Homegrown Wins: Giving ground back to girls.
Forest funds female football teams across London, and gives their riders the chance to nominate one more team.
Homegrown Wins is our celebration of grassroots football, and the belief that big futures start on small pitches.
By backing grassroots football, we’re not just backing the foundations of the game. Men and boys are more likely to cycle than women and girls, and the same is true for football. As London’s homegrown ebike, our aim is to level the playing field by giving ground back to females (literally). That's why this year, we are proudly funding female grassroots football teams across London.
Movement sits at the heart of everything we do. Every day, we help Londoners move across the city connecting neighbourhoods in ways that are kinder to both the planet, and your pocket. But movement, for us, goes beyond getting people from A to B; it's also about facilitating community movements that give space for people to belong.
Community has always been core to Forest, and Homegrown Wins became our way of bringing together communities, mobility, and sport. We want to help continue the vital work that gives ground back to girls.
Small boots. Big dreams.
To mark this moment, we co-hosted a football awards ceremony with South London Girls, celebrating the players, coaches and parents who keep grassroots football alive.
When we asked Jamie, one of the South London Girls coaches, what his dream prize would be for the girls, his answer was simple: a football. Why? So that they could keep practicing and continue building their confidence off the pitch. So, that's what we gave them. Each of the girls received one of our limited football scarves, alongside a brand new football to take home.
As Jamie put it:
"Providing the girls with a girls-only space helps them with their access to sports, to football in particular, and allows them to thrive in a space that they feel is their own [creating] a judgement-free, empowering environment." That "growth in confidence", that was the real win.
Tuesday nights at training.
We also spent time with Ryan FC Women's Group during one of their training sessions to capture the everyday moments that matter. Before 2025, this team didn't exist. Funding from Forest helped Ryan FC to launch these sessions for an entire year taking women's roles in football off the sidelines and onto the pitch. Within just eight sessions around 25 women have had access to pitches and the sense of camaraderie was noticeable. On an evening where this was the only women's session running across the pitches, it was impossible not to feel the impact of what funding like this makes possible.
We designed a football scarf.
Alongside the campaign, we are launching a limited-edition football scarf. The phrase “London is a Forest” comes from a simple truth: over 20% of London is covered by trees. By definition, it’s a forest. And like any forest, its strength comes from what grows together.
This scarf is an emblem for the communities, teammates, and support systems that make grassroots football possible. Worn on the sidelines, in the stands, or on the street, it’s a symbol of the human forest we’re building across the city.
Your Turn. Nominate your team, get a scarf.
We believe in grassroots. Small beginnings with big impact. So, we’re opening submissions for a third round of Forest-backed funding, supporting pitch hire for a women’s grassroots football team for one year. Why? Because we want to invite our riders to shape what comes next.
How to get involved:
- Submit your team (whether established or just getting started) and tell us why your community needs support.
- Submit before the 15th of February, and you could win 1 of 50 limited football scarves.
- From all submissions, one team will be selected to receive full pitch-hire sponsorship for the year.
This is about giving ground back to women and girls and supporting the places where movement begins.
