Although I personally never experienced any issues with gender during my days in primary school, it was definitely something that I noticed at lunch time when playing football with my friends in the playground.  Every day me and the “lads” would sprint out to play football at break time and get the teams sorted straight away to get the match going. Occasionally, a few of the girls would come over and ask to play and some of the louder boys would send them away with a “girls can’t play football!”. I remember it always shocked me when they said this, because I knew most of them were more talented footballers than many of the boys playing. Thinking back on it, I wish I had stood up for the girls and got them involved.

Hopefully now, after the success of the 2015 Woman’s Football World Cup in Canada, this stereotype will disappear from the playground.