Girls are still less likely than boys to enjoy physical education and activity in the UK, despite more than half of Team GB that went to Paris last year being women. 

Data from Youth Sport Trust (YST) has found that just 66% of girls enjoy taking part in Physical Education (PE) compared to 87% of boys. 

Last year we saw multiple milestones for women’s sport including the Lionesses making it to the FIFA World Cup Final and Team GB’s Jodie Grinham becoming the first pregnant woman to win a Paralympic medal – and yet girls are still not receiving the level of in physical activity they desire. 

YST’s Girls Active Questionnaire revealed that 25% of girls do no physical activity outside of school, compared to 15% of boys. 

When girls were asked how many days in the last week they had participated in 60 minutes of exercise or more, it was found that they averaged 3.3 days whereas boys averaged 4 days per week.

YST’s research also found that the top three barriers to sport for girls identified by students themselves were lack of confidence, not wanting other people watching them, and when competing outside in bad weather. 

While the boy’s top three barriers were similar – lacking confidence, the weather, and not being ‘bothered’ – the amount of boys that selected these was significantly lower than the girl’s top three. 

This suggests that boys experience less barriers to sport or they experience a wider range of barriers that are more personal to them rather than a universal experience. 

Participants also did not have to select any barriers if they felt they do not experience any, so the data could also be showing that some boys don’t feel there are any barriers to sport for them. 

All of the top ten barriers for girls were identified by a higher percentage of students than the top barrier for boys, implying that most girls experience similar barriers to sport unlike boys. 

The barrier experienced most by both boys and girls was not feeling confident, with 39% of girls and 20% of boys selecting this as a barrier. 

Notably 31% of girls identified that they did not want to take part with boys, whereas the reverse did not feature in the boys top ten barriers. 

‘I have an injury’ was also a barrier for 16% of boys, and some of those injuries potentially being sport related, however again this did not appear in the girls top ten barriers showing that the social barriers in place are a much bigger factor for them. 

Despite these barriers, 62% of girls said they wanted to be more active in school showing that lack of desire is not a contributing factor for most girls. 

National Manager for Women and Girls at YST Wendy Taylor said: “The data makes me feel overwhelmingly sad, that for too many girls they are either not having a positive experience or not getting the right opportunities in school to develop a love of movement. 

“Girls understand the importance of being active, they want to be more active but there are things that are stopping them from enjoying that experience.

“We need to create an environment where girls have a say, it makes such a big difference when your voice is heard.

“There is nothing better than when we hear a school has been able to put various changes into place because it has been driven by the individual needs of the girls in the school’s community.”

Andrew Ducille, a father to three including boy-girl twins, has always worked in sport and so actively encourages all his children to participate in at least one sport. 

He identified the biggest barrier for both boys and girls in sport being the access to good coaching. 

Ducille said: “I think people drop out of sport, both girls and boys, because one the coach is an idiot, two the coach doesn’t know how to deliver practices that are fun and engaging, and three they just don’t know how to communicate. 

“If you can’t communicate and can’t get through, kids are going to switch off and that’s the killer for me. 

“I know having spoken with some of the female participants when I was at Chelsea, that is one of the key things they would say, they didn’t get on with the coach, or ‘the coach was horrible to me’.

“So for me in of drop out rates across sport, we need to raise the coaching standards and ability to communicate.”

Although, the data also revealed a key biological barrier, with 34% of girls identifying being on their period as a barrier to sport. 

With just 11% of girls stating they are very comfortable talking to their teacher about periods, despite most girls’ key concern being that they are in pain or uncomfortable.

If girls feel uncomfortable talking to their teacher or coach about their menstrual cycle, this may partially explain why many teenage girls drop out of sports. 

Other barriers relating to the menstrual cycle experienced by more than half of girls include worrying about leaking, low mood, and lack of energy.

This shows that while girls and boys experience some similar barriers to sport at different levels, the menstrual cycle however is another big additional factor affecting girls’ experiences of sport.

Therefore, overall girls still face face bigger barriers to sport than boys are as a result are less likely to enjoy physical education and activity.

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East London is leading the rise of the British South Asian community in English football after years of underrepresentation throughout the professional game.

Sporting Bengal United, formed to increase Asian involvement in the sport, are pioneers of this rise earning promotion to step four of the non-League pyramid for the first time as well as the FA Cup.

The 2023/24 season saw a 29% increase in the amount of South Asian representation across England’s top four leagues from 16 in 2021 to 22, but there is still work to be done.

Sporting Bengal secretary Shakil Rahman said: “There was a realisation that [Asian] talent was being wasted with the [Bangladesh] divisions that existed and a solution was required to tackle these divisions.”

Sporting Bengal, based in Mile End, are the third-highest-ranked club in east London after professional outfits West Ham United and Leyton Orient.

Founded as a community club, the Bengal Tigers worked with of football organisations in the area to break into mainstream football.

In only eight years, Sporting rose from amateur Sunday league level to Isthmian League North in the semi-professional ranks. 

A total of 4.1 million South Asians live across England and Wales, and east London boasts three of the top five most populated areas.

South Asians represent 41% of Redbridge, 39% of Tower Hamlets and 36% of Newham, and the successful transition into sporting environments is smoother than some face elsewhere as many barriers have already been broken down.

Common misconceptions that South Asians would rather play cricket than football persist, yet over twice as many adults in that demographic play the latter than the former.

There are also stereotypes that their diets are not appropriate to create footballers or their families care more about education.

However, as second and third-generation families develop in England, more parents are actively involved in their children’s football and are prepared to spend time and money on coaching.

Rahman said: “In most cases, South Asian footballers do not have the physical attributes that club’s may be looking for, and therefore need to work harder to be in better shape and have to excel technically.”

Tower Hamlets and Newham Councils both run successful community programs tackling racism, inequalities and disproportionality in the boroughs.

These have allowed specific to be given to ethnically-diverse people to help them become better connected with the community and more active.

Imrul Gazi is Sporting Bengal’s most successful manager, overseeing the club’s promotion to step five as well as reaching the first qualifying round of the FA Cup in 2017. 

He said: “Sporting Bengal is a community club and, for me, it was vital we saw that being represented on the pitch. 

“As one of the only Asian managers at non-league level, if I didn’t introduce Asians kids into the club especially when, in Tower Hamlet, we have one of the biggest Bangladeshi communities in the UK, it would be wrong. 

“So, for me, that was my proudest achievement, getting kids from all backgrounds playing but most importantly having four or five South Asians in every matchday squad.”

Despite the success in east London, the numbers around the rest of the country are less encouraging as fewer than 1% of around 5,000 professional footballers in the UK is of South Asian heritage.

Only six British South Asians were given more than 90 minutes across the top four English leagues in the 2022/23 season, too.

Isthmian North league equality, diversity and inclusion director Lee Vehit said: “There are tens of thousands of talented South Asians playing the game up and down the country and it isn’t a lack of talent which is stopping them from progressing, it’s the lack of opportunity to showcase that talent.

“Clubs throughout the football pyramid need to assess and evaluate whether their clubs fully represent the areas they sit within.”

“The biggest barriers are the lack of representation and opportunity for South Asian people to enjoy the game at all levels.

“There needs to be a willingness from clubs to create welcoming environments for people of all protected characteristics in all aspects of football.”

In response to the low numbers of professional South Asian footballers, the Premier League established the South Asian Action Plan focusing on increasing representation in the academy system. 

As of April 2025, more than 3,000 children and 400 grassroots coaches have engaged in the South Asian Action Plan, with 24 Premier League and EFL clubs involved.

Gazi worked with the FA and anti-racism organisation Kick It Out over the past decade to raise awareness of issues in grassroots football, but believes there are many problems still to be irradicated.

Gazi said: “I’d like to think I played a big part in making people aware of the issues around racism within the community. 

“There are definitely still issues in grassroots football, they are just different to what they were 20 years ago.

“We’re seeing these issues in mainstream football, so what makes you think they aren’t prevalent in grassroots football? You can bet your bottom dollar, it’s 100 times worse.

“You don’t hear all of the stories because people who have experienced racism are too scared to report it because it’s too much work. 

“Nothing has changed, there is a lot of talk around dealing with racism but when a team or individual experiences it, the process is just too long. 

“It makes the victim feel like they are the ones that have done wrong. That’s how I felt each time I went through it and I know from speaking to people up and down the country, that’s how everyone feels.

“Unless it is blatant and in your face people won’t report it because it is too much bureaucracy for nothing to come of it anyway.

“There needs to be change at the top.”

The FA underlined the steps they have taken to combate discirimination at grassroots level, including a programme brought in for this season.

An FA spokesperson said: “We strongly condemn any abusive or unacceptable behaviour, either on the pitch or from the sidelines, and we have clear standards of behaviour which we expect all grassroots football clubs, coaches and players to follow.

“This season, we have introduced a new behaviour improvement programme and penalty points accumulation charges in the grassroots game, identifying the worst offending clubs for incidents of behavioural offences such as spectator behaviour and dissent, along with poor overall matchday respect scores.

“This builds on the steps taken last season to allow for deductions of league points from clubs that are repeated offenders of serious misconduct.

“This is a collective responsibility and we welcome and fully action taken by leagues and clubs to help tackle this unacceptable behaviour in our game.”

Kick It Out were ed for comment.

Feature image credit: Sporting Bengal United

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This season the Netball Super League introduced the super shot where teams can score two points at a time rather than the standard one.

However this chance is only available in the last five minutes of each quarter and is from the edge of the shooting area, forcing teams to switch up their tactics.

London Mavericks seem to be the team that have made the most of the super shot, as after round eight they were fourth on the table with 16 points; but without the super shot they would be sixth with half the points earned.

The official Netball Super League table after round eight as was found on their website (left). The Netball Super League table if the super shot were not to have been implemented, including games up to round eight. *these two teams have played one less game (right).

With Rolene Streutkerbeing the NSL’s top goal scorer so far, Nottingham Forrest have crept into the top four in the league without the super shot, having defeated both Loughborough Lightning and London Pulse this season.

LexisNexis Cardiff Dragons would still be at the bottom of the table, however, they would have won their game against London Mavericks in round eight.

The Welsh side would also have picked up two bonus points for losing by less than five points, along with Birmingham Panthers with four bonus points and Mavericks with two.

It is also important to note that Panthers and Dragons have played one less game than their competitors due to a play-stopping injury during their round three fixture.

Suzie Liverseidge, wing attack and centre for Mavericks, said: “I think it’s [super shot] super interesting and the transition happens so quickly, you’re in normal time playing as normal and then suddenly it’s that transition.

“I don’t think it changes a huge amount, obviously as a midi (mid-court player) ideally we want to be landing them in that super shot zone, but also it’s quite good to just land them in the one anyway and then play it back out.

“If anything, I actually think it changes more the defensive strategies because you can kind of play out however the ball comes through the court, but obviously there is a huge tactical part to it.

“We have spoken a lot about, when it’s good to take them, when it’s not, it’s great when they’re going in, but when they’re not and you miss, it almost seems doubly costly because the opposition then have three opportunities in a row, with their centre es and then the turnover opportunity to score up to six points – which I think is how we’ve seen those huge momentum shifts in games.”

These tactical changes have developed as the season has progressed, with many of the results in the first rounds remaining the same without the super shot but more recently some scores have been swapped.

A crucial game that had the result affected by the super shot was in round eight between Lightning and Manchester Thunder, as the two teams were tied on points going into the game.

Lightning took the win in the official scoring but without the super shot Thunder would have taken that crucial win and secured second place at the time.

We have also seen some teams come back from what would have previously been seen as too large a deficit and win the game.

For example in one match, before the super shot in the third quarter Mavericks were trailing 10 points behind Dragons but by the end of the quarter, they had equalled the scoreline and went on to win.

Founder of Fearless Women and London Mavericks board trustee Sue Anstiss said: “I think the super shot is just brilliant because it makes what could be a foregone conclusion as you come into the third quarter, not be.

“So I think just that jeopardy, that excitement, the different style of play – it’s just made it so interesting.”

“I imagine as players it gives you more confidence to know all is not lost as there have been times when you’re 10 down but bring it back.

“So I can only envisage that it must give them the confidence to know this is still doable and I think that’s really important for when you’re tired and even going into extra time in some cases too now.”

But the super shot was not met with an instant welcome as some fans were hesitant for change in the sport.

Broadcaster James Pierce said: “It’s been interesting [with the super shot] because obviously at the beginning of the season when it was announced, I think the general impression of it was that it was very negative.

“But in sport in general I think people are adverse to change.

“The nice thing about the netball community is that people are very committed to the community and committed to the sport, and so if you do change something, there might be a little bit of tentativeness at the beginning, but people will come round.

“I do quite like the fact that some of the teams will be more strategic with their substitutions and bring specific people on for the final five minutes.”

Although Pierce also reflected on what impact changing such an impactful rule will potentially have on those at grass roots level who hope to make it to the Super League.

He added: “With this new this strategy of the game changing at five minutes to go and so you’re either gonna put a very defensive side on if you’re ahead by quite a lot because you don’t want to risk people get shooting the super shot.

“Then the people who are behind, they’re gonna put the very offensive people on, the people that can throw to get the two points so it’s going to be a very different strategy to how Netball is played.

“I think that will be interesting because obviously that will not be something we see in other areas of the sport, having been a primary school teacher in my previous life and tried my best to teach netball to primary school children, that’s not what’s taught in schools.

“When you see netball coaching in schools, they’re not looking at super shots and things like that, so I wonder how much that will have an impact on the children watching at home and it not quite being the same sport anymore.”

Liverseidge also spoke about the difficulties of having players that are in the NXT GEN league, the NSL’s development league, move up as they don’t currently play with the super shot.

She said: “I think it’s bizarre that we now play a sport where every league plays a different rule, like imagine growing up and then suddenly the top league has a super shot.

“Like in training, NXT GEN players come in when we have injuries, which we’ve had quite a lot of, and they come in to replace someone, but they’re not playing that rule, so it is kind of strange.”

While this season is not yet done, some teams may be looking at their options for next season now knowing the impact the super shot can have on a game.

Anstiss described how some shooters are better from a distance than others depending on their style of play and so there’s potential for teams to be looking to recruit shooters that have that ability now the impact is so clear.

While Pierce also said he expects there may be more movement of players than we would have initially expected due to teams’ desires for players who have a high super shot success rate.

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Attendances in the National League South and the Isthmian Premier Division have hit a 10-year record high for the 2024/25 season.

This campaign the average attendance in National League South was ​​1,221, a rise of 134% from that figure for the 2014/15 season.

The National League South is one of the two divisions, along with the National League North, that makes up the sixth-tier of English football and ‘step two’ of the non-league football pyramid.

Similarly, a step below in the Isthmian Premier Division, 2024/25 saw average attendances hit 764, this is 94% higher than a decade ago,

Several of London’s non-league teams play in the National League South and the Isthmian Premier Division, including Enfield Town FC and Dulwich Hamlet.

Paul Reed, chairman of Enfield Town, said: “I think what we’ve seen is a perfect storm of people disenfranchised with the Premier League and modern football generally.”

He added: “I think what non-league has done is it’s been able to carve a niche for itself in of affordable, family friendly football that’s entertaining. You don’t get all the histrionics of the Premier League.

“People can have a beer, watch the game, all the stuff that I think people associated with football in the past, and the enjoyment of that at a price that is affordable for people to bring their family along.”

Enfield Town FC were formed in 2001 following a fan led breakaway from Enfield FC and they proudly call themselves ‘The Country’s First Fan-Owned Club’.

This year they finished 19th in the National League South, their highest ever finish, and had an average of 978 people at their games.

Another non-league side with a strong fanbase in the capital are Dulwich Hamlet.

They regularly saw crowds of over 3,000 people this season despite playing in the seventh tier of English football.

Former MD and owner of Dulwich Hamlet, Tom Cullen thinks that affordability is a key reason for the increased attendances.

He said: “We have very cheap tickets compared to other people in our league or the league above and alongside that, the widest ranging concessions in football. We have concessions for pretty much everyone.”

The Hamlet offer reduced prices for blue light workers, of the armed forces, and council workers, as well as a pay your age season ticket scheme for fans between the ages of 13 and 19.

Praising this initiative, Cullen said: “It’s a way to get young people to come to the club, and then it becomes their club.”

The club has also benefited from Premier League fans ‘downsizing’ and turning towards their local non-league team.

Cullen said: “When fans walk through any turnstile of any non-league club, they immediately feel part of the club. They feel part of the family.”

He added: “I think for a lot of people in this country, they lack community.

“Non-league football allows people from all walks of life to find somewhere they can call home and feel like they’re part of something bigger.”

Matt Badcock, editor of The Non-League Paper, agreed with Tom’s sentiment.

He said: “When you go through a non-league turnstile, you know that £10 or £12, whatever you’re putting into the pot, actually really, really matters, and that if you’re not there, then it’s not like someone else is just going to take your season ticket.”

Improvements in technology have also been touted as another reason for non-league’s popularity.

Matt stressed the importance of social media for modern non-league clubs.

He said: “Every club has got it, every club uses it. You’re getting live updates throughout the games. That has massively changed it, I think.

“The impact of Instagram, Tiktok, Youtube, that’s been massive for the growth and the exposure of non-league football.”

Tom agreed, saying how important social media had been for Dulwich’s growth.

He said: “We went from getting an average of about 1,000 to selling out 10 to 15 games a year, 3,500 and a lot of that was driven from social media. A lot of that was through Twitter.”

“A really important part of any non-league club’s overall strategy should be social media, how you can use it, how you can amplify what you do and try and get yourself into the feeds of people who might share those values, or might be looking for something to do to get involved in or for that connection. So I think it’s absolutely vital.”

Non-league football is going from strength to strength as more and more fans turn towards their local team in search of better value and connections.

Both Enfield Town and Dulwich Hamlet will be hoping that trend continues for the 2025/26 season.

Statistics sourced from Football Web Pages.

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Padel is growing rapidly in the UK with participation more than trebling last year, highlighting the success of the Lawn Tennis Association’s five year strategy so far in making the sport more accessible.

Launched in September 2024, LTA’s ‘Padel Opened Up’ strategy aims to double padel’s visibility from 20% to 40%, increase interest from 7.5% to 15% and boost participation significantly by 2026.

Their goals also include growing annual players from 129,000 to 400,000, monthly players from 65,000 to 200,000, expanding number of courts from 350 to 1,000, increasing coach and activator workforce from 40 to 70, and assisting 10 players to reach the top 200 and two to break into the top 100.

The LTA has announced this week that they have already sured several of their 2024-26 targets, with new data revealing by the end of 2024 just over 400,000 adults and juniors in Great Britain played padel at least once in the previous 12 months.

Participation has surged by over 2,500% since 2019, increasing from just 15,000 to 400,000 players at the end of 2024.

Steve Yeardley, LTA Padel Manager said: “Padel is growing exponentially, I think there are many reasons for this.

“The barrier to entry does not exist, and the smaller court makes it super sociable and engaging at all times.”

Awareness of padel among adults reached 43% of the population (approximately 23 million individuals) in the first quarter of 2025, representing a significant increase from 23% (12 million) during the same period in the previous year.

Running from 2024 to 2029, this new strategy is committed to opening up padel across the UK by enhancing infrastructure, diversifying its workforce, developing a solid performance pathway, and increasing nationwide participation and visibility to ensure longevity of the sport.

As of February 2025, the LTA has invested more than £6 million in the growth of padel across Britain, including £4.5 million towards the development of 80 courts at 42 venues – representing approximately 10% of all padel courts nationwide.  

Updated figures also confirm that there are now 893 padel courts available across 300 venues in the UK. 

The LTA is working closely with delivery managers, local authorities, charities, operators, and partners to continue to achieve their goals and target lower income threshold families, ethnic minorities, and people with disabilities to ensure everybody has equal opportunities to experience the joy of padel.

Yeardley said: “We have just done a recent padel operator survey which found 77% of our operators have community outreach programmes.

“These programmes are vital for inspiring new audiences to try padel.”

For example, newly-announced LTA Padel Ambassador and Comedian Jason Manford organised two days of padel coaching at PurePadel, Manchester for 70 local secondary school students just before the Christmas holidays.

The community activation, facilitated by the LTA aimed to get as many padel rackets in the children’s hands, get them playing and grow their interest for a sport.

In addition to this, the LTA is working with Manchester City Council and Manchester Active to produce a local padel plan for the city – the first of its kind in Great Britain.

This will the development of local facilities, for clubs and schools in the area, and build greater awareness and appetite for the sport in Manchester and build an infrastructure for the next generation to keep playing padel and staying active.

To ensure the sustainability of padel in the UK, the LTA are also placing a considerable focus on the development and diversification of the workforce to supplement the demand and develop coaching programmes for both children and adults to build a pipeline of future players.

Sarah Thomas, Coach Development Manager at Rocket Padel said: “Coaches and officials are the lifeblood of padel and play a key role in attracting and retaining people in the game, and currently there are not enough coaches to meet the high demand.”

Rocket Padel is currently tendering to become an LTA Workforce Development Centre (WDC) which will cater for coaches and officials working in both padel and tennis across a larger region.

Thomas said: “If our tender is successful, my role will be to engage coaches and officials with world class development and opportunities, so they can fulfil their potential and deliver enjoyable on court experiences for all, whilst helping with the recruitment and the deployment of qualified officials and coaches.”

They will offer courses to train LTA Qualified coaches, who are safe to practise (in of insurance, safeguarding and first aid) to deliver coaching programmes.

These coaches will play a key role in creating a safe and superb padel environment for the next generation of players to thrive, thereby ensuring the long-term future of the game.

Rocket Padel CDC shares the LTA’s vision of opening tennis and padel up and transforming communities by making courses as welcoming and accessible for all, so that anyone can take their first steps on the LTA coaching qualification and officiating pathway.

Only 24% of LTA accredited tennis coaches are female, therefore, to bridge this gap, the LTA have introduced female only assistant coaching courses.

There are also mentoring and grant schemes for females, ethnically diverse individuals, and disabled people.

What makes padel so appealing for most people is the dynamic nature of the game and the camaraderie amongst players, regardless of age or ability, aided by the smaller court size and the doubles format.

George Carson, Head of Y1 Padel said: “The community vibe that the padel centres have fostered combined with the Playtomic app allow you to play with different people every week.

“You can be playing with a 20-year-old one week and a 60-year-old the next, you are always learning and adapting.”

Yeardley added: “We’re going to see a huge change in the landscape, I would not even say we are at the boom yet, I would say we are at the emerging stage of padel.

“At the back end of last year, we had 435 courts and now there is 893 courts so you can see we are virtually more than doubling each year.

“And I anticipate over the course of the next three to five years, that number will continue to grow and grow and grow!”

The future of padel in the UK looks promising and with this strategy the LTA is committed to ensuring it becomes a lasting and loved sport for generations to come.

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For prisoners in the UK, life after incarceration is difficult to navigate with a stiff public attitude and troubles finding employment.

Strains on relationships, loneliness, and mental health struggles are all commonplace for former inmates.

But there are ways back into public life, and a single lifeline can often be the difference between successful reintegration and a path back to reoffending.

That is what Fulham Reach Boat Club (FBRC) is hoping to provide.

Located next to Hammersmith Bridge, FBRC launched Boats Not Bars in 2019, offering prisoners an opportunity for regular exercise and a route back into society.

Teaching basic rowing skills and offering fitness sessions, associated prisons run courses between six to eight weeks in length, with a FBRC coach visiting at least once a week as well as additional sessions often run by former participants.

FBRC CEO Adam Freeman-Pask said: “When people are released from prison, we help them to find employment, and feel part of a club and part of a community again, when quite often they are marginalized and excluded unfortunately. 

“The idea there is to give people something inspiring, motivating, and good for their health while they are in prison. It has really good impacts, helping people when they are unfortunately being forgotten about.”

Ministry of Justice research has shown that the likelihood of prisoners reoffending once released is significantly lower if they are exposed to physical activity, particularly team sports that prioritise relationships and collaboration.

Covering a mixture of adult and youth prisons around the south east, Boats Not Bars offers social skills like team-building and cooperation, as well as the chance to connect with future employers once inmates reach the end of their sentence.

Those that have previously taken part in programmes but still have time left to serve can train for such coaching certificates, enabling progression from a role as a participant to a mentor.

But the scheme’s flagship offering is the chance to race with FBRC and former professionals along the Thames, experiencing the benefits of the sport first-hand.

In March, the club held the first of several planned races between adult and the Boats Not Bars participants, a four-boat head-to-head from Hammersmith to Barnes Bridge.

With good behaviour and security clearance permitting, prisoners from HMP Huntercombe and HMP Springhill were able to benefit from ‘Release on Temporary License’, meaning they were let out of confinement in order to transfer their indoor rowing skills to the water.

Programme co-ordinator Imogen Walsh said: “It’s an opportunity to bring people together. It’s the power of sport, where those different people probably would never have the chance to sit down for a cup of tea otherwise.

“But you go out and you race and then once everybody is back off the water, you sit down, you have something to eat and a chat and brag about who won and who lost. And all of a sudden there are no barriers.”

Walsh herself is a former World and European Champion, having rowed for Team GB in the lightweight category until her retirement in 2016.

But after being hugely influenced by a friendship with former armed robber John McAvoy, who ed her rowing club in 2012, she decided to use her ion for the sport as a way to give back to her local community.

Walsh said: “I wanted to use sport for wellbeing and social welfare, rather than strictly hunting for Olympic medals.

“We [FBRC] wanted to look at extending our reach to underserved groups of the population that could really benefit, and reaching out to those that would otherwise really struggle to come to us.”

For the participants of the race, applying their theory to the boats is not only a way to garner social skills and practice team bonding, but it is also a way to rebuff the stereotypes that are often associated with the sport.

One of the rowers, who chose to stay anonymous, said: “I probably would have byed something like this, thinking ‘oh it’s posh’.

“When I first went to the club, I actually said ‘I thought this was some posh geezer sport!’

“But now I’ve done it, I want to be an ambassador for it and get my friends involved.”

FRBC have more races planned across the summer, and hope to expand the scheme to more prisons across the country in the future.

But for the meantime, Walsh is focused on building a deeper relationship with those who already on the scheme, given the impression that Boats not Bars is having on inmates and the wide community.

Walsh said: “I think it has quite a powerful effect on that person’s psyche around what they can or can’t do. I’m just trying to get people out of a way of thinking that now they’ve committed a crime, they’ll always be a criminal. 

“And I think that’s the individual’s thought process, largely because that’s what the public often thinks.

“If we are more open about the good things, then not only the public but the prisoners themselves will change their outlook on what’s possible post-release.”

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Often characterised by unpredictable bounces and quick kicks, grass tennis courts have long been considered one of the sport’s most challenging surfaces to master.

They’re a key reason Wimbledon is widely seen as the most iconic tournament in tennis.

Known for rewarding aggressive styles of play, the surface was once dominated by serve-and-volley specialists like Boris Becker and Pete Sampras.

When discussing changing tactics in grass court tennis, Jeff Sackmann, founder of statistical website Tennis Abstract, said: “It’s been a huge move towards baseline play, definitely.

“If you go back to the 90s, you have Stefan Edberg, Boris Becker, Greg Rusedski and Tim Henman who would serve and volley.

“Now, it’s basically gone.”

One factor which may have contributed to this shift is the fact that tour-level grass tennis courts have now become more durable – a precedent thought to be set by Wimbledon’s change to using 100% ryegrass courts in 2001.

Previously, the All England Club used only 70% ryegrass. 

Speaking on the famous switch, Co-Head Coach of Wigmore Lawn Tennis Club in London, Scott Davies, said: “Although before this change, the grass courts were faster, their durability was worse.

“So they’d start off really fast, and then they’d wear down and become way more unpredictable. They’d have slow patches and fast patches, bad bounces.”

The modern grass tennis court, thanks to ryegrass and improved maintenance, plays flatter and more reliably, somewhat resembling hard courts in pace and bounce.

This has caused some players and fans to believe that grass courts have slowed down in recent years, according to Tennis View Magazine.

Therefore, the assumption that grass courts are the fastest on tour may have become somewhat outdated. 

But how could these speed changes be measured?

When discussing strong indicators of surface speed, statistician Sackmann said: “Aces are great and basically, it just tells you how well the returner is able to respond. And that’s going to be something influenced by the surface speed.”

While rally length is also considered to be a valuable tool for measuring surface speed, Sackmann believes both produce similar results.

Tennis Abstract’s surface-speed metric uses ace rates to compare court speeds across ATP events, not just the Slams, indirectly factoring in external elements, such as temperature, humidity, wind, the balls used, and of course the physical surface.

A score of 1.25, for example, indicates players would hit 25% more aces on a certain tournament’s surface than the tour average for that year, therefore suggesting a significantly faster court.

According to this measure, the gap between court speeds has narrowed since 1991, compared to 2023, particularly between grass and hard courts – perhaps a result of the use of ryegrass. 

However, clay courts, with their naturally higher friction, remain the slowest by a wide margin.

Still, recent statistics from Grand Slam tournaments show that grass courts continue to offer an advantage to powerful servers.

In 2024, Wimbledon, which is currently the only major to be played on grass, produced the highest number of combined aces across both the men’s and women’s draws.

Their ace leaders, Giovanni Mpetshi Perricard (115) and Elena Rybakina (39), accumulated 154 aces between them, a fraction of the 6455 struck across the tournament.

By contrast, at the 2024 US Open, which boasted the second-highest tally for male and female ace leaders at the last four slams, only 3139 aces were tallied – less than half of Wimbledon’s count.

While Perricard, standing at 6ft 8in with a huge serve, could be considered something of an outlier, his run to the fourth round at Wimbledon, which was his best Slam showing to date, illustrates how players with a similar toolset can excel on grass. 

These numbers challenge the growing belief that grass courts have slowed in recent years.

In fact, ace rates on grass, as well as across all surfaces, have significantly increased since 1991.

Data collected from the ATP Tour’s top 40 serve leaders shows the average number of aces per match on grass has risen by approximately 76%, from 7.6 to 13.4, between 1991 and 2024 (when the last grass court ATP-level tournaments were held).

While these numbers demonstrate a potential rise in grass surface speed, further blunting arguments that the courts are in fact slowing, these numbers may reflect broader developments in the sport.

Factors such as improved equipment and more intense training regimes have enabled players’ to improve their athleticism  – possibly resulting in increased ace numbers.

Discussing advancements in the game, tennis coach, Davies, said: “Players have sports scientists, sport nutritionists controlling pretty much every aspect of their lives.”

Stats connoisseur Sackmann also acknowledged the growing role of fitness in the modern game.

He said: “Now, if you’re if you’re playing almost anybody on tour, even somebody who’s not a great returner, they’re going to make you fight for it.”

Overall, while grass courts can still be regarded as the fastest on tour, the perception that the three main tennis surfaces have become homogenised in recent years could be explained by improvements in player conditioning and court quality – causing tennis to enter an era dominated by baseline play.

Featured Image Credit: Shep McAllister via Unsplash

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Barnet boss Dean Brennan insists everyone around the club deserves acclaim after he was recognised with the Sports Ground Development Manager of the Year award at the National Game Awards in association with Isuzu.

Since making the switch from Wealdstone in 2021, Brennan has helped the Bees blossom from relegation fodder to National League champions as they ended their seven-year exile from the English Football League in style after racking up 102 points.

But Brennan insists Barnet’s successes on-and-off the pitch owe as much to the work of everyone in and around the club and not just those in the dugout.

“We’re all together in this,” said the former Hitchin, Stevenage and Grays Athletic manager. “I always tell everybody, you have to get together to create success in this business and we’ve done it.

“We haven’t got promoted with finances or loads of money or anything like that. We’ve just done it with good old-fashioned hard work and honest people.  

“These kind of awards, that’s a testament to everybody. It’s not just my award, it’s everybody’s award. All the coaching staff, all the players – everyone’s as important as each other.

“How big a part you play, how little a part you play, it doesn’t matter – it all has the same importance in my opinion. So I’m immensely proud to win manager of the year for all those people and it’s a real shame I can’t be there in person.”

The National Game Awards is a celebration of the non-League season – highlighting the community, fans, on-field, and off-field successes of the game outside of the Football League.

The ceremony is held annually by the Non-League Paper, the UK’s number one selling football title and the best place for your non-league news, with this year’s edition hosted at Plough Lane – home of AFC Wimbledon.

Accepting the Sports Ground Development Manager of the Year award on Brennan’s behalf was faithful assistant manager Connor Smith and he declared that the season could not have gone better for Barnet after playoff heartbreak in previous campaigns.

Smith said: “It has been amazing. We got over heartbreak the last two years in the play-offs and last year was really disappointing, we were head and shoulders the second best team in the league but didn’t do ourselves justice in the playoffs.

“It’s well documented that myself and the gaffer stayed around for two, three days after the playoffs and got to work building the team.

“We said it wouldn’t happen again and to rack up over 100 points is an unbelievable achievement and testament to the fans, players and staff, it has been an amazing season for all of us.

“We set out to win the league and not awards but to do it off the back of a successful season makes it even better. It’s amazing to be here and I’m so pleased for the whole club. Everyone deserves it.”  

The Non-League Paper is the UK’s number one selling football title, available every Sunday. For more information please visit www.thenonleaguefootballpaper.com

Featured image credit: Matt Bristow

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Barnes Rugby Club celebrated 20 years of its women’s side earlier this month while increased media attention on the game has led to an uptake in hips.

The club, which marked two decades of female participation on 3 May, has a flourishing first and second team and competes in the South East championship year-round.

For , Barnes offers them a chance to try something new, stay active, and become part of their local rugby community.

BWRFC member Livia Branga said: “I’ve been able to grow confidence in my game which I didn’t have before. The girls are so ive and we have each other’s backs, so you feel confident enough to try different things.

“We’re seeing more men starting to watch women’s rugby as well, which is amazing, and it’s benefiting us all because we’re all part of women’s rugby.”

Women’s rugby has grown at a significant rate over the past five years, with Sport England estimating that as many as 15,000 girls have begun playing since 2019.

With England’s success at the Six Nations earlier this year, as well as the home World Cup, young girls are becoming increasingly exposed to the sport as a result of new broadcasting deals that televise the growth of the game, with Barnes one such example.

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The number of Colombian players in the Premier League hit an all-time high last season, following a rising trend of more Colombians leaving their nation to play in the European top five leagues.

There were nine Colombian players in the English top-flight in 2023/23, vastly suring the 2005-06 to 2022-23 season average of 3.1, data from Transfermarkt shows.

The prominence of Colombian players in the league, including Liverpool’s Luis Diaz and Crystal Palace’s Daniel Muñoz, coincides with a wider trend of Colombian representation in Europe’s top five leagues.

Since the 2019-20 season there has been a steady rise in the number of Colombians coming to the Premier League, a stark contrast to previous years.

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The surge of Colombian talent playing in the Premier League and abroad resonates with a nation which has historically struggled to unite due to divisions of race, class and illegality.

Colombian football tour guide Jairo Calderón s this notion.

He said: “Football means effervescence, ion and instils the spirit of society by spreading its similarities and animosities.

“Colombian football represents Colombian heritage and legacy, uniting the country no matter the domestic conflict.

“Watching the likes of ‘El Pibe’ Carlos Valderrama and Andrés Escobar lets people come together in unison to scream their team on to score a goal.”

Football creates an “avenue of pride” which can be used as inspiration and a powerful way to represent a population in a bid to change foreign stereotypes.

This was evident during the 2014 World Cup when the Colombian Ministry of the Interior surveyed the importance of football to the people, a resounding 94% said it was important or very important.

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University of Leeds Lecturer in Spanish and Latin American Studies Dr Peter Watson spoke on why Colombians and Latin American players historically have failed to adjust to playing in the Premier League.

He said: “If you read a lot of the stories of the players who went to England and even , there is that lack of understanding of what a Colombian player might be and might need.

“There is an expectation of you will learn the language, but that’s not happened straight away.”

Watson also highlighted the Latin American footballer stereotype that English managers saw as a reason for why Colombians and Latin American players have struggled in the English top-flight.

He said: “Fancy Dans, oh Latin American players don’t like it up them, no good at Stoke on a Tuesday night when it is wet.

“That idea of what a South American player was was quite pervasive and, therefore, there is a lack of acceptance of what they can bring.

“I think that slightly reductive essentialization of what a Latin American/Colombian footballer is is increasingly out of date.”

Yet, the rigidness of Premier League managers and teams faded as the top-flight became increasingly more global, being broadcasted to 189 of 193 UN member states in the 2023-24 season, according to the Premier League.

In the 2023-24 season, 1.87billion people followed the Premier League worldwide with a third becoming interested in the last four years, showing the globality of the league.

The increase in Colombian representation in the Premier League has only occurred in the last two seasons, unlike in other European leagues.

Peaks of Colombian players in Europe can be seen in the Italian Serie A in 2013-14 with 13 players and in the Spanish La Liga in 2017-18 with 12.

Watson highlighted cultural and linguistic reasons for why more Colombians opt to play in Spain and Italy than anywhere else in Europe’s top five leagues.

He said: “You are looking at acclimatisation and the difficulty of players coming from a very different environment to Europe.”

The Italian and Spanish cultures align much closer than and England with the Mediterranean nations sharing linguistic similarities and similar eating habits, allowing faster integration of Colombian players, according to Watson.

Historically, large influxes of Italians and Spaniards have migrated to Latin America, principally to Brazil and Argentina on the east coast of the continent.

In the past five seasons, there has been a season average of 28.4 Brazilians and 27 Argentine players in Serie A.

Conversely, in La Liga, there has been a season average of 34.2 Argentines, dominating the Latin American make-up of the league compared to 23.4 Brazilians.

These statistics demonstrate the cultural proximity of Italy and Spain with Latin America with two national footballing powerhouses sending more players to these leagues.

The trend continues in the Premier League where Brazilians dominate the Latin American player populace with Argentina in second and Colombia in third in the last five seasons.

Brazilian and Argentine prevalence in the Premier League and top five European leagues correlates with the superior strength of the national leagues in comparison to the Colombian top-flight.

Colombian football players tend to progress to European football via stints in the USA, Mexico, Argentina and Brazil rather than directly paving a way to the top five European leagues.

Former Aston Villa striker Jhon Durán is a prime example of this trajectory, leaving Colombia for American side Chicago Fire before being snapped up by The Villains in January 2023.

The development of data-led scouting networks in Colombia has also been a key reason for the surge of Colombian representation in Europe.

Strategies implemented by Brighton and the City Group franchises have allowed big name clubs to bring in Colombian players in a talent factory format.

As Watson described, poverty inspires footballing talent to flourish as Colombians and Latin Americans alike share a determined work ethic to survive and to succeed in football.

Not all Colombians have struggled to make it to the top of football, but as more Colombians get noticed, the national footballing quality will continue to grow.

Featured image credit: Coly23 via Wikimedia Commons under CC BY-SA 4.0 licence

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