Mixed-gender football studies score global spotlight
The world football regulator is giving two Brunel University London academics a top spot to share their pivotal research on its website.
Sport, Health and Exercise Sciences’ Dr Laura Hills and Dr Oliver Gibson share their perspectives on the patchily researched field of mixed-gender football.
In a Science Explained session, hosted by football science consultant Dr Paul Bradley from international football organisation FIFA, the two shed light on the benefits and challenges of boys and girls playing football together.
Mixed football in the UK is a whole different game to where it was in 2008, when girls and boys could only play together until they reached 10. Laura’s 13 years of trailblazing research eventually persuaded the FA, the governing body for UK football, to lift that age limit to 13, and it was then upped yearly until 2015 when it hit 18. In this time, about 200,000 young people got involved, either playing on a mixed team or against mixed teams.
From talking to scores of players, parents, coaches and officials, Drs Hills found that younger girls were at no greater risk of injury than boys in their age group and that playing mixed-gender football helped to build girls’ confidence and hone their technical skills.
Playing mixed-gender sport can also have positive social effects on both boys and girls, particularly in strengthening friendships and shaping the way boys go on to relate to women as adults. Physiology-focused research on mixed sport could uncover even further-reaching benefits to mixed sport, Dr Gibson noted.
“More research is urgently needed into how mixed-gender football contributes to the success of national sides,” says Dr Hills, whose stereotype-smashing study paves the way for a more inclusive, equal, skills-enhancing future in football. “There is also a pressing need to improve our understanding of some of the social aspects of mixed-gender sport, including parents’ attitudes to mixed teams and the continued prevalence of verbal abuse against players in those sides.”
Reported by:
Hayley Jarvis,
Media Relations
+44 (0)1895 268176
hayley.jarvis@brunel.ac.uk