The Hub For Women’s Football In South Yorkshire

Meet the woman aiming to ‘encourage’ ethnic minorities to play football in South Yorkshire
Lewis Railton

One woman has given herself the task of levelling the playing field in South Yorkshire, aiming to get as many ethnic minorities involved in women’s football as possible.

The ban on women’s football in 1921 undone masses of progress for the game, with five-figure crowds being reported after World War One.

The ending of the 50-year ban saw England, and notably South Yorkshire make strides to offer women the chance to play football.

Whilst there is still plenty of room for improvement, South Yorkshire now has four local senior leagues, which provide a pathway into regional, and even into professional football eventually. The aim to make it professionally is no longer a pipe dream for some, however inconsistencies do still lie in some areas.

For example, there is an evident lack of representation of ethnic minorities in South Yorkshire, and that is something that Ruth Johnson, the Women and Girls Football Development Worker, as well as South Yorkshire women’s football historian has noticed.

Not only has this lack of representation rested on Ruth’s mind, but she has sought to make a change about it.

Ruth Johnson plans to increase opportunities for ethnic minorities in South Yorkshire women’s football

Ruth Johnson played for the first Sheffield United Women side back in 1993, originally named Sheffield Hallam United. Whilst her 11 aside career is over, there is nothing stopping her from igniting the footballing passion for those who maybe haven’t had a chance in life.

“I want to encourage women and girls from ethnic minority backgrounds and older women to take part,” said Ruth, speaking exclusively to SYWF. “One of the joys of my job now is that I can introduce women in their 40s and 50s and 60s to football for the first time, because we have recreational sessions and hopefully there’s no pressure on them. 

“It’s sharing the joy with people and showing them that it’s not quite too late.”

When asked whether enough has been done to promote the women’s game for all walks of life, Johnson said: “There’s still a massive gap [between men’s and women’s football].

“So I don’t think we can be complacent about it. My role is to address some of the remaining inequality and even which women and girls get access to football. But there’s a fairly obvious under-representation of ethnic minority women and girls. All levels of football that’s been highlighted, viewed in relation to the England team. 

“You can see if you look at the terms of teams at any level, it is relatively disproportionately white, and there’s many reasons for that. But I think some of the most obvious ones to me are location. So most of the women and girls teams play in the leafy suburbs, because that’s why the spaces for playing fields and things in the city, areas like this, tend to be where most of the communities live. 

“So it’s difficult for those communities to access some of those opportunities. Especially when we’ve got to drive them. I know a number of players that play with us who have had some not particularly good experiences, even when they do during league teams. So I think there is still a lot of work to do.”