PUPILS at a County Durham primary school have written to the Football Association saying their girls are not “brainless Barbie dolls” following advice aimed at getting more girls into the sport.

Both girls and boys at Lumley Primary School in Great Lumley, near Chester-le-Street, have railed against tips by the FA, including that girls should be offered colourful, nice-smelling bibs and pink whistles.

The Northern Echo:

Grest Lumley Junior Scholl. Picture: Glen Minikin

They did not believe the Considerations For Increasing Participation In Women And Girls Football paper was real when they read it during lessons about gender equality.

Among the advice were tips such as offering stamps and prizes for players to keep attending sessions.

The document also suggested some beginners might be put off by being hit by a heavy ball, so coaches should consider using smaller ones.

Girls should be allowed to play music during football sessions, the paper suggested, and their games should be indoors in the winter.

The school’s deputy head Carol Hughes, who happened on the document while researching for a writing week on the theme of gender equality, said: “I was absolutely horrified and actually laughed out loud at some of the suggestions.”

One tip which particularly angered the Lumley pupils was "Allow girls the time to check their phones within a session or incorporate a Twitter break so participants can tweet about the session".

The year five and six pupils were encouraged to respond to the FA as part of a writing project and Nancy, aged 10, gave the governing body both barrels.

She wrote: "I am absolutely astonished that you have the nerve to write all of that absolute rubbish about women and girls playing football.

"I am a girl myself, I like playing football and your Considerations For Increasing Participation In Women And Girls Football is totally wrong!"

She added: "We will not go to your training sessions just because you give us stamps!"

Her letter told the FA chief Martin Glenn in no uncertain terms that girls do not need to constantly update social media.

"Your tone of voice sounds as though you think we are brainless baby Barbies!"

Another added: “We don’t need pink whistles and we we don’t have big mouths, so why do we need big mouth water bottles.”

Attacking midfielder Grace, 10, said: "I honestly thought the FA guidelines were a joke and I felt insulted by them.

"I've been playing football in the back garden with my brother since I was three and I love the game, I don't need a pink water bottle to get me interested.

"I play football because I love whacking the ball into the net, that's the best feeling, but if I score I don't want to run off and get my phone to tweet about it.

"Phone breaks are not part of the game, players in the Premier League don't stop for phone breaks so why would we want to do that? I think the FA doesn't understand that girls just like football and we don't need to dress in pink to do that. The school kit is blue and we like it that way."

Team-mate Nancy said: "I started playing football when I was nine, I support Newcastle and I just enjoy playing, so I was quite mad when I saw what the FA had written.

"It treats us like babies who play with Barbie dolls, we're not like that we can actually play just because we enjoy it.

"When we play we want to win the match, we're not worried about what we look like or what colour we were or whether the kits smell nice."

Senior teaching assistant Colin Whisker coaches the girls' team at Lumley.

He said: "These girls get stuck in on the pitch, they're competitive and love the game, they're not worried about breaking a nail.

"Some of them are as good and better than the boys and there are no prima donnas amongst them either, they are keen to learn and listen to advice.

"The FA have got this so wrong, their advice reads like something from a different era."

A spokesman for the FA said: "The FA is committed to doubling female football participation by 2020 and to growing the women's game at all levels, from elite to grassroots.

"The document was created following research into women and girls playing football, with feedback from both participants and non-participants.

"We're very pleased to see how many girls at the school play football and the passion for the game that they clearly have."