TESSA JOWELL, the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, is to call on the FA to review its rule that prevents boys and girls playing mixed-team football beyond under-11s.
The FA council ratified only recently a working group decision that children should be separated by gender when they turned 12 on the basis of physiology.
However, Jowell, who is also Minister for Women, does not believe the decision was valid because the FA failed to consult those affected. Having talked to people who organise local youth football, she would consider 14 a more appropriate age.
Jowell plans to take Balham Blazers, an under-10 mixed team, to the FA to see Brian Barwick, the chief executive, so they can argue their own case. The Blazers meet the blazer brigade, so to speak. “I think it’s only right for the FA to look again at its rules for mixed teams at junior level,” she said.
Greg Cruttwell, the manager of the Blazers, argues that the rule hinders girls because the structures in the women’s game are weaker. “It’s not the same quality and there are fewer leagues,” he said. “Technically, girls would improve if they played with boys for as long as possible.”
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He described the reasoning behind the rule as “ludicrous”. He said: “Girls are developing quicker at that age and many are bigger than the boys. My daughter, Minnie, is one of the toughest on the team. She’s the enforcer, the Roy Keane, and she’s devastated at having to go off next year to play with only girls.
“This is a decision taken by someone in an office without consulting people on the ground. If they had, they would have seen there are masses of girls playing football in mixed teams.”