Highworth Town Football club is setting up a new ladies team

Drawing on the successes of the Highworth Town Girls’, the new team’s manager Stephen Curtis is looking to attract more players.

“We currently have eight girls who can play and we would like to get somewhere around 12, 13 or 14 ideally if I was being greedy,” said Mr Curtis.

The under-16 girls team had been playing together for five years and recently competed in the Wiltshire Girls League. “However, now the girls are getting older, there wasn’t going to any more football offered to them,” said Mr Curtis.

The FA has been unable to create an under 18s league due to insufficient take up.

“Knowing that a good chunk of the girls wanted to carry on with their football careers, we decided to take the step up and do this.

“Some of our players were playing up a year, so are still only 15 years old. They’re not able to step up to the ladies’ team until they are 16, so we lost players to that,” said Mr Curtis.

The ladies’ team will have no upper age limit, and Mr Curtis wants to create a force to be reckoned with.

“The teams they will be up against next year are quite longstanding teams that have quite a bit of experience.

“One of the ladies who has shown an interest is an ex-Birmingham City player, so it’s quite exciting. We are hoping to be quite a decent standard.

“But we’re open to anyone who wants to play in that kind of environment. We’ve had interest from a lady who is over 30, and then we have, for example my daughter who will join when she is 16,” Mr Curtis added.

The team is hoping to start training in mid-July, with one hour of practice each week and a match on Sunday afternoons. They will be based at Highworth Town FC Senior Club, at the Elms in Highworth, SN6 7DD.

“At the moment it feels quite special. We’ll be taking the girls to a more adult environment, playing in a really nice arena, with new changing rooms and club house.

“Once we get our quota of girls and sponsors, there’ll be no stopping us, we’ll be off and away!” said Mr Curtis.

Highworth FC Ladies are looking for sponsors to help get their team off the ground. 
“We’re just after a bit of kit for the girls, really,” said Stephen Curtis, the new team’s manager.
“We want them to be as smart on the pitch, as they are off the pitch. If you are smart and well turned out, then it looks like we’re trying to do the best by the girls. And then the team respond accordingly in a positive manner.
“If they look the part, they then they feel special and success goes from there,” said Mr Curtis
“We have a really good bunch of girls hoping become part of the new team. That’s the thing really, they’re decent footballers but they’re all really nice kids,” added said Mr Curtis
Any potential sponsors should contact scurtis1966@tiscali.co.uk or stephen.curtis@uk.verizon.com or 07534 016740