FC United of Manchester is delighted to announce that in the 2012/13 season the club will have a women’s team running out on a Sunday afternoon in our distinctive red, white and black kit.
FC United club secretary Lindsey Howard said: "With FC United’s recent A Woman’s Place is at the Match event showcasing women’s involvement at our club, more and more women getting involved in playing football and with our own ground on the horizon, we felt that the time was right to have a women’s team representing FC United of Manchester. We’re really excited about this development, which is a significant one for our club."
Originally, FC United had planned to delay the formation of a women’s team until the club was established in its own ground. However, due to a change of circumstances at the Manchester College, where there are no longer any women’s teams currently playing in the FC United kit, the board decided unanimously that the time was right to set up an FC United women’s team for the 2012/13 season.
The team will be run by John Marsden, former manager at Birkdale United Ladies, and Denton Girls manager Lee Sutton. Both John and Lee have valuable coaching knowledge and experience in woman’s football and they are looking forward to building a team and achieving great things in the women’s game. John Marsden commented: "Forming a women’s team is something we’ve been trying to do for a while and I’m delighted that FC United is going ahead with this. It will be good for the club and it adds to our vision of working across all communities. While it would be great to have an inaugural season like the men’s team had, initially we’re just hoping to build a stable women’s team that can hold its own and compete in the league."
The FC United of Manchester women’s team will be applying to play in the Greater Manchester Women’s Football League which plays its matches on Sunday afternoons. Manchester FA’s Get into Football Strategic Football Manager, Fiona Callaghan, said: "This is a welcome boost for women’s football especially in the north of the city of Manchester. Football is the biggest team sport for females in England at the present time so if clubs within the male game such as FC United with their passion and track record in community football are looking to create new teams, inevitably it will enable more women to play competitive football and further raise the profile of the game. This is really good news!"
We are waiting to confirm a venue for a home ground for our women’s team, as well as dates and information on trials for women who wish to have the chance to represent FC United on the pitch.
Women can register their interest in playing for the FC United of Manchester women’s team by emailing
womensteam@fc-utd.uk
You can also visit the Facebook page at
www.facebook.com/groups/FCUMwomensteam/