Brighouse Town proud to play their part in growth of women’s football
“IT’S NOT girls football or boys football, it’s just football.”
It’s that attitude that has seen Brighouse Town become a force of equality and empowerment for female footballers in Calderdale.
Women’s football is undoubtedly on the up. England’s World Cup defeat to the USA in the summer was watched by 11.7m viewers, while their friendly against Germany at Wembley in November was witnessed by a record-breaking home crowd of 77,768.
At Brighouse Town, they have their own success story. Every week, around 100 women and girls train and play for the club at various age groups - the first-team, the elite development team for 16-23-yearolds, the under 18’s, under 13’s, under 12’s, under 11’s, the ‘tiny Towners’, for younger children, and sessions for more mature women.
Not bad considering the first-team was only formed six years ago.
“My partner was playing for a team called Kirklees, and I went down to watch her in a game,” explains first-team coach Rob Mitchell. “The manager left to go travelling, they only had four or five players and it looked like they were going to fold, so I said I’d help out.
“We rebranded them, brought them into the Brighouse Town family and from there it’s gone from strengthto-strength.
“We’ve gone from playing on a park field at Leeds Road Sports Complex, on the back pitches near the canal, to playing at the Yorkshire Payments Stadium, and adding our junior set-up as we’ve gone along.
“The first-teams are on the same level, they play on the same pitch. We get treated equally. It’s very much one big family.”
Mitchell has been involved in women’s sport since he was 18.
“I don’t do things by half.
When I do something, it’s full on,” he says. “We emphasise family values, professionalism and enjoyment. If you get it right, it can be successful, we’ve proved that.
“The junior sides were just a natural progression. Instead of going out trying to recruit players, I thought ‘why don’t we develop our own?’
“I set-up some sessions at All Saints High School and I was getting three or four girls and it was a bit frustrating. I got to the point where I was thinking ‘this isn’t going to work, I’ve done all I can but it’s not going to work out’.
“But I persevered, we managed to get a team together of under nine’s and in that first season they absolutely stormed it.
“We got some good girls in who hadn’t played before or were maybe playing elsewhere just through open sessions.
“They won the County Cup and it’s gone on from there, but a lot of hard work has gone into it. It’s been an exciting journey and hopefully we continue to grow over the next couple of years. We want to get the firstteam promoted into tier three where we’re starting to knock on the door of the big teams.”
His first-team play in the National League Division One North, the fourth tier of the women’s game.
“We’ve been in that division for four seasons. We came sixth and then second every year since. We’ve had good success in the FA Cup, getting to the third and fourth round. We had over 400 people watch us when we played Everton. We got Sunderland the year after, who were the fifth best team in the country at the time.”
The range of age groups means players can be developed throughout their adolescence.
“I take the youngest group, and they’ll say ‘we thought it was just for boys’. They’ve looked at the session and gone ‘there’s no boys here, it’s all girls, maybe I can play’.
“Having the positive female role models in the first-team is massive, because they come down to training sessions with the youngsters, and coach the teams.
“We host junior days where the girls are mascots and get to see the first-team play. It inspires them to say ‘I want to be at that level’.
“We don’t just prepare them to play in the first-team, we want them to push on and be successful. We’ve had a couple of girls go on to join Manchester City, we’ve had a girl who was at York, so the progression’s there. We’re not just about us, it’s about the girls.
“It gives them that confidence and social awareness that they can do it. It’s not girls football or boys football, it’s just football.”
Mitchell says a stigma still remains around the women’s game in society.
“There are still silly comments on social media where people say they don’t care about it, but they cared enough to comment in the first place didn’t they.
“I think the stigma behind women’s football has decreased. It’s improved in terms of awareness and attendances.
“It’s not just the level of players that’s gone up, it’s the level of coaching as well. It’s become more tactical, how you set-up, you can see the influences of different coaches and the technical improvements.
“The junior level is developing better, more technicallygifted players who are comfortable on the ball.
“The inclusion of teams like Manchester United has improved the branding of the sport because you get more followers, which brings more money, which brings in better facilities and better players.”
But Mitchell feels more can be done by the football authorities to promote equality.
“The prize fund has improved in the FA Cup. It’s still nowhere near what the men’s is, but I’m not expecting it to be because of the money brought in from the men’s game.
“I’m a big advocate for the women’s game but I don’t think equality in terms of pay is realistic at this stage. But equality in terms of the opportunity to use facilities such as the men’s first-team grounds, the fitness suites, the coaching, I think that’s fair.
“Branding and social awareness need to be a bit better. It is being televised more now but I think a bit more exposure is required to continue to grow.
“The big thing is getting over that initial fear of ‘is this a boys sport?’ or ‘am I going to get hurt?’ Those boundaries and limitations are historical and are part of the stigma.
“You never know where the opportunity might take them. Look at the success of the national team and the Women’s Super League.
“Not every player will become a professional but there are more opportunities now.”
Brighouse Town Women are in FA Cup third round action on Sunday when they entertain Barnsley at the Yorkshire Payments Stadium (2pm).
Gates open from 12.30pm for spectators and entry is priced at £4 for adults, £2 for concessions and U12s can attend for free.
The winners could go on to draw a Women’s Super League sideincluding the likes of Manchester Utd, Manchester City, Arsenal and Chelsea.
Boys and girls from a number of local clubs will play in pre-match games before escorting the players out on to the pitch.