As we celebrate International Women's Day, a note from our Chairman, Paul Martin on the role women are playing in our club.

Chairman, Paul Martin

Women's football is the fastest growing sport internationally and nationally and we can see evidence of this here at Leixlip United.  In 2020 we had 94 registered female members and this has risen to 227 in the 2021/22 season. Our Academy has become a successful starting point for many young girls in our community and for the first time in 2021/22 we are delighted to be fielding a team of U8 girls who have graduated from our Academy.  

Altogether we field 6 girls teams in the DDSL and MGL.  While we currently have some excellent female coaches we would like to see more coming on board as it is important for the girls to see older girls and woman lead the way, especially given the basis of the 20x20 campaign "If they can't see it, they can't be it". We offer coaching training here at the club and we would be happy to support anyone who would like to get involved.

Over the February mid-term break we hosted our first All-Girls Football camp.  We had over 75 girls from Leixlip and neighbouring towns participate and the camp was a great success.  We are now looking forward to hosting an FAI "Soccer Sisters" camp at Easter.

Fiona with some of the girls enjoying the Mid Term Girls Only Camp

What once was an all-male Executive Committee now has 4 female members with Fiona Silke joining Paula, Sinead and Debbie in recent weeks.  Fiona has taken on the role of Girls Football representative and it is great to have another female voice at the table advocating on behalf of the girls in our club. Deirdre Cemaou, Girls Secretary for the MGL League also plays an important part.

In terms of running our club, Deirdre Scanlon started to work as a participant on our CES in 2000. Larry Kenny, current Life President of Leixlip Utd was the supervisor on the scheme at that time. Deirdre took over as supervisor in 2010 when Larry retired. Deirdre works very closely with us on the day to day running of the club and is an invaluable asset. Deirdre's husband Martin is the club secretary and her son Mark has been involved as a player from schoolboy right up to the senior team, so it is a family affair, as is the case with many of our members and volunteers.

We are constantly striving to ensure Leixlip United is a progrssive and inclusive club in the heart of our community and we are calling for more female volunteers to get involved in any way you can. As you can see from the above, there are many ways you can lend a hand.

If you're interested, be sure to contact Paula and/or Fiona at the numbers below.