Homeless women kick back

LIVERPOOL may be famous as the city of the reds and the blues, but it's not all about men - as players like Olympian Fara Williams have proven.

Now the England women's football team captain is passing on her soccer skills to homeless women in Liverpool.

Liverpool Homeless Football Club (LHFC) has been in existence since 2007 and earlier this year began to get women involved.

"Many of the young women involved never played football before and the idea is to get them involved in physical activity, improve their health and have fun, as well as making friends," says the club's Ben Carpenter.

Fara is herself a patron of the Homeless FA and has personal experience of homelessness. She coaches every Thursday afternoon at the Powerleague, Whittle Street, L5 2SQ.

Looking back on a summer which saw women's football evolve in association with Everton in the Community and the Homeless FA, Ben says "We're keen to build on that momentum."

He says the club is delighted to have Fara, who was on this year's Team GB, as a coach.

This year, two of the Liverpool ladies, Becca Mushrow from Toxteth and Jessica Lomax from Huyton (pictured above) were selected to be members of the England team which travelled to Mexico for the Homeless World Cup.

Becca is now doing a radio course in association with the club, and she and Jessica plan to study to be coaches.