Gas Girls' new away kit supports St Pauls Carnival

The club said St Pauls was an area where they wanted to ensure there were "no barriers" to girls accessing sport

Bristol Rovers Women's team has linked up with St Pauls Carnival to encourage more girls to take up playing football.

Sponsorship for the front of the Gas Girls' shirts has been dedicated to the carnival due to be held next year.

The club's co-founder Matthew Davies said he hoped the partnership would help them engage better in the area.

"We can start integrating ourselves into the community a bit more and hopefully inspire this next generation of girls to access football," he added.

St Pauls Carnival chair Levi Roots said the away shirt "makes me want to pick up a ball and start playing".

"It's an honour to support the Gas Girls and we're looking forward to Carnival 2023," he added.

Mr Davies said: "With the demographics of St. Paul's and diversity within the area, I think it's important for us to ensure that every girl has an opportunity to access football, and unfortunately not every girl has that.

"And that's not pigeon holing St Pauls, but it is an area that we want to really impact."

Levi Roots said the design of the team's away kit was "amazing"

The carnival's executive director LaToyah McAllister-Jones said they were "so proud" to collaborate on the new kit.

"To be supported by such a great Bristol institution is fantastic and a great example of city-wide partnership," she added.

The Gas Girls, run by Bristol Rovers Community Trust, have previously donated sponsorship on the front of their away shirts to Bristol Pride and the #HerGameToo campaign.

Mr Davies said when the team relaunched in 2019 they "had an opportunity to try and push ourselves a little bit further and do something a bit different".

"We were very keen to make sure we didn't just run a football team because anyone could do that," said Mr Davies

He said while the kits only lasted one season, the partnerships were ongoing "to see what we can help with in the community".

"It could be helping a school with designing and making floats for the carnival.

"It could be us putting on a mini football festival, or a tournament for girls or kids going into schools around St Pauls.

"You never know what what we might be able to find.

"In years or decades to come we might find a future Lioness," he added.