Players in a York girls football club are standing up against harassment after being accused of cheating - because some have short hair.
Footballers, parents and coaches from York Railway Institute AFC U12 team have launched an anti-harassment campaign after multiple incidents in which girls were accused of cheating by ‘being boys’ on account of their short hair.
The incidents, which club members say have happened repeatedly since the team formed as the U10s, has seen grown adults – parents and coaches – target players with short hair and demand play is stopped.
RECOMMENDED READING:
Wendy Topham, whose daughter Flo plays for the club and has been subject to abuse on multiple occasion, came up with the idea to make t-shirts after speaking to fellow parents.
Emblazoned with the motto - "girls can have short hair - get over it" – the team have taken to wearing the shirts for warm-ups to get their message across without singling out any individual.
Wendy said: “It’s made Cami and Flo feel a lot more confident knowing they’re all together as a team and the other team cannot have missed the message on the shirt.
The girls on the team wearing their t-shirts (Image: Provided) “At one point Flo even said I want to grow my hair and I know she didn’t want to, but it’s just how anxious it made her feel. She doesn’t want to stand out and be labelled – she just likes having short hair and wants to play football.
“Even if they think 'oh that looks a bit like a boy', it’s a girls’ only team and there’s strict rules – all regulated by the FA – it’s almost like questioning the credibility of the coach.
“This can’t be happening in 2025, but it is and it’s ridiculous, it’s been happening to a lot of girls.
Flo and Cami (Image: Provided) “The team are so lovely and supportive, and all the parents are too. This is showing the girls to stand up for what’s right - which is a really good message for them in life.”
Aimee Little, whose daughter Cami also plays for York RI, is appalled by the treatment her daughter and the rest of the team has received.
She said: “A coach who stopped the game didn’t just question their gender; he accused them of playing in a boyish manner. The fact girls are good at playing football and are having to qualify the fact they’re girls after having scored a goal is outrageous.”
The team are wearing the shirts whilst they do their warm-ups (Image: Provided) Aimee’s husband, Betrand Porhel, also spoke out saying: “It started in the past year or so, we’ve had loads of opposition team accuse our girls team of having boys.
“Sometimes it comes from parents, sometimes from coaches, and its really destabilised the girls. At one game, the game had to be stopped as a coach was insistent our daughters were boys.
“It really triggered something and started with a t-shirt to support our girls and show they can have short hair and also be a girl. We’ve realised it’s not a problem just for our York team but a national problem that it’s happening.
The team in their shirts (Image: Provided) “We were surprised as we like to think we live in a progressive society, but these comments are back to 50 years ago and this is why we bring matters back into our hands.”
Kelly Chesterton, the team coach, said: “It’s coming from the adults; the girls get to play football against people who are more mature than the adults.
“We’ve had enough, we’ve been to our club and guided us then we went to the FA – North Riding – and they can only do so much and there must be a 1,000 other kids being treated this way so we need to scream it from the rooftop.
A close up of the shirts (Image: Provided) “As a parent myself and a coach to loads of girls, we need to stand together and shout from the rooftop. We want people to stop and let them play football.
“The more people we can reach out to, the better for us and them. These things can have a negative impact on kids, people could harm themselves and be in dark places if people keep doing this over appearance – that’s not the end result, they should be comfortable.
“It goes the other way too – if boys want to have long hair, they can.”
Flo and Cami (Image: Provided) Aimee added: “You wonder why children drop out of sport when they’re entering adolescence and it’s because the focus is on how a girl looks instead of their ability and that’s so deeply frustrating because we should encourage girls to play sport.
“We know the evidence is there on how beneficial sport is for not only physical but mental wellbeing. The issue is about girls going out to play sport and be themselves with confidence without any discriminatory behaviour.”
Kelly continued: “They do all the time - for me, it shows great bravery. When incidents happened, I said to the girls that we do not need to be here and you do not need to be subject to abuse, they said 'we’re here to play football'.
The team campaign for her game too (Image: Provided)“Just because a girl has short hair and is good at football doesn’t mean she’s a boy. We should never be held back by anyone and neither should the girls."
The team has also been inundated with support from other local clubs including York RI women’s team, many of whom also have short hair, and teams in Wigginton showing their support.
