Arsenal and England star visits Crawley Town to promote COGS initiative

Arsenal and England women's footballer Jordan Nobbs visited the Checkatrade.com Stadium Ball Court on Monday to promote the Crawley old girls (COGS) initiative.
Arsenal and England womens footballer Jordan Nobbs visited the Checkatrade.com Stadium Ball Court on MondayArsenal and England womens footballer Jordan Nobbs visited the Checkatrade.com Stadium Ball Court on Monday
Arsenal and England womens footballer Jordan Nobbs visited the Checkatrade.com Stadium Ball Court on Monday

COGS is aimed at older ladies who have an interest in football and was set up through the Crawley Town Community foundation with funding from the Football League Trust Female Football Development scheme.

Nobbs was joined by the Football Leagues Female Football Development Officer, Nicol Meredith, and both praised the initiative.

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Nobbs said: “I think it is great to encourage more people in the women’s game. The last few years have been massive and obviously the world cup this year was a big inspiration to the women’s game.

Arsenal and England womens footballer Jordan Nobbs visited the Checkatrade.com Stadium Ball Court on MondayArsenal and England womens footballer Jordan Nobbs visited the Checkatrade.com Stadium Ball Court on Monday
Arsenal and England womens footballer Jordan Nobbs visited the Checkatrade.com Stadium Ball Court on Monday

“The more support that we get and the more we stick together and really put women’s football out there on the map, I think the more people are going to get involved. It’s shown from the World Cup, how much support we have got from everyone.”

The 22 year old, who has won 24 international caps for England, sees football as the perfect chance for women up and down the country to keep fit whilst also having fun.

She added: “Its’s different from going to the gym and it’s really something fun and active and I think you can just tell by the women today how much they enjoy it.”

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Agreeing with the Arsenal star, Meredith said: “It’s about getting women into football, either girls that have dropped out over the years or girls that are new to football that have always quite enjoyed football but have never really been given the opportunity.

“You can see it is a social group and it’s about women getting involved, having fun and a laugh and meeting new people. It’s got a really good vibe to it and gets women involved.”

Amy Fazackerley, the community development officer, explained how the COGS initiative was first introduced.

She said: “With Football League trust funding, we received funding to run ten weeks of free sessions so we spoke to our supporters alliance here at Crawley Town who have a lot of female fans.

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“It has just grown from strength to strength really. It is a successful and really popular session.”

Carol Bates attends the session weekly and wants to see more ladies come and have a go.

She said: “We have got ladies that have come down not knowing anybody, they have all made friends, and everybody has a laugh together. They thoroughly enjoy it and come back the next week. I would just say come down, give it a try, you will love it.”

Crawley Old Girls sessions run every Thursday, 6:15pm till 7:15pm at the Checkatrade.com Stadium Ball Court.

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