The Kunsill Malti g?all-iSport, with their Girls On the Move programme and in collaboration with the Malta Football Association through their Women’s Football Department within the Technical Centre, organised a Fun Football Festival for girls aged between 9 and 15 years at the Luxol Sports Grounds on Monday 19 March.

This was certainly another opportunity for girls to play football in an atmosphere of fun but at the same time within an environment where they could display their skills and technique.

The activity lasted three hours and offered all participants the satisfaction of mixing together in the name of a most popular sport – football. Furthermore, the girls had an incentive of getting a gift if they brought along another girl. There was an encouraging response to this scheme as 40 girls who already play the game brought with them a friend. These girls eventually took part in a penalty shoot-out against the National Team goalkeepers Michelle Zarb and Dorianne Grech. The prize for the scorers was a ball.

All those registered for the festival received T-shirts, bookmarks, stickers and a girls’ football information booklet. There were a total of 155 girls of whom 70 had not been involved in football before. Accordingly, the event catered for all participants of different capabilities, starting with the very beginners and going up to the elite girls enrolled in the MFA Academy.

Girls forming part of the Women’s National Team were in attendance to help with their coaching during the festival. They also mixed with the participants. These were Charlene Zammit, Kathleen Saliba, Dionne Tonna, Dorienne Theuma, Antoinette Sammut, Rachel Cuschieri, Emma Xuereb, Mandy Debono, Natasha Pace, Rebecca D’Agostino, Michelle Zahra and Dorianne Grech. A surprise but very welcome figure was that of national team player and ace-scorer Michael Mifsud who signed autographs for the girls.

Michael Mifsud even stated, “I would like to say a big well done to all the organisers and coaches. Plus I would like to say thank you, it was a blast! I really enjoyed myself. It was a very good idea, all the girls had loads of fun. You can see that there is a lot of talent and a big improvement. You can also see by the good result the Women’s National Team had yesterday. A big well done and thank you!”

This was a very well-organised event courtesy of the KMS programme and backed by the Women’s Football Department of the MFA Technical Centre. All participants and their parents together with several girls’ nurseries and women national team players also present could not but enjoy this free activity on a bright day from every aspect.

The event also attracted the attention of the Northern Ireland women’s U-19 team and their coaching staff, besides KMS and MFA officials.