She Kicks magazine unveiled as Kent Women's Cup and Plate title sponsors

She Kicks have been unveiled as the new sponsor for the Kent FA’s Women’s Cup and Plate for the 2014-2015 season.

The partnership with She Kicks, the premier magazine for women’s football, comes as a result of huge development around the girls’ and women’s game in the county.

The Kent Women’s Cup final between Gillingham Ladies and Charlton Athletic was held at an elite venue (Maidstone United) for the first time last season as a 400 strong crowd came to watch as Gillingham Ladies beat their rivals 3-0.

Similarly, the growth of the Women’s Plate saw Bromley Ladies and Herne Bay Ladies draw a record breaking crowd to Sevenoaks Town’s Greatness Park.

In Kent there are 140 girls and women’s teams, 65 girls’ and women’s clubs, 250 qualified female coaches, 34 female referees, one outstanding Player Development Centre for Girls and the Kent Women’s Representative side are current Southern Counties Cup Competition holders having retained their title for a second year after an unbeaten 2013/14 season.

Girls’ and women’s football is pushing ahead of the game quickly in Kent and Paul Dolan, chief executive of the Kent FA, explained how the partnership with She Kicks would help push the girls’ and women’s game even further.

He said: “All our commercial partners have a vested interest in grassroots football, so to welcome on board She Kicks is a real delight.

“She Kicks has a fantastic history of promoting the women’s game across the pyramid and through to grassroots. As we look to grow participation and encourage young girls to play football, we’re also keen to improve the coverage of the senior and elite side of the game.

“We look forward to working with She Kicks to encourage more young girls to take up the various opportunities there are to play football at different levels; from our Goals for Girls festivals to our outstanding Girls Player Development Centre.

“We also see our partnership as the perfect opportunity to combine forces and help engage people’s interest from across the game in both our women’s cups and the women’s game more generally.”

Anthony Nolan, sales & distribution manager at She Kicks, commented: “We are looking forward to working with the Kent FA; it’s an exciting opportunity for us. The game continues to grow right across the region, participation levels are on the rise, a strong infrastructure is in place and this provides us with a solid platform to continue spreading the word about She Kicks throughout Kent.

“One of our goals over the next 12 months is to increase our coverage of the game at grassroots level and we hope that teams across Kent will get in touch.”

She Kicks is the online community and bi-monthly magazine for girls’ and women’s football in the UK.

Established in 1996 as On the Ball magazine it caters for all levels of the sport, from grassroots through to international level.

Visit The Kent Football Association’s website: www.kentfa.com