| By Yahaya Egwaikhide |
As the Lionesses celebrate their Euros win, women’s football has never been more in the spotlight.
Camden and Islington United, affectionally referred to as CANDI United, is a supporter-owned and community-run football team which was founded in 2019. It was founded by local players, coaches, youth workers, teachers, and charity workers to help united the community and provide a safe space for young boys – and girls – to share the pitch and share their love of football.
The team’s motto is “NON SIBI SED TOTI” translating from Latin to “Not for Self but For All” which further drives home their point that everything they do on and off the pitch is for the betterment of the community – and everyone involved in it.
Head of community engagement at CANDI United, Joel Williams, said the club is “used as a vehicle to unite the two boroughs of Camden and Islington” and to build a community and a space where everyone feels safe to do what they love, which is play football.
Their men’s first team currently competes in the Middlesex County League, which gives them a pathway to the professional game, and the women’s team plays in the Islington 7-a-side midweek league and offers training to young girls looking to break into the game.
In 2020 the club was registered with the financial conduct authority as a community benefit society, which means fans can have a vote in the running of the club as well as being able to buy a share in the club. These further drives home their ethos, which is to make the club a pillar in society for all those involved and for those who want to get involved in football.
“We want to create a club where anyone is welcome of any ability and any gender to come and have fun playing the sport they love,” said Williams. That means it is helping with the growth of women’s football.
FIFA seeks to double the number of female players by 2026 to 60 million, raise the standards of women’s football clubs and leagues across all member associations, and double the number of member associations that have organised youth leagues by 2026. In the shorter term, the objective is to ensure that by 2022, all FIFA member associations have developed comprehensive football strategies and that there will be a greater cooperation, education and advocacy for women’s football between FIFA, the confederations and member associations.
Aside from all the good work they do on the pitch, CANDI United is always working hand in hand with local charities to help better the community. They partnered with the Life after Hummus food bank in 2020 to help provide food for those in need during the pandemic, as well as delivering six football sessions to 8–14-year-olds in August 2020.
This helped provide footballing opportunities for the young children as well as paid coaching opportunities for the coaches who led the sessions. “One of our main goals to give people opportunities in any sector of football coaching, playing – we want all to succeed,” Williams said.
Some other community work they do is in collaboration with Castlehaven Community Association to offer free football sessions to young people in the heart of Camden. On Tuesdays, they offer a girls-only session for 8–14-year-olds. These sessions are a fun and flexible non-competitive football programme designed to allow girls to have a space to develop social and emotional learning skills key to life on and off the pitch.
On Thursdays, they offer a mixed session for young people aged 8-13, where all abilities are welcome. The focus is to use the practices to not only develop fundamental football skills, but to build the social capacity of the young people.
CANDI united’s work for campaigning for young girls to get into football has not gone unnoticed as the Mayor of London tweeted about the club and gave the players and coaches a platform to inform others about their journey and where they plan to go to next, as well as the FA setting up multiple programmes such as Lioness Pathway Talent Identification (Go Lionesses!).
The talent identification events will allow players to be identified through regional programmes which will ensure accessibility to any player from any playing environment who shows potential. Region-specific talent strategies are in place that will enable the FA to work closely with key stakeholders and clubs across the football pyramid to ensure that talent becomes opportunity. They aim to offer opportunity and access to the Lioness Talent Pathway to every young, talented female footballer in England, regardless of social class, demographic or ethnicity.
CANDI united are a clear booster to the increase in women’s football participation. 2.63 million women in England over the age of 16 played football last year. That’s up from 1.7 million in 2018, a rise of nearly a million in a single calendar year. For some idea of the speed at which women’s football has grown over an extended period of time, in 1993 there were just 10,400 women playing the sport.
There are multiple reasons behind the explosion in female participation. Many grassroots clubs like CANDI are now running women’s sections alongside their long-standing male sections, creating a greater number of opportunities for girls to take up football. With this increase in clubs comes an increase in competitive leagues and improved coaching standards. This in turn incentives more females to play the sport as they can see it is now being taken seriously.
Candi United and its partners have done a great job in shaping how grassroots football is seen in society. They’ve helped young girls gain their confidence and be more involved in the game. They’ve allowed young boys and girls to see a clear path to the professional game, as well as allowing aspiring coaches to believe they can have a career in the sport.
Their greatest impact, however, has come off the pitch. They’ve created a place in the community that many see as a safe hub and a place to make new friends that enjoy the same thing as they do, and also create a united front in the two boroughs in which they work.
Find out all about them here.
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