When a record crowd walked to Old Trafford for the Women's Euro 2022 opener at Old Trafford this week, they will have passed a billboard at Victoria Warehouse that said: "We're not big enough to sponsor the Euros (yet), so we've got this billboard instead."
The advert was for homegrown business Miss Kick, started from the bedroom of former Manchester City and Liverpool youngster Grace Vella. It will have been seen by thousands ahead of England vs Austria on Wednesday, with a record attendance set for a UEFA Women's Euro fixture. As women's football gets the attention it deserves this month, Grace is hoping youngsters can see a pathway to a future career in the game that she never could.
After dropping out of football as a teenager, Grace went to university and then decided to return to the game and set up Miss Kick - a clothing brand and charitable foundation aiming to inspire the next generation of women's footballers and address the high number of teenage girls dropping out of football at a crucial time.
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In the space of four years, Grace has grown Miss Kick to a worldwide network of thousands of girls and women in football, and the brand even set up a team in the US - Miss Kick FC - which helps talented college players, including three US Women's National Team youth players.
Speaking at an event in Hulme this week, attended by England youth internationals Sophie Baggaley and Gabby George, Grace told MEN Sport about the barriers stopping young girls from pursuing a career in football, and what Miss Kick are doing to help address those issues.
"We've invited young girls from the local area to have an opportunity to speak with some of England's rising stars just about certain topics that have been shown to allow girls to drop out of sport. Things like body image, fear of judgement. Because when I was younger, I used to play football, I never had an opportunity like this.
"I'm from Skelmersdale, my family are big Liverpool fans, so I got chucked into the sport from an early age so always loved it. I played for Liverpool and Man City in my youth and then for me I didn't end up pursuing a career in football. I went to university and that led me to set up Miss Kick Foundation because, like I said, I didn't get things like this when I was younger.
"Football has been my passion and football has honestly changed my life. I want other girls to have the same chance that if you want to go and pray play pro-football or they want to have a business like what I've done or have a career in football. I want them to be able to see girls going out there doing that because I think that's so important.
"The statistics show that there is this big drop off in the teenage years and that's a real pinnacle part of your life and decisions you make in that part of your childhood stay with you as you grow older. So to be able to give teenagers that opportunity today is really great.
"We're allowing every girl, no matter their background, the opportunity to get involved in something like this. So this is all completely free. And it's just about giving girls more opportunities on and off the pitch in football."
The event in Hulme saw United goalkeeper Baggaley answer questions from the young players present before taking part in a training session.
"They asked very, very good questions, actually some difficult to answer ones," she said. "There was one about having children and being in in women's sport which was quite a deep question, I didn't know how to answer, to be honest. And then very good ones about role models and advice.
"When we were younger, we didn't really have people to do something like this. Now that we are older and in that position, it's important that we do give back to the community. I've played with a lot of players who haven't decided to continue or haven't quite made it or just fell out in one way or the other. If we can prevent that from happening as much as possible, we won't lose as much talent.
"I was driving here today and you could see the banners up for the Euros. To have that publicity and for the kids to have role models to look up to is really important."
With a successful clothing brand, aimed specifically at girls and women, and a charitable foundation, Miss Kick took the extra step of establishing a club in the US this year, expanding their influence stateside.
"The whole goal of that was to just try and get the brand out there and connect with some amazing players," Grace explained.
"So we launched that a couple of months ago, and they're doing pretty well. And it's yeah, it's doing all right! It's a semi-professional league. So it's a bit different out in the US how it's structured. The girls who play at Miss Kick FC, they're college level, so they're like D1 college students. So they're playing at UCLA, Harvard, Texas, really high-level players.
"We've got three under-23 national US players on the team and the league is in the summertime so when they come home from college, and they don't have any time off out there, I realised they needed another team to play for. So they come and play it in the PSL, which is what Miss Kick's in.
"It's crazy. I am from Skelmersdale, a really small town and I got to go to America this summer and the furthest I've been is Spain! To go to the US and to experience that with all the team back in England, we worked so hard to make that happen. We decided we were gonna do the project in January, and we had four months to make a badge, see the kits and to see that all come alive on the stage was amazing."
With a home Euros this month, Grace is hoping for the next generation of girls to be inspired and convinced that they too can be footballers.
"I am hoping it really inspires the nation to get behind the women's game," she said. "It's nothing more than the players deserve and I hope it really inspires the girls to see like they can go and achieve and they can go and play at Old Trafford. The opportunity is right there for them to work hard and dream big.
"When I was younger my role models were always men and there's only so much you can aspire to be like that because I couldn't look on and play in the Premier League. So visibility on the pitch, visibility off the pitch will hopefully inspire them to pursue a career in the sport and that'll hopefully make things change a bit quicker."
With ambition like that and the impressive growth shown in just four years, the cheeky reference on the billboard to sponsoring the Euros in the future doesn't seem out of reach at all.
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