BURTON Albion will be celebrating the growing strength of the club’s girls’ and women’s football programme with a special day of activities on Saturday.
The Brewers men’s first team will be taking on Oxford United in League One at the Pirelli Stadium, but they will be sharing the limelight with the women's side of the game to showcase all the good work being done.
This Saturday, the cover of the Matchday Brewer will be handed over to the women’s first team while inside there will be two player interview features and a look forward to their Vitality Women's FA Cup tie against Mansfield Town, which will be played at Rocester FC on Sunday at 2pm.
The Women and Girls Takeover will also see a number of teams and participants from across Burton Albion Football Club and Burton Albion Community Trust attend the fixture to promote and celebrate their love of the game.
Burton Albion Women’s Team, along with the Burton Albion girls’ age groups, Mums Play and Over 30s Vets football teams will take part in pre-match and half-time activities.
It is all part of the club’s campaign to inspire positive change and encourage the further growth of the game which is gaining increasing recognition across the media.
Burton Albion defender Charlotte Jarvis said: “It’s so important that (the women’s and men’s teams) are together and not separate. In these leagues, you should have a link and be able to do things together. It does build a following.
“The (men’s and women’s teams) should be together - I think it’s good (and) it’s encouraging to the players that are here - they like getting the recognition and they appreciate it.”
“Since Tommy (Booth) and Kristian (Gilbert, joint-managers) have come in we’ve been a lot more involved with the first team. If you look at all the top clubs, they’ve got that established link.”
Steve Guest, Women and Girls Coordinator at Burton Albion Community Trust, said: “The programme continues to go from strength-to-strength and is just as important to the clubs as the boys and men’s side of the game.
“At Burton Albion we are fully committed to the continued growth and development of the women’s game, and we hope Saturday will act as a showcase for what we have done so far and encourage more players to join us.”
Brewers men’s first team manager Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink said: “We are delighted to be able to share the limelight with the girls’ and women’s teams on Saturday.
“At Burton Albion we are one club and all work together to promote the game in the most positive, most inclusive way.
“We want to see as many people as possible from all ages and backgrounds involved, whether that’s on or off the pitch, and there’s no better place to start than here at Burton Albion.”