Andy Devaney
Amy Dowden has swapped the ballroom floor for the football pitch as part of a new push to encourage women of all ages and abilities to give the game a go — even if their last meaningful kick came somewhere between school PE and a misplaced garden volley.
The Strictly Come Dancing star and MBE joined women from North London grassroots side The Heath FC for breakfast before taking part in her first women-only Just Play session in Hampstead.
It was not Wembley. There were no roaring stands, VAR delays or midfielders pointing furiously at spaces nobody else can see. But in many ways, that was rather the point.
This was football stripped back to its simplest form: a ball, a group of women, a welcoming pitch and the quiet removal of that dreadful little voice that says, “This probably isn’t for me.”
The FA’s Just Play Sessions Aim To Remove The Fear Factor
The FA’s Just Play programme is designed as a casual, non-competitive route into football for adults aged 16 and over.
More recently, the format has expanded to include female-only sessions, giving women a space to find community, build confidence, learn new skills and enjoy the physical and mental health benefits of football without feeling they have accidentally wandered into a trial for the Champions League.
For women who have never played, or who drifted away from the sport years ago, that matters.
Football can still carry a peculiar intimidation factor. It has its own language, its own rituals and, occasionally, its own tribal nonsense. But recreational football at this level is less about nutmegs and tactics boards, and more about movement, laughter, friendship and discovering that being “good enough” was never really the entry requirement.
The Heath FC Shows What Grassroots Football Can Be
Amy met four women whose routes into football were all different, but whose reasons for staying were strikingly familiar.
There was Lu, who was inspired by her daughters to take up football in her late 30s. There was Lili, a doctor who kicked her first football at 55. There was Ewelina, who found football while looking to build female friendships after moving to a new area. And there was Jen, who set up the sessions with funding, equipment and training provided by The FA.
The Heath FC now brings together women from their early 20s to their late 50s, creating something that has grown beyond a weekly kickabout into a proper social network in North London.
That is the clever bit. The football is the hook. The community is the thing that keeps people coming back.
The Biggest Barrier Is Not Ability — It Is Belief
Interest in women’s football has surged in recent years, helped by greater visibility, better access and the continued rise of the women’s game at every level.
Current figures show that 14% of women in England are involved in playing football in some format. But that figure drops sharply to 4% among women aged 40 and above.
New insight from The FA shows that the biggest barrier for women aged 40 and over who are interested in playing football for the first time is the belief that they are “too old” to start.
That one is a stubborn old mule of an excuse.
Age may change how quickly you recover, how loudly your knees contribute to the conversation, and how many times you mutter “steady on” during a warm-up. But it does not disqualify anyone from joy, movement, friendship or the deeply satisfying business of kicking a football cleanly for the first time.
Other common barriers include not feeling “good enough”, worrying that football is too physical, lacking confidence, or simply choosing other activities instead.
Just Play is trying to answer those concerns with something refreshingly simple: turn up, have a go, and nobody is keeping a scouting report.
Amy Dowden’s First Taste Of Football
Speaking at the Just Play session in Hampstead, Amy Dowden MBE said: “Since my cancer diagnosis, I am like ‘I’m going to try new things’.
“I absolutely loved it. I never thought those words would come out of my mouth – that I loved playing football. It was just fun with absolutely no judgement.
“I’ve never really thought about football until now. What I would say is, go give it a go – what have you got to lose?”
There is the heart of it.
This was not about producing the next Lioness by Thursday lunchtime. It was about creating a doorway into football for women who may never have felt invited before.
Why This Matters For Women’s Health And Confidence
The benefits of recreational football are not limited to fitness, though there is plenty of that. It improves cardiovascular health, coordination, balance, strength and stamina. It also offers something many adults find harder to come by with each passing year: a regular, low-pressure social connection.
For women over 40, particularly those returning to sport after years away, that combination can be powerful.
Football asks you to move, react, communicate and laugh at yourself when your first touch behaves like a startled pigeon. It is exercise disguised as play, which is often the best sort.
The brilliance of a women-only Just Play session is that it lowers the emotional cost of starting. No judgement. No league-table pressure. No need to know what a false nine is, which is fortunate, because half the people paid to explain it still make it sound like tax legislation.
The Takeaway: Start Where You Are
Amy Dowden’s involvement brings attention, but the real story belongs to the women who turned up before the cameras and will still be there after them.
The Heath FC is a reminder that grassroots sport works best when it feels human. Welcoming. Slightly chaotic. Full of people who thought they had left team sport behind, only to find it waiting for them in a friendlier form.
For women who have ever wondered whether football has passed them by, the answer from Hampstead is clear enough.
It has not. It has simply been waiting for you to arrive.