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Women in Football would like to congratulate the winners of our Offside competition, where we asked you to nominate a younger woman as your guest who would be inspired by the play and what wonderful reasons you gave us.

Diane Reynolds, Jodie McEwen, Beth Clarkson, Sue Hewett, Sarah Wood and Danwen Huang will be enjoying the production with their guest at a variety of venues across the country.

There are a limited number of tickets still available to WiF members for Offside at the Omnibus Theatre in Clapham on Tuesday 28th March, and you can apply here.

Diane Reynolds, the Commercial Development Manager from Fulham FC, nominated her co-worker Sam.

Diane said, "Sam has been with the Club for just over six months and works on our supporter engagement team. She’s our top saleswoman because she exemplifies what a sales person should be; she thinks about the relationship and not the transaction.

"Because of her hard work and her ambition, I asked Sam to help me roll out an outbound group sales strategy that I created in December. She has taken this responsibility and made it her own. The momentum is strong, but Sam’s days this year are numbered. She is expecting her very first child in May, a little girl.

"While working mothers are becoming more common place in the past two generations, it’s still a novel idea in the male-dominated football industry. My co-worker is a very ambitious woman who plans to return post maternity leave. However, I want to make sure she has a strong support system and avenue for resources on workplace flexibility/equality."

On Saturday, 1st April we have Women in Football board representation at the Traverse Theatre in Edinburgh and joining us will be competition winner Jodie McEwen. Street Soccer Scotland, a charity which uses football to help society's most vulnerable members, did just that for Jodie. The Glasgow based youngster is now the women's football co-ordinator at Street Soccer and Jodie is inviting her co-worker Sarah because she too; "has come so far with her recovery".

Beth Clarkson, a lecturer in Sport Development and Coaching at the University of Portsmouth, nominated second-year Sport Development student Laura Grubbs for their trip to the Spring Arts Centre in Havant on 6th April. Beth said, "I believe Laura would be inspired by this play. She is an enthusiastic female football coach who is interested in increasing girls participation in football. I believe continuing to support and inspire her is key to the potential growth of girls football in the local area. Laura has been featured on the British University and College’s Sport (BUCS) click here for more details"

Reading FC Club Secretary, Sue Hewett, nominated Megan Kirby. Here's what Sue had to say: "While I work at Reading Football Club, in my spare time I coach on a voluntary basis with Newbury Ladies Football Club and so I would like to nominate one of our younger players from Newbury Ladies FC.

"Megan is 20 years old and when she joined our team 18 months ago she was fairly inexperienced. It was the first time she had played with a senior ladies football team and she did not have a set playing position at the start. We have now developed her into a promising defender and we are working on her strength and resilience, both physically and mentally, as well as her concentration levels and self-belief.

"Megan is a young woman, who is slowly finding her place in the world and developing her own sense of identity. She loves being a part of our team and contributing to something bigger. Recently, when I found out that she was due to watch a Reading men’s first team game live at Madejski Stadium, I set her some “football homework”. I asked her to watch the way both Reading full backs played and then after the match, I asked to tell me 3 things that she had learnt.

"I wasn’t sure how she would respond, or if she would take this seriously. But she did and she sent me a long and detailed message that same evening about different aspects that she would now look to bring into her own game and performances with Newbury Ladies FC.

"I know that Megan would definitely be inspired by a play that highlights the fight against inequality and stimulates self-belief and empowerment!" Bristol's Wardrobe Theatre is the venue for Sue and Megan on the 7th April.

Sarah Wood is the Women and Girls Football Development Officer at  Sheffield and Hallamshire's County FA. Sarah told Women in Football: "I have invited my colleague Jade to attend the event with me. Jade has recently got involved in coaching football and I want to inspire her to become a female ambassador at her football club and encourage other females to get involved, especially the mums.

"Jade coaches in Doncaster which is an area of South Yorkshire where we would like more people like Jade to step forward and provide opportunities for young girls to get involved in football."

And it's Doncaster's Cast Theatre where Sarah and Jade will watch Offside on 13th April. 

Newcastle University student Danwen Huang helps run the 5-a-side intramural club which plays on Sundays as the main university club is really tough to get into due to competition for places.

Danwen nominated her friend: "We often discuss self-esteem and feminist issues. I feel that getting my friend into sports and women's football will help her feel a sense of growth and empowerment as it did to me.

"It was watching women's football for the first time that I truly looked up to female role models outside of people I knew personally. It's the main reason why I participated in sports and feel that, like a lot of girls, avoided it previously because of all the stereotypes attached to women's sports and a huge lack of media portrayal both fictional and non-fictional of women in sports.

"But that's changed because of how much people within the women's game have pushed it forward even with the lack of support from various circles. I would like my friend to witness that passion so that she can happy follow her own heart and dreams even against the odds. We all have self-doubt and are scared of failure but being like that forever is going to make us more likely to miss opportunities and become stagnant. So I want us both to be reminded of that.

"Regardless I am so glad this play exists because it's truly a rarity for the story of the women's game to be told"

But told it will be, at the Northern Stage in Newcastle on 27th April.

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