Original Summary

Getty Images / The number of women in coaching in the UK has fallen in recent years, particularly at grassroots level The head of Britain's professional sports coach association Emily Handyside says female coaches "must work twice as hard as a man to be respected and credible", despite recent on-pitch successes and increased media exposure for women's sport in the UK. A study from UK Coaching shows there has been a 6% decline in the overall number of female coaches in recent years. The decline is particularly steep at grassroots level, with a 10% dip in the number of female volunteer coaches - significantly affecting pathways in amateur sport. "When people imagine a coach, they imagine a man first, people expect a man," Handyside, former Wales netball coach and lead at UK Coaching, told BBC Sport. "These assumptions make people feel like they don't belong there. Women must work twice as hard to be respected, to be credible." Additional research highlighted systemic barriers experienced by women coaches, including bullying, harassment and unequal opportunities. And the impact is passed down to young players, according to new FA data released this week. Half of all girls who play organised football say they would tell a female coach something they could not tell a parent or guardian, while for a male coach, the figure is just one in eight - but only 7% of the people coaching grassroots football in England are women. The study from Bloomsbury Football Foundation in association with the FA found 13% of teenage girls play organised football at least once a week, against 46% of boys. Of the girls who play, 49% are mostly or always coached by someone of their own gender, against 85% of boys. This tallies with what has been experienced by female coaches for years - while opportunities are increasing at the top level, for most there has been little change. 'Cost barriers are greater for women' Getty Images / UK Coaching lead Emily Handyside (left) says government intervention is required to help women into coaching An example of success at elite level is the Women's Super League. In January 2023, only four of 12 WSL coaches were women. Now, eight out of 14 managers in the English top tier are women, including the managers of all three newly promoted sides - Amy Merricks at Birmingham, Crystal Palace's Jo Potter and Karen Hills of Charlton Athletic. A new Fifa quota stating women's teams must have a female head coach or assistant has also helped redress the balance in top-level football. However, at grassroots level it is a different story, with barriers including cost and childcare, even for former Lionesses. "That number is a shock," said ex-England international Fara Williams, speaking on the BBC's Women's Football Fallout about the drop in coaching numbers. "The cost to do B and A licences, and the salaries or opportunities you will get from that investment, it does not quite marry up. They are quite costly, those badges. "I tried it [the coaching pathway], it was not feasible to take up that opportunity. Some can take that risk, but our generation of players, we were not paid enough to go mortgage free, bills must be paid. I needed to do something that would pay the bills, and football coaching was not that. "When I was playing, I was adamant I was going to be a coach, I coached all the development teams at Everton, Liverpool and Reading, but it is so different. When you are playing you don't have the opportunities to coach at a higher level, then when you come out the game you don't have the money." The Uefa Pro Licence - the qualification needed to coach at the highest level of English football - costs £14,000, and there are only 24 places per intake. For a C licence, the lowest certification level, the cost is £650. This can be subsidised, but only if the applicant is currently associated with an FA registered club, creating a chicken and egg situation. Handyside acknowledges that cost is a major barrier - for women and men. "The top three barriers are the same for men and women, and cost was in there for both," she said. "It is seen as a bigger barrier for women because when you must work twice as hard, the risk and reward balance is more outmatched. "If you are a female looking at that cost and think you will also be overstretched and under supported, that £650 will have more of an impact." 'To get club support, you have to stay for years' Getty Images / Fara Williams says the cost of coaching courses has proved a barrier to her ambitions Handyside, who coached the Wales netball team for four years before leaving after last summer's Commonwealth Games, is fronting her organisation's new Women in Coaching Plan, alongside its signing of the Brighton Plus Helsinki Declaration - the international framework for advancing gender equality in sport. She says government intervention to provide greater access to coaching is required. "I would love for there to be more mandates from government about coaching metrics, including retention as a performance indicator with funding attached to that," she said. While Williams is shocked by the drop in coaching numbers, it comes as less of a surprise for those already involved in grassroots football. Zoe Conning balances being a coach at community club Manchester Laces with her day job as disability access officer at Wolverhampton Wanderers. A Uefa B licence holder, she has been a coach for five years including a full-time spell with Macclesfield. "There is an immense disconnect between top level and grassroot football, " she tells BBC Sport. "For your B licence, you need another 12 months in coaching in an elite environment. How am I supposed to go to an elite club with no elite experience?" Conning received help funding for her B licence - which costs £1,250 - but had to fund her own expenses to travel between Wolverhampton and Manchester, where the course took place. When it came to the A licence - which costs £4,150 - she had to say no, and she could n

中文概览

中文标题： 金钱、家庭与性别歧视——为什么女性教练人数在下降

英国教练协会负责人汉迪赛德称女教练须比男性加倍努力才能获尊重和可信。UK Coaching研究显示近年女性教练总数下降6%，基层女性志愿教练下降10%。研究提到欺凌、骚扰和机会不平等。英足总数据显示，一半踢组织足球的女孩会告诉女教练不愿告诉父母的事，男教练仅八分之一；但英格兰基层足球教练中仅7%为女性。

  • 情报分类：综合情报
  • 分类依据：社会与体育领域报道，不属现有专门类别，归综合情报。
  • 信息来源：英语新闻 / BBC News Top Stories
  • 发布时间：2026/10/1 14:43:23