West Riding Women’s Beginner League Launches

Last Sunday saw the launch of our West Riding Women’s Beginner League [WBL] at Aspire at The Park, Pontefract with a fixture between Methley United Ladies and Republica Internationale Women’s 2nd.

The WBL has been setup on the back of our successful ‘Mums Can Play’ provision which launched in 2018 and the demand for a league to represent the players and teams alike.

The league will provide a competitive opportunity for females who have little or no experience of playing football to play in an environment that is suited to their ability.

All fixtures are a maximum of 9-a-side and will take place at the brand-new Aspire at The Park in Pontefract on Sunday's between 4pm and 5pm. 

We currently have the following eight teams entered into the league: Methley United Ladies, Brighouse Juniors Mums and Co. Women, Clifford Ladies Senior Team, Horsforth St. Margarets FC Ladies Social, Leeds City FC Beginners Women, Monk Fryston United Juniors Women, Rothwell Juniors Ladies and Republica Internationale Women’s 2nd.

The WBL will also see a number of young officials officiate the games who have recently passed the FA Referees Course with us who are new to officiating and are looking to gain experience.

On the launch of the WBL, Steve Conboy, Football Development Officer at West Riding FA, said “The creation of our Women’s Beginner League is a significant milestone for the female game and another step forward with our ambition to increase opportunities for females to access the game in our county. 

The teams involved have shown great enthusiasm and commitment to develop their teams but also perseverance to sustain their numbers throughout the pandemic so we are delighted that we can now offer them their own competitive league.”

Kate Watson of Methley United Ladies, said “When we set up our ladies team three years ago there were no other similar teams in the area for us play against.

To encourage other junior clubs to get a mum’s team up and running we persuaded some of the mums from Brighouse Juniors to join us in a showcase game at the Methley United Summer Gala, it was so exciting and both teams were buzzing after the game.

This inspired other teams to set up, and over the last couple of years the teams have all connected and been playing friendly matches.

Having a league designed for our players is exciting, it brings a focus and an edge to our training sessions and allows the ladies to enjoy the thrill of competitive sport.

It also supports the “see it to be it” philosophy as our daughters and their friends see and hear about us playing it helps them believe they can do it too.

I would encourage anyone to come and have a go at playing football. For many of my ladies training is an hour a week that is their time with no kids, home, job to worry about and training sessions are fun and friendly – and our new league is the icing on the cake.”

We are always looking for new players and new teams to join the league so if you are interested in getting involved please contact us on info@westridingfa.com or 0113 282 1222.

League table

A big thank you our partner Copperwire Creative for creating the logo for the league.