Women and Girls are Here to Play

We’ve been kicking about with The Football Foundation to launch their new HERe to Play campaign, a movement to fund a number of Lioness legacy pitches and facilities for women and girls.

This project is just one of many long running projects we’ve worked on. With the Women’s World Cup on the horizon, it’s the perfect time to share with you what we did for this campaign.

The success of the Women’s 2022 Euros has changed the future of football. Women and girls are getting more involved in the game.
But with more involvement comes more responsibility.

Access to the game isn’t equal. Prime-time slots are often booked by the boys. Schools aren’t always giving girls the right footing. Women and girls are particularly vulnerable on dimly lit paths to pitches. Privacy is an issue in changing rooms and toilets.

The Football Foundation recognises that change needs to happen.

And they sought TMG to help launch their new campaign.

The HERe to Play campaign is all about putting women and girls at the forefront of the game. The FF are supporting female teams, encouraging female players, funding facilities, giving out grants, and opening up opportunities, all to keep women and girls playing. And most importantly, playing safe.

Grassroots football is a lifeblood to a lot of communities; you could fill a stadium with the reasons why people should be part of the game. This is why the FF are working hard at making sure everyone has access to it. It’s also why we’re playing our part in the HERe to Play campaign.

We were super excited when this brief came in, but knew that it also came with a lot of responsibility. Being at the forefront of a campaign like this underlines why we love making work that matters.

The plan.

The FF are rolling out a handful of distinct, well-funded facilities across the U.K specifically for women, celebrating women. What’s even more special is that these facilities are going to be in collab with the inspiring Lionesses and their grassroots stories.

Our job wasn’t to tell women they can play football. We’re not just going to get some pretty pictures and meet a few celebs and put together some nice-looking vids.

Our job was to create an image of what football should be like for everyone. To make known the FF’s commitment to equal access. We wanted to show that women and girls own the game.

Over the coming months, we will be championing the HERe to Play campaign, creating some amazing content and opportunities along the way, while following some incredible footballing legends as they unveil their pitches.

Image by the Football Foundation

The Jill Scott Pitch.

“We just had fields and fields of kind of bobbly grass.”

Who better to launch this project than the mighty Jill Scott, first of the Lionesses to unveil a pitch as part of the campaign.

A woman with an infectious energy and a powerful drive, Scott helped lead her team to the winner’s stand at the 2022 Euros, and has been a significant player in the history of women’s football. She’s also queen of the jungle. Obviously.

A few of our makers hit the road in early Feb and got moving to Perth Green, the home of Boldon Girls F.C, a throw in from Jill’s home. Boldon Girls was Scott’s team growing up, and the club has mighty roots in her story. Her connection to the club was core to our content.

Shoot day covered a lot of ground; we shed a spotlight on coaches, founders, players and parents of players for Boldon girls, and top people from the FF and FA who are making moves for women and girls. We got some epic drone shots of the new facilities at Perth Green, some striking stills of players striking, and the pitch unveiling was a moment for history books. Luckily, we got that on camera too.

And of course. Jill Scott herself. With effortless calm and openness, chatting to
Scott meant that we could really dig deep into her early career, her founding love of the game, and her ever present pull towards football.

The result.

The footage was left to the magical touch of the editing team.

From shorter fun socials to extended cuts, scripted story telling to animation, the edits were made with detail and zeal, and show off the variety of content we make.

Take a look at what we did for the FF: