It’s a whole new ball game for Glassgirls
When they started playing, becoming a professional footballer was very much an impossible dream.
But now Stourbridge Ladies have joined the growing ranks of semi-professional female football clubs in England – and is believed to have become the first in the Midlands, after their players put pen to paper at the weekend.
It means that, for the first time, players picked for the match-day squad will take home a monthly pay packet.
Manager Andy Fisher says it’s a “massive” step towards providing a level playing field for women in football.
The team came fourth in the West Midlands Regional League Division One South – the sixth tier of women’s football – last season.
But the side, which plays at Hingley Playing Fields in Cradley Heath, wants to win it next season and earn promotion to the Premier Division.
“We want the women’s game to grow and show that you can be successful,” says Andy. “We pay the men and now we are paying the women.”
Currently, only the top flight of women’s football – The FA Women’s Super League – is fully professional while the Women’s Championship is a semi-professional division.
In the lower tiers, there are only a small number of clubs that are paying their players with many needing to rely on sponsorship.
The changes at Stourbridge mean the Glassgirls will receive more training – boosting their promotion hopes – and support to develop their game.
Their training and match kits are also provided thanks to a sponsorship deal with Bhandal Dental Practices.
“It’s not just about the money, it’s also about being treated as semi-professional,” adds Andy, who is 33. “We are training twice a week, they get a seven-day plan of what they should be eating, drinking and doing between games.
“They feel they are being appreciated for the time they are giving and the money is just a bonus.”
Care assistant and left-back Gee Thacker joined Stourbridge Ladies four years ago and has been playing football since she was four.
The care assistant has witnessed huge changes in the women’s game over the past two decades.
“I’m not from a football family, I just came home one day and I said I wanted to play football and that was that.
“When I first started there wasn’t a girls league, I played in a girl’s team in a boy’s league,” says the 24-year-old. “We finally found a girls league but it we had to travel to Shrewsbury.
“Then when I was 12 or 13, it blew up and there were lots more girls playing football. For me, playing football is a release. I build up my stress during the week and then I let it all out on the football pitch at the weekend.”
Gee, who coaches the under-11s with teammate Amie Preston, says the club’s decision to make the side semi-professional is “a step in the right direction”.
“It’s not just for us, it’s for women’s football and shows girls that it is possible to have a career in football,” she adds.
“When I was little, I would say I wanted to be a professional footballer – and now no one can take that away from me.
“We’re pleased the club has made this decision because we devote a lot of time, we give up shifts at work to play and use our own money.”
She is relishing the start of the new league season which gets under way on September 8 with a game against Kingfisher Ladies.
“I’ve got a good feeling about this season. I’m lost from May to September without football and Sundays feel horrible,” adds Gee.
Goalkeeper Amie is in her third season at Stourbridge.
“We’re the only semi-professional team in our league so it’s a big step forward and shows how much the women’s game is changing,” she says.
“It’s massive for younger girls because they will be able to look up to us and have something to aim for,” says the 24-year-old, who works as a cleaner, and who first joined the club as a striker.
“Last season our goalkeeper got injured and I stepped up,” she explains. “Everybody says you have to be brave to go in goal but I wasn’t scared.
“I just love football, I don’t know what I would do if I didn’t have somewhere to play. We’re like one big family. There’s a big social side because we now train twice a week, there is a lot of bonding time.”
Last season’s captain, striker Amy Botfish, says an influx of players from clubs such as West Bromwich Albion and Stoke City have heightened the sense of anticipation for this season.
“We are looking so much stronger than we were last season and training is going really well because we’ve taken it to a new level,” says the 32-year-old from Kingswinford.
Andy, who has been coaching since he was 16, says the club is feeling confident about the future as it aims for promotion.
“We believe we can go far. We can be pushing for the level of the higher clubs, the likes of Wolves and Villa,” he adds.
“Teams around us have taken noticed of what we are doing at Stourbridge. It’s exciting to be part of it.”
