More girls playing soccer than netball

MORE children are playing football than any other sport and even girls are now kicking a ball over playing netball, according to research.

Caboolture FC secretary and administrator Lynn Wooding said the club had a large number of girls and young women at the club.

"We have about 23 per cent of our players who are actually female, which is really good," Ms Wooding said.

"I think the reason girls get involved in football is the skills they learn."

Ms Wooding said the social interaction between girls and boys in the sport was also a positive for young footballers.

"It's good camaraderie between the groups because of the ages six to 11, the groups are actually a mixed team," she said.

"We are trying to push for more girls to be playing in the league because it's just such a fantastic sport."

Research conducted by Roy Morgan found half of all children aged six to 13 were now playing football.

Football has gained 108,000 more players in the last year to narrowly overcome swimming and netball as sports favoured by girls and boys.

Football Brisbane spokesperson Ian Judd said the social element of the sport was definitely a drawcard for young girls.

"It's a good trend. I think certainly within the female aspect there's a social element," Mr Judd said.

Mr Judd said exposure in mainstream media in the summer months had also helped increase registration numbers.

"Women's football overall is a growing area for the sport," he said.

With Caboolture FC's recent migration to Football Brisbane, many things are set to change at the club for girls and boys of all ages.

"It's a steep learning curve for us. Their procedures are slightly different to what Sunshine Coast Football is," Ms Wooding said.

The move will require significantly less travel for the junior teams.

Ms Wooding said teams up to under-11 age levels would only be travelling to one of 16 clubs in the region on the weekend.

"They'll only be playing in the Moreton Bay Regional Council zoned area," she said.

"When we do move to our new sports ground at the Burpengary Regional Sports Centre from 2018 to 2019, it's less distance for them to travel and for the other teams to travel to us too."

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