Former players and a coach at Wakefield AFC women’s side have spoken out after the club cut training facilities for the team and then disbanded it without prior notice.
Despite the growing popularity of women’s football, especially after England’s Lionesses won the Euros in 2022, many women’s teams still struggle to survive due to a lack of investment and institutional support compared with the men.
Former players at Wakefield AFC said they found out the club had dropped its women’s side only when one of their number was approached by another team, who wanted her to play for them.
“It is evident that during the last two seasons in particular that Wakefield AFC have had little to no intentions of supporting, growing and developing the women’s side,” the team said in an open letter published this week.
The non-league side was founded in 2019. The men’s team currently play in the Northern Counties East League Division One, at the 10th level of the English football pyramid.
The women played at level five, just one tier below Leeds United women, but several players are now playing at lower levels, or have left without a club entirely.
Former female players told the Guardian they were informed they would not be involved in the team’s new kit launch. They were forced to train on a quarter of the pitch because the club would only switch on one floodlight to save electricity, and the junior boys’ side were provided with training gear while the women did not receive any.
They were told they were no longer allowed on the pitch at the new Belle Vue stadium, where Wakefield AFC men’s side and Wakefield Trinity rugby league club play, in order “to protect it”.
“We knew for a fact that that wouldn’t happen with the rugby team, or the men’s football,” one former women’s player said.
“From January until May we were essentially homeless, ground-hopping,” she added. “We played some games at schools around the local area because they wouldn’t let us play on the pitch.”
She said they were told that the men were allowed to play there because of the revenue that their matches generated in food and drinks.
“It was our very first season there, and we literally got booted off the pitch after four games,” she said, adding that the club did not effectively promote their games. “Rome wasn’t built in a day,” she added.
“I can’t even tell you how disappointed everybody is,” another former player said. “We don’t get paid to play, we play to represent the club and represent the badge, and we give up a lot of time to go and do it.
“We don’t ask for a lot either in return. We’re not asking to be paid, and we’re not asking for outstanding facilities, but the bare minimum was what was expected, and it’s just not what we got.”
A former member of the coaching staff also raised similar issues, particularly the lack of a home pitch. He said several players had left the team, often leaving the side short.
“I pushed and pushed to try and get on where the men play, we got fobbed off with that,” he said.
“I said to them, ‘you’re all about the men’s section’,” a former member of the coach staff said. “Being a tier five team is not a poor standard, it’s a good standard of football.”
“I’ve never worked with a group of players, or a team, or a club where it’s been that bad, to be honest,” he added. “It was quite frustrating.”
“They definitely should be supporting the women’s section a lot more. I believe any club, if they’ve got a women’s section, they should be supporting the section really well,” he added, pointing out that several women’s teams in Yorkshire played on the same pitches as their respective men’s side.
Emma Ayrton, the Wakefield AFC chief operating officer and club secretary, said: “We face significant challenges as a new non-league club aiming to make Wakefield AFC a sustainable project.
“Our primary issue is the lack of our own facilities for playing and training. We had planned and had an agreement for the women’s team to play at the same stadium as our men’s team, owned by Wakefield Trinity. Unfortunately, after a change in ownership in Wakefield Trinity, their new management did not allow our women’s team to play there.”
She continued: “At the same time, we have been trying to work with the local council for years to source a suitable location where we can host women’s, men’s and junior football as one club playing out of Wakefield, with no success so far. This is the only way we can have a sustainable project going forward.”
