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At a time when the world has been locked down and thousands of amateur footballers have had to contend without sport, Women in Football board apprentice Chloe Morgan, who is also a goalkeeper for Crystal Palace Women, joined her team-mates to reach out to call 615 players from women and girl’s football clubs across the country.

The players, many of whom already have packed work/family schedules along with multiple weekly training sessions and playing at weekends, still found time to make contact with other footballers in a show of support.

“I initially put a tweet out to say I was thinking of the fans and players and appreciated how difficult it was for people to be unable to play at the moment and unable to see teammates, get out on the pitch and have a distraction from everything that’s going on," Chloe, who works as a solicitor, told the official club website.

“There was a massive response to that and an outpouring of people who were finding it difficult.

"I started to think: ‘Okay, what can we do? It’s all well and good putting a tweet out saying you’re thinking of people but is there anything we can actually do to help?’

"I thought it would be a good idea to offer to set-up Zoom calls myself to see if any young girls’ and women’s teams were struggling.

“Again, the response was amazing – I really wasn’t expecting that many people to get in touch. I saw there was 10, 15 or 20 people starting to message and say they would love a call.

“I can only do so much with the time I’ve got after training, matches and work, so I reached out to the team WhatsApp and said: ‘Girls, there are so many people out there, so many teams and women who would love a chat with the players just for a bit of a morale boost.’

“The girls were all so up for it – they absolutely jumped at the chance. Pretty much the entire squad signed up. I spoke with [Palace Women’s General Manager Paula Johnson] about putting a message out from Palace’s accounts and she was fantastic in setting it up.”

The calls were with players from junior teams up to over-30s and the Palace squad shared their on- and off-pitch careers, how they have handled the strains of the pandemic and the importance of staying connected safely with friends and family.

In one video call alone, Lizzie Waldie,addressed 67 participants while her team-mate Georgia Clifford spoke with Tamworth youth and our friends at Wheatley Oaks’ Over-30s.

“With the youngsters, it’s something to look forward to and to inspire them – they can reach their dreams of being a professional," she said.

"There will be setbacks on the way but the key message is: don’t give up; if you see something, go and get it.

“Also if it helps with their mental health, that’s a massive part. Loads of people are struggling during lockdown without socialisation and activities outside of work and school. It’s something for them to look forward to and if it inspires them to go out for five or 10 minutes each day with a football, that’s something they can look forward to."

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