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Being a welfare officer on the Fylde coast for the last five years, I have heard many varying complaints from coaches and parents. You have your typical concerns over match time, children not being nice to their teammates, and things as serious as parents scrapping on the sidelines. But none of those things has shocked me more than hearing parents tell me that there are no facilities for teams to use the toilet at some venues.

Let's think about it. You're a child playing under-10s football. Sometimes your games are an hour's drive away. You have a 30-minute warm up, followed by a 50-minute match.  You’re drinking plenty of water to stay hydrated – but there’s no toilet! Now, I am mum to two boys, so I know that if nature calls, they will quite happily find a secluded spot in a bush and do their business (to be honest they have been known to do this even when there is a loo!). But not every child is happy to do that, and it’s obviously a lot more challenging for girls. Even more importantly, it’s a safeguarding issue.

Now let's imagine you’re a 13-year-old girl playing football. You've had the same journey, your matches are longer, and to make things worse, you've got your period – and there's no toilet. Now what? You're in an impossible situation. You feel embarrassed and anxious, you don't know the area and neither do your parents, you need some privacy, and there are no facilities available for you to use. Sadly, this happens a lot – and results in more and more girls quitting football.

I find it astounding that we are where we are – where girls’ and women’s football is so popular, yet this still hasn't been addressed.

 

Not just girls

This isn't just about girls, but the problem is more prevalent in the girls’ game, in part down to the female anatomy, but that’s not the sole cause. I have personally experienced situations as a coach whereby there have been facilities on site, but they simply haven't been open because it's “not busy enough” to justify having someone unlock a building. Typically, this affects the girls’ leagues as they play (in my area at least) on Sunday mornings and there are fewer girls’ teams than boys’ or mixed ones, so fewer games.

You also have the issue of safeguarding our young people. We go to great lengths to ensure that all managers and coaches are fully trained and vetted, doing all this to ensure the children are safe and protected, then we expect those children to expose themselves in a public space when they need the loo. Sounds crazy, doesn't it? I cannot accept that there isn't enough money in football to be able to provide basic facilities at all youth venues to keep our children both physically and mentally safe and allow them to continue in the sport they love.

I am also going to give a mention to the parents and carers, who spend their days stood on the sidelines drinking brew after brew to keep warm in the winter months. We need the toilet too, especially when you've had a couple of kids and your bladder is no longer holding up like it used to (one cough or sneeze and it could all be over!).

My role as a grassroots volunteer is a million miles away from my day job in IT, but they share similarities in the disparity between men/boys and women/girls, which has possibly made me more aware of this kind of indirect inequality. Here we have a big problem with a really easy solution. This isn't going to happen overnight, but a plan to work towards making facilities available at all youth football venues, policy amendments, funding to help clubs to provide these facilities, and raising awareness of this issue – not just in football, but in all sports – would be a great start.  

Sign Natalie's petition to make toilet facilities mandatory at all youth football venues

Photo: Abbie Wraith-Kenyon

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