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Women from across the kingdom will be lacing up their boots and kicking for two causes this Friday ... female equality and breast cancer awareness.
The tournament and the campaign - titled ‘HerGameToo’ - will be held at Abdulrahman Kanoo School Diyar, Muharraq, from 9am until 1pm.
The football match will feature four female squads battling it out on the pitch to combat sexism in the game as well as raise awareness about October’s pink month and the disease that has affected both men and women over the years.
“HerGameToo is a campaign that started in the UK. It raises awareness about sexism in the game as football is often depicted as a male sport, when it’s for everybody and played by both men and women,” explained Sean Brereton, the event organiser, who is the co-owner and director of 24N football academy. “While we aim to promote equality, we also wanted to link up with Think Pink Bahrain and their breast cancer awareness initiatives because it’s ‘her game too’!
“While this year we have four teams competing, we hope to grow to eight teams next year and perhaps this can be a platform for new players to join the pitch. This event is very important to us.”
Former Bahrain national team midfielder Deena Rahman - who now lives in the UK - had made headlines and broken Guinness World Records on several occasions playing for gender equality in the sport.
She set her first world record in 2017 when playing the highest altitude football match at the top of the 5,895m Mount Kilimanjaro. Then in 2018, she set her second world record by competing at the lowest altitude at the Dead Sea in Jordan. The lowest exposed land on Earth is at the Dead Sea shore, at 413 metres below sea level and the lowest altitude game was an official FIFA regulated match held under the patronage of, and in the presence of, Prince Ali bin Hussein of Jordan.
Rahman’s third and fourth records were in France in 2019 when she and other global soccer stars set a new milestone for having the most players and nationalities participating in an official match. The successes came alongside the 2019 FIFA Women’s World Cup in France. Her fifth was notched in 2020 when she hammered 7,876 penalties in 24 hours as part of the Equal Playing Field’s (EPF) challenge.
Her football prowess and eagerness to showcase equality have inspired many female footballers.
“I would like to see more women in the kingdom playing football,” added Brereton. “I also hope to help in raising awareness about Think Pink Bahrain.”
Dr Julie Sprakel, Think Pink Bahrain Breast Cancer Society’s founder, president and chairperson, is thrilled about the Friday tournament and is thankful to the organiser and sponsors.
“What an amazing all-female line-up for this Fridays women’s football event,” she said. “We are thankful to the school for hosting this event, to Sean and his team for driving this initiative in support of Think Pink and the sponsors as well. This will be an annual event which will grow year on year and we are thrilled to have it as part of the official Think Pink Bahrain’s calendar.”
Aside from the tournament, Think Pink Bahrain Breast Cancer Society is running an array of initiatives to raise awareness and funds, which will be utilised for research, to support education and purchase life-saving equipment.
The homegrown non-profit organisation is also running its Dinar for Distance (D4D) campaign for the second year driven by Think Pink Bahrain’s 2022 ambassador, Sameera Al Bitar, who is also Bahrain’s former two-time Olympic swimmer and a passionate triathlete.
Individuals can pledge to run, walk, cycle and swim – or take up whatever exercise they like – for a distance, and friends, family and colleagues can sponsor their goals and celebrate their achievements.
To register for D4D and for other initiatives, follow @thinkpinkbahrain on Instagram.
