Last week, a number of staff travelled to London to represent Cumberland FA in the County FA Recognition Awards ceremony at Wembley Stadium.

Established in 2019, the nationwide awards showcase the incredible work delivered by County FAs. With 242 nominations across the 12 categories for 2023, 29 different County FAs were shortlisted and invited to celebrate success last Thursday at Wembley.  

The ceremony was attended by almost 400 members of the County FA network, as well as England, Manchester United and Tottenham Hotspur legend Teddy Sheringham. The FA’s Mark Bullingham and Debbie Hewitt were also guests of honour with the evening hosted by Sky Sports’ Kyle Walker.

Cumberland FA were shortlisted for the Equality, Diversity and Inclusion Award for the Starter Period Pack for Girls Project alongside projects from Lincolnshire FA, Northumberland FA and Surrey FA.

The project, saw the County FA join forces with Tesco in Carlisle and Workington and Period Poverty North Cumbria to provide all affiliated girls teams (from U12 to U18) with a starter period product pack for training and matches for season 2022-23.

As a result, around 700 girls had equal access to period products (if needed) at training or matches.

The project not only wanted to provide the resources to support girls, amidst a cost of living crisis where 1 in 4 girls have stated that they are struggling to afford period products, but also wanted to raise awareness of these challenges and break down any barriers that may have stopped girls being able to access the products they need. 

CLICK HERE TO READ MORE ABOUT THE PROJECT  

Due to the success of the project, this season Cumberland FA have once again teamed up with Tesco in Workington and Carlisle to provide period packs for new Under 12 Girls teams, as well as rolling out the project to women’s teams. These will be distributed in the coming weeks to support the teams across Cumberland.

Cumberland FA, although not triumphant in the County FA Recognition Awards for 2023 as Surrey FA (Unite Through football: Refugees) were crowned winners of the Equality, Diversity and Inclusion Award, were very proud to get national recognition for this important project which has been described as “Game changing to have on the sidelines” by a parent involved in girl’s grassroots football.

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Cumberland FA were also shortlisted for the 2022 County FA Recognition Awards in the Youth Engagement category.