct.

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It was a controversial move and not one supported by everyone in women's football.

The suspicion was that the development of the game would suffer in the huge shadow thrown by their male counterparts.

And while there are still plenty of sexist attitudes towards female footballers within the professional men's game, no-one now doubts the FA's commitment.

For the last few years girls football has been the fastest growing sport in the UK.

And new figures released by the FA on Friday show it has now almost overtaken netball as the number one female sport.

The number of women regularly playing the game has reached 55,000, just 2,000 fewer than the number of registered netball players in the country.

Overhauling the traditional schoolgirl sport - which is declining in popularity in the playground and fighting a battle to modernise its image - was one of the key goals identified by the FA in its strategy to develop the game.

  Female footie stats

1993: 80 girls teams in England (800 players)

1999: 960 girls teams (19,200 players)

2001: 1807 girls teams (36,000 players)

The other two were the introduction of a women's professional league by 2003 and victory for the national squad at the 2007 World Cup.

The success of both those two ambitious goals depends on the continued growth in the grass roots game.

And the outlook could hardly be rosier.

In the last two years there has been an 88% increase in the number of girls playing the game outside school.

England are aiming to win the 2007 World Cup

In 1999 there were about 19,200 registered female players.

Two years on, and the figures has almost doubled to 36,000.

Added to the several thousand school teams, and the number of players is estimated by the FA to be 55,000.

Kelly Simmons, head of national football development at the FA, is keen to stress there is no competition with netball.

"Recent studies show the majority of girls do not play any sport at all so we are all in this together."

These figures are hugely encouraging and prove that football really is the national game for everyone whether male or female

  Adam Crozier, FA chief executive

Simmons expects to be making an announcement soon on a major step towards implementing the professional league which she hopes to meet its 2003 deadline "or not far off it".

It is the World Cup target which would seem to be the toughest of all for a team comprehensively thrashed at this year's Euro 2001 tournament (although qualification was a major step).

But Simmons points to the success of the under-18 side which has reached the European Championship quarter-finals at the last two attempts.

Marieanne Spacey, the Arsenal striker with 91 England caps set to retire from the game later this year, says whereas in the past female football had to fight hard for recognition, the game is now "selling itself".

Spacey, one of the leading role models in the recent development of the women's game and a development officer for the Hertfordshire FA, says the sky is now the limit.

"I have had a fantastic career and made the best of the opportunities I had.

"But now it is almost frightening what can be achieved. There are now opportunities to play at whatever level.

"The success is snowballing and there are no limits to what girls can do within football. That is brilliant.

"I am retiring from the game but I won't be walking away a twisted old lady, bitter at all these opportunties I did not have.

"I will continue to work within the game and be there to pass on my experience to the next generation."