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Freya Louis has packed more into the last 12 months than many of her peers will have squeezed into the past dozen years.

Rewind to April 2019 and Freya, a passionate proponent of grassroots football, decided to do something a little different.

Already filling her time with her day job and also her joint role as Academy Girls' and Women's Development Manager and First Team Manager for Needham Market WFC, Freya wanted to try and make even more of a difference.

Not content with playing an active role on the pitch, she has since dedicated hundreds of hours setting up, and running, her own website #HappyGaffer, specifically to provide a platform to encourage the growth of the women’s game at grassroots level.

"This year has been phenomenal for many reasons – both personal and professional," said Freya. "I've said it before and I’ll say it again… ‘Hard work pays off and success always follows’.

"In 365 days, my website has seen more than 13.2k views from 58 different countries."

Her website hosts, among other things, an informative #HappyGaffer blog in which Freya shares her thoughts in a light-hearted way about the good and the bad of women's grassroots football from her perspective as a grassroots manager in Suffolk.

In January this year, she also launched the #WeAre Campaign, which now has the backing of Suffolk FA’s Female Leadership Academy.

The campaign has also been supported by a number of county FA’s across the UK.

And if that is not enough, Freya is a member of the Suffolk Girl’s and Women’s League Development Committee and Suffolk FA’s Female Leadership Academy.

Not only is she a #HappyGaffer, but Freya is an extraordinarily busy one too, who is already making a huge impact at the very heart of grassroots football.

To find out more about the #HappyGaffer website and Freya's work, click here.

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