This years elite football league FA Women's Super League kicks off in April for its fourth season boosted by a second tier for the first time along with promotion and relegation. Long term established grass roots Women's team Manchester City WFC have a squad in the top flight for the very first time and 27 years on from first keeping goal our patron Andie Worrall will be stepping out with her team mates into the big time as a proud Mancunian.
Here
is a bit of an insight through Andie as to what has been going on in
the build up to this season kick off from a Manchester City (and FA
Wales) perspective.
February
2014 saw Just a Ball Game? have our pop-up exhibition displayed at the
National Football Museum in Manchester for 6 days as part of LGBT
History Month 2014 celebrations.
On that Wednesday
evening we hosted a panel Q&A with some of our patrons and guests
from within football including the Professional Footballers’
Association, Kick it Out and the FA which was open to the public to
attend and was also recorded by a BBC5Live
team lead by Math of the Day presenter Mark ‘Chappers’ Chapman for one
of their radio specials.
Our
patron and LGBT ROLE MODEL of the YEAR 2013 winner Andie Worrall was
one of the guests on that panel. As everyone took their seats for an
intriguing and mature debate on Homophobia
in football and the inclusion and visibility of LGBT people who play
the game Andie was presented with a FA Wales cap which she had earned
some 12 years earlier playing as goalkeeper and captain for the Welsh
women’s team (one of 6 she gained at that time)
a cap which back then had been sent to her Merseyside club and had gone
missing. Very few people ever get to play international sport and
representing your country at what you do is a huge honor within the
women’s game, and it was sad to see that a memento
from that place in history wasn’t with it’s right full owner, so we at
Just a Ball Game? decided to track it down and re-unite Andie with the
said cap.
(c) Paul Prole Photography.
As
part of the build up to an intense training package for the new team
mates at Manchester City which include a mixture of the existing players
and the inclusion of a string
of Internationals, four of whom play for England, captain Steph
Houghton, Goalkeeper Karen Bardsley, Midfielder Jill Scott and Striker
Toni Duggan and New Zealander Betsy Hassett the team were taken off to
warmer climate of La Manga for a few days training
and bonding.
We caught up with Andie a few days in to ask how things were going?
JBG?-
“ What’s going on out there with you girls? What’s the winter weather
like out there as we know you don’t go much for the cold? And what else
have you been getting up to,
is there much free time etc to see anything of the surroundings? Tell
us what it’s like pre-season for an FA WSL team”
Andie,
“It’s a little bit wet and windy if I am honest not the sunniest of
days but not cold either although I am still wrapped up when we train,
and the pitches and facilities
are first class which actually make for great pre-season training
conditions after all we are here to work.”
“We
have all been roomed with another player so there is quite a bit of
bonding going on as we all get to know each other, and there are a few
high jinx to be found when we have
our relaxation time.”
“We
are pretty much isolated out here miles away from anywhere really, no
shops or bars,or sightseeing, but this makes a perfect place to get on
with things with no distractions.
We do have our down time to let our bodies recover so we are having to
make our own entertainment and the girls seem to be enjoying the tunes
blasting out (which are not to my cup of tea) give me Arcade Fire and
Indie tunes any day as opposed to the music
they have on which is very poppy and rap or R& B orientated.”
Lindsay England -Founder Just a Ball Game?
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