The Beautiful Game for All: Emma Iball's Mission to Give Girls a Sporting Chance

Emma Iball remembers all too clearly the sting of rejection she felt as a schoolgirl in 1983 when she was told she could no longer train with the boys because the county junior Football League was creating a boys-only competition.

"We were all playing together - no discrimination," Emma recalls. "Then suddenly, us girls were told we couldn't come anymore."

As Club Secretary at Buckley Town Football Club in North Wales, Emma provides the vital link between players, club representatives, and official organisations like the Football Association of Wales (FAW). Her work has earned the club a place in the upcoming "Big Football Day on the Cobbles"- a special event on 12th July where Coronation Street will be transformed into a festival of football, powered by The National Lottery to showcase its three decades of investment in women's sport.

None of Buckley Town FC's achievements would be possible without National Lottery funding, part of the £30 million raised each week for good causes throughout the UK. For 30 years, this funding has been a foundational supporter of women's sport, particularly when commercial investment was minimal.

History repeated itself when Emma's daughter, now 26, faced the same barrier at age eight when boundary changes once again pushed girls out of the sport. These twin disappointments ignited a determination in Emma that still burns today.

In 2019, in conjunction with North East Wales Area Association (NEWFA) she took action, organising monthly football sessions at Colliers Park- a National Lottery-funded facility-drawing 250 primary school girls from across North Wales. From these beginnings grew the North East Wales Girls' Football League, which Emma describes as "the biggest thing I've done."

"Now there's not going to be another girl that's going to be disappointed like I was and my daughter was," Emma says, pride evident in her voice.

Her dedication hasn't gone unnoticed. In 2020, Emma was voted the FAW 'Volunteer of the Year'. Today, Buckley Football Club boasts girls' teams from under-7s to under-15s, with former England and Everton player Michelle Evans coaching the under-8s team.

Impact far beyond playing skills

Emma, who turns 55 next month, has witnessed girls develop confidence through continued participation, finding strength in the friendships formed both on and off the pitch. This has become more of a social platform as the U15 girls enjoy each other’s company throughout the season away from the pitch with trips to Go Ape at Delamere Forest and the ‘Im a Celebrity Get Me Out of Here’ castle for Halloween last year. These are all squad building sessions and enhancing the special friendship between the girls.

"For me, the biggest thing is the smiles at the end of the day," Emma explains. "So long as they're smiling, then we've done our job."

The financial reality for clubs like Buckley is stark. Pitch hire alone costs £39,000 annually—an astronomical sum for a volunteer-run organisation committed to keeping costs down for struggling families.

"If it wasn't for National Lottery funding, where would clubs like ourselves be? Stuck, really stuck," Emma admits. "We don't want to put prices up for parents in this day and age because they're struggling themselves."

The club has a proud history, having produced Premier League players Danny Collins and Ryan Shawcross from its junior boys' ranks. Now, Emma hopes the girls' programme will create similar pathways, supported by initiatives like the FAW's "Huddle" programme that allows girls to participate on a drop-in basis.

The club creates special moments for young players too. Junior teams get opportunities to play on the first team's pitch at the Globe, and take turns being mascots for matches. Four girls recently served as mascots for the Wales Women’s national squad—an experience Emma says "will stay with them for the rest of their lives."

These connections last far beyond childhood. Emma's 30-year-old son still meets with teammates he played with as a teenager. "They still hire the Astro and have a kick about... and they still go on holiday together," Emma says. "It's lifelong friends, which is what you're after, isn't it?"

As Wales women's national team prepares for their first-ever European Championship, Emma sees even brighter days ahead for women's football. The North Wales Women's League semi-finals will soon be played at Buckley's ground, giving the girls a glimpse of what they're aiming for.

For Emma, who leads a dedicated team of volunteers, the rewards can't be measured in trophies or statistics.

"I get paid in smiles," she says simply. For thousands of girls across North Wales who now have opportunities their mothers and grandmothers could only dream of, those smiles represent something even more valuable- a future without limits.