Football's fearless five-a-side females: girls get their fitness from goals (2024)

A FIVE-A-SIDE football pitch is not the first place you might associate with a booming female fitness craze.

But more and more women are taking up the game and it is one of the fastest growing sports around.

The rising number of female players is partly due to increased interest in the senior game – including the Champions League success of ladies side Glasgow City and the live coverage of the Women’s World Cup during the summer.

But a large part of the appeal is the fitness aspect of the sport, with hour-long games providing great cardio exercise and high-intensity bursts combined with endurance.

A women-only five-a-side league was recently launched at Goals in Shawlands, Glasgow.

Its success is set to be replicated around the country as more women find out about the sport , and are either trying it out for the first time or returning to a game they enjoyed as girls.

One of the leading lights of the game in Scotland is former ladies pro Danni Fox, who has set up the booming ladies league as centre manager of the Goals branch.

Danni, 23, originally from London, grew up obsessed with football as the daughter of an amateur player. Having recently moved to Scotland, she is delighted to see more women taking up the sport.

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Her partner Clare Brown also plays in the league and loves getting the chance to play competitively.

Danni said: “I’ve played since I could walk, football has always been a part of my life,” she added.

“I played for Bristol City women and was scouted for Stoke City. When I moved to Scotland, I was hoping to play for Glasgow City but I’ve dislocated my knee.

“I’m acting manager at Goals and in the last four months we’ve been working to get the women’s game built up.

“There are a lot of women interested in the game and there aren’t many leagues around but it’s getting busier and I’ve got women from 18 to their 50s taking part.

“It’s not being pushed by a lot of people but I have got it out there and had a great response so far.

“I’m hoping that keeps growing.

“It is seen as a man’s game. I got pushed into it by my dad, and a lot of others did too, but there’s not enough exposure of the women’s game as they get older and it doesn’t get as much coverage.

“But it is definitely up and coming for women.”

Part of the boom in the sport has come from the success of Glasgow City FC.

Despite opposition from the likes of Celtic and Rangers ladies, the team regularly sweep the board in the Scottish women’s league and have enjoyed success in the female version of the Champions League, reaching the quarter finals.

Danni’s Friday night league has six teams – including Queens of the South, Emily Kickinson and Itsmybaw Celona – and she is hoping to expand that to 12 in the next few months.

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One newcomer to the league is Janice Gormley, who loved the game when she was at school but drifted out of it as she grew up.

She was drawn back into fives in her 40s by the success of Glasgow City and said she is delighted it’s now more socially acceptable for females to play.

“I played when I was really young but I stopped before high school. There just weren’t the same facilities there are now.

“I thought it was a bit late for me to get back into 11s but I’m fairly fit and look after myself so thought five-a-side was ideal. You see guys in their 60s playing, so why not?

“A friend and I set up our own five-a-side game and advertised, getting 40-odd players, so have a regular night every Wednesday. Just as we started, Danni Fox started up the league.”

She added: “It’s early days but it is fairly needed and I know lots of friends who are in their 30s and 40s but are still fit. I’d say to people not to feel embarrassed, even if it’s been years. It was decades for me.”

Scots publisher Martin Greig, who has just released book The Five-a-Side Bible on Backpage Press, said the women’s game is getting bigger all the time.

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“The success of the female senior teams has provided role models, which is essential to any sport at participation level,” he said.

“But five-a-side has also emerged – and is increasingly being promoted – as an excellent, all-round fitness regime. For women, participation levels were previously low, so there is a huge potential market for fitness-focused women to take up the sport.

“Research we include in the book proves this beyond a doubt. Multiple studies have shown fives is better than almost any other activity at producing a wide range of positive outcomes.

“The benefits are mental as well as physical as there is an in-built social side to the game.

“The point at which fun and fitness cross over is the key. One of the studies compared fives to high-intensity interval training.

“The outcomes were better in fives and the participants felt better afterwards because they were having fun at the same time as pushing their bodies harder than they ever would have outwith the game.

“I think attitudes around women in football in general are finally changing. It’s about time.”

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Football's fearless five-a-side females: girls get their fitness from goals (2024)
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