As the biggest Women’s World Cup ever begins Down Under for England on Saturday, Kent’s top Women’s team is looking ahead going into the new season with a new home… and a new name.
Now called Chatham Town Women, the former Gillingham Women go into their first full season under the umbrella of the Chats and will start the new campaign at the Bauvill Stadium which is a marked contrast to twelve months ago when the club were on the point of folding without a home.
But whilst the club do now have a future, boss Dan Logue, in an exclusive interview with KSN, has warned that the Women’s game still has hurdles to clear and the coming season could well prove a campaign too far for some if they don’t get the right backing…
Talking after his side’s first warm up game, the obvious passion for the women’s game in the manager’s eyes is clear for all to see.
“It’s something that we’re all passionate about and I think that there’s a lot of want and drive to make it the best it can be,” he told us, “but you’ve also got to remember that it’s still very much in its’ infancy at the club with a woman’s team. We must remember where we’ve come from and not get too carried away too soon!”
“The advances that we’ve made as a club in twelve months leaves us responsible to manage expectations – we have to manage the players and above!”
“We are still a long way behind a lot of clubs in our League – yes we have come a long way in the last year, but then if you look at the other clubs, we are a massive way behind some of them.”
“And those clubs are still moving forward as well, so we have to make sure that we live within our means and we manage expectations knowing that we’ve got a good group of players as we put in more structure and putting in more details to the way that we play…”
“We’ve had some girls move onto pastures new which is of course normal in football but we’ve added as well. We’ve added Natalie (Taylor) from Crawley and Tash (Stephens) from Oxford, and have a number of trialists in at the moment and kept a lot as we look for the new season.”
“It’s not wrong of the ladies game to hope for another boost to come out of the World Cup, but I’m not sure that more can change in a short space of time without another massive influx of infrastructure and help from the powers that be.”
“Obviously there’s been a change in the Championship since we won the Euros last year, which then has brought about a change in our League as the National League has put out expectations and there are big changes that have come out for us, and so again managing things behind the scenes we have to look at things and it can only go one of two ways for the Clubs where Clubs will either back it and go with it, or the Clubs won’t back it and they’ll fold.”
“The authorities want to make it more professional or semi professional as possible – which is great and will grow the game – but if the backing’s not there, you will struggle!”
“It all comes down to the support that you get. We’re lucky as those behind the scenes here want to make this team successful and we’re in a position where we want to make it successful as much as we can.”
“But there are other Clubs that don’t have that support and don’t have the means to make it successful and they may struggle to keep up with the expectations of the League.”
“You could say that there’s a danger of the Ladies game becoming more elitist than it should be, as again it all comes back to what support the Clubs have got – it’s a big balancing act.”
“We’ve seen it already in the last few years when Clubs have folded because they can’t stay with the challenges. We’re lucky now that the Club has been taken on a different way with different owners and they’re supporting us.”
“There are of course other clubs that don’t have that support going forward still but the changes are still going to be enforced and you have to ask if they’re going to get that support.”
The Chats coach though is wary of one big concern surrounding the Lionesses campaign down under.
“I still think that there’s going to be big changes in the game and that it’s a big season for the ladies game especially as the World Cup goes on within the Leagues player wise during August and September.”
“The WSL clubs will hold out for the World Cup to see if there are any players that they can take leaving players in and around their squads in limbo.”
“So once they have or if they sign any players out of the World Cup and release players who drop into the Championship. Those clubs then have players in limbo and then you get those players who aren’t going to be taken on and are left without a club – where are they going to go in August and September?”
The League fixtures were announced this week and the Chatham Women begin their National League campaign at home to Hashtag United at the Bauvill Stadium on Sunday August 20th, whilst their pre season continues with games including on Wednesday 9th August when WSL side West Ham United come to Medway…