Carol Bates, BEM, on founding Crawley Old Girls and inspiring older women to play football

Crawley Old Girls (COGS) started out 11 years ago with the intention of creating recreational, non-competitive sessions for older women who were the “missed generation” in football. We speak to the inspiring founder, Carol Bates about the development of the club, the work in the community and her tips for teams just starting out.

Carol Bates of Crawley Old Girls

As the Chair of supporters at Crawley Town FC, Carol Bates worked with the Crawley Town Community Foundation and the EFL Trust to set up ten EFL Trust funded recreational sessions for women who loved football but hadn’t had the opportunity to play when they were younger. Ten women, from a personal Facebook post turned up and the emphasis was on non-competitive, fun sessions. As Carol says, “We wanted women to enjoy getting active, with a football and to come back.” That was in 2015. From those 10 sessions, COGS has developed and now provides six sessions per week with Walking Football sessions having started around six years ago. Now, there are players, including over 60s and over 70s, with both recreational and walking football.

“Any woman can come down and play. It doesn’t matter about her fitness.”

Acknowledging there is a place for competition, Carol says, “There are lots of leagues which is good, but we’ve always been about participation. We want women to come to the 3G, kick a ball about and have fun.”

Since its creation, Carol has led the club though some standout footballing moments. In 2018, the COGS travelled to Manchester’s Media City UK, for BBC One’s Sport Relief. There they had an amazing time in the 12-hour charity event, competing against Robbie Savages’ Allstars.

In 2022, COGS organised #COGSEUROFEST – as part of the Brighton & Hove Host City UEFA Women’s EURO 2022 Legacy Programme. 42 women’s teams participated in a non competitive Festival officiated by all-female referee team. The emphasis, as always, was on fun and friendship.

As well as the amazing footballing opportunities, Carol has been keen to involve COGS in the wider community. One of the initiatives was COGS and Care Homes. “In 2019 we went to our local council who arranged for a dementia friendly course, to be a Dementia Friend.” This led to Carol and a team going into a care home with washing baskets and foam footballs to interact with residents with dementia. “We had the Grandstand theme tune playing. We threw and kicked the foam footballs to them.” Though the initiative was short-lived due to COVID, Carol maintains it was one of the “Really good things we did…So rewarding.”

A new project that Carol is working on is Old Girls Play Too®. Referencing the Women In Sport research and Sport England Active Lives Data 23/24, that only 4% of women engaged in team sports and only 2.7% of women aged 55-64, Carol says the scheme will look to help women of this age into activity. She argues, “It’s difficult if you’re middle-aged and not aware of anywhere to go. We need to do something for those women. It’s rare to get spare time so just to have an hour to be active, it’s important.” The session will involve an hour of being active and include an hour socialising. One of the aims is to educate women on how football can improve physical and mental health. Another is to reach out to women in lower socio-economic areas to encourage participation.

Carol Bates coaching

Carol’s outstanding work for her community has been recognised in many circles.

In 2021, she was awarded the British Empire Medal for Services to Football and Inclusion. This followed being a 2019 finalist in the Sunday Times sportswoman of the year award. Last year she won the Unsung Hero award at the Sussex Sport & Physical Activity Awards. With all this experience and know-how, we asked Carol what advice she might give to others looking to set up their own women’s walking football club.

Advice for those setting up women's walking football clubs:

Her main tip is: “Do all you can to make people less anxious.”

She suggests something as simple as ensuring bibs of all sizes are available to the women who come to train.

“Make sure women feel comfortable. If they’re given a bib that’s too tight they won’t want to participate. If someone feels uncomfortable in a bib, put them on a non-bib team.”

It’s important to make new players feel welcome from the very start. Some women may have been away from the game for many decades or might not have played before at all. Do all you can to welcome them: “Buddy them up in sessions or meet them in the car park.”

During the sessions, Carol says it’s important to make sure that “new players who are less confident have time on the ball.”

She advises women to look into the FA Playmaker to become an entry-level coach at grassroots level. She reminds women that they don’t need to be UEFA qualified with lots of knowledge to start coaching – although women can aspire to this. There is a place for women to start out at the beginning, with the FA Playmaker and learn as they go.

Over all her main message is to make sessions “fun so they come back next week!”

Looking forward, Carol hopes: “More groups are set up and there are more friendly festivals with a participation angle.” Just as she has promoted with COGS from the very start, Carol says walking football should be “fun and inclusive for any woman who wants to get on the pitch.”

If you’d like to find out more about Carol, her inspiring work and COGS, click on the club badge to go to the website. Plus to learn about the FA Playmaker course, click the picture below.