Everton stars Clare Wheeler and Justine Vanhaevermaet paid a visit to a local school to help promote equality on International Women’s Day.
The midfield pair visited St. Vincent de Paul Catholic Primary School as part of Reading Month to read ‘Ella Plays Football’, a children’s book published by Her Game Too about a young girl who overcomes the stigma of playing football as a girl.
Her Game Too is a campaign that champions women in sport and tackles discrimination.
Everton became the first Premier League club to formally partner with Her Game Too in December 2021 and, on International Women’s Day 2023, Seamus Coleman and then-Everton Women defender Gabby George were announced as the first Her Game Too player advocates in the Premier League and Women’s Super League respectively.
To extend the Club's work with the organisation, current Everton Women captain Megan Finnigan then became a Her Game Too advocate in summer 2023 following George’s departure to Manchester United.
Eager to highlight the importance of International Women’s Day, Wheeler and Vanhaevermaet participated in a Q&A with the young pupils to help spread the message that everyone deserves equal opportunity regardless of their gender.
Reflecting on the visit, Wheeler told evertonfc.com: “We had the pleasure of coming here to St. Vincent de Paul Catholic Primary School to speak about International Women’s Day and Her Game Too.
“We read a book to a Year Three class highlighting the importance of equal access to the game of football and supporting women’s achievements on International Women’s Day.
“Seeing their enthusiasm and energy is just infectious to be around that. I hope they took something away from our visit and it was really good to meet them.
“International Women’s Day is really important to celebrate the achievements of women past and present regardless of religion, cultural background, ethnicity to celebrate what everyone has done.
“It’s really important to start having these conversations with kids and making sure they understand that equal opportunity and equality is really important. It could be as simple as making sure that everyone is able to play the game of football that we all love and make sure we celebrate everyone regardless of their gender.”
At the end of the visit, the Everton duo handed out tickets for the school kids to attend the women’s Merseyside derby at Goodison Park on Sunday 24 March.
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The visit was made possible thanks to the Everton’s School Supporters’ Club programme.
The programme is an extra-curricular engagement tool for youngsters that allows them to meet other like-minded students, make friends and share their loves of the Blues.
More than 100 schools have signed up to the initiative since it launched in 2016, with affiliated schools now in North America, Africa, Asia and across Europe, as well as in the UK.
You can keep up-to-date with the work of Her Game Too via hergametoo.co.uk or via X and Instagram (@hergametoo).
