Crawley Old Girls organise first national Women's Recreational Festival

Over 200 women from around the country (the majority new to the game), in 23 teams, played in the World Cup themed festival on four pitches, at the 3G in Broadfield. The premise of the day was for everyone to participate and just enjoy playing football.

Some women were playing in their first ever competitive games and you wouldn’t have noticed. They even had an international entry from Wales.

With representatives from the FA, Sussex County FA, Crawley Town and the Community Foundation in attendance, it was a day to showcase all that’s good with the relatively new genre of Women’s Recreational Football.

The multi award-winning COGS have weekly sessions for “older” women who want to learn to play football in a comfortable, non-judgmntal, safe environment.

There is also a weekly session for ex-players, who want to come back into the game, recreationally, and plenty of festivals for everyone to play in.

Not only was the day a fantastic advert for women’s recreational football, it also helped raised £651 for charity, through their raffle, with the proceeds going to Women’s Aid.

There has been some great feedback from the day and Carol Bates (Founder of COGS) was overwhelmed with the response.

She said “It was a fantastic day and great to see so many women enjoying playing football in such a brilliant atmosphere.

Everyone is already talking about next year! If you would like to know more about the COGS, you can visit our website www.crawley-cogs.co.uk or email [email protected].