Newcastle United creates mentorship programme for female employees and community projects | OneFootball

Over the next 12 months, the football club will roll-out a two-phased mentorship programme which aims to accelerate action in taking steps to provide the new skills and workshops for female workers across the football club and Newcastle United Foundation.

SUPPORTING OUR PEOPLE

Senior females and male allies within the football club will sign up to become mentors for younger colleagues, sharing their professional experiences, delivering workshops and providing advice for personal development to those who sign up to the initiative.

Last year Newcastle United became a corporate member of the game-changing Women in Football organisation, whose expertise and knowledge will support the club in delivering training to senior figures, which can then be filtered throughout the club's workforce. Insights gathered through the club's Women's Group highlighted the importance of mentorship and career coaching to help women to achieve their full potential.

INSPIRING CAREERS ACROSS THE COMMUNITY

Numerous research sources have indicated that up to 40 per cent of young girls stop playing football when they reach their teenage years. Despite this high rate of dropouts, Newcastle United Foundation's girls' football programme continues to deliver around 4,000 hours of physical activity a year for more than 250 11-16 year olds.

Identifying that some girls are still likely to stop playing football, female employees of Newcastle United are committing to deliver career workshops to the girls' football programme, highlighting the diverse range of career paths that are available, with the ambition of inspiring the youngsters to pursue a number of routes which will allow them to still have a role in football or sport.

Dominica O'Neil, Director of People and Talent, commented: "Everybody at the football club is extremely proud of our commitment to equality and inclusivity and to creating environments in which people can achieve their full potential; not only for our employees, but also within our community.

"Over the last year we have seen a significant uplift in recruitment of female colleagues and this initiative will play a part in ensuring we continue to nurture our talent, with a number of support and development mechanisms. To be able to take our knowledge and learnings into our community is something that we are passionate about and we hope to make a real, lasting impression which could encourage women to develop their careers in football."

ONGOING COMMITMENTS

Last year Newcastle United became a corporate member of Women in Football, gaining access to a range of resources to support and drive its commitment to gender equality. Through the membership, the club will deliver leadership and allyship support, working together to accelerate action.

In 2024 the club also launched its first internal Women's Group, open to all employees, with the group focusing on career growth, support systems and further enhancing an inclusive culture through training on unconscious bias and other key topics.