Following on from the continued success of our ladies’ team, AFC Stoneham are delighted to have quadrupled our squads from 3 to 12 last summer, in reflection of the ever-growing interest in the club over the past few seasons.

The club see this as a huge step not only for our football club but for the women’s game as a whole, keeping pace with the sport’s massive boom in popularity over the past few years. This exciting development represents a great opportunity for local talent to hone their skills and progress through the ranks within the club, mirroring the structure of our men’s teams.

First team manager Tom Forbes guided his side to an impressive 11 wins from 12 league games last season prior to the campaign’s early conclusion in the Spring, and the coach highlighted the added depth throughout the club as one of the many beneficial facets of the expansion project.

“It’s another positive step, this year we were able to set up a Development Squad and I always like to refer back to a few years ago when we’d have times where we had maybe as few as 10 turn up to training, so to have 45 or so girls raring to go at the beginning of the season - it just shows the great strides that we’re making.

“Another great thing to see is that the increase in popularity hasn’t just been in the youth bracket either, each week we were seeing girls and women ranging from 16 to 42 to turn up for training.

“So that's incredible interest, and I’d like to think our facilities are one of the best in the South so we’re in a really good position to kick on and keep engaging with the ladies.

“Everyone can see what we’ve done for youth football with the boys and the infrastructure we have in place, now the girls can see that we're starting to integrate that on this side of things too.”

Development through increased competition for places is a proven method of allowing talented players to thrive, and while the Coronavirus pandemic has meant the first team are yet to play a league game this season, that certainly hasn’t dampened the optimism around the camp.

“Our progress over the last three to four years has been phenomenal, we were looking really strong in the league and increasingly confident of being right in the mix to win it this year.

“It’s been a frustrating period for everyone but it’s given us the opportunity to work in different ways, we’re setting up zoom sessions to work on the tactical side of things and to see how everyone’s keeping fit, and if it comes to it – planning for next season.”

With exciting plans for a return to sport beginning to take shape, the club are looking ahead to the prospect of taking the great progress already achieved even further.

Tracey Wheeler is the Ladies’ Secretary with decades of experience in the game, overseeing administrative duties and contributing to the smooth running of the club on a day to day basis.

While things are quieter than usual in the off season at the moment, transitioning from 3 to 12 teams requires all the relevant forms and registration procedures to be carried out for each player that joins the team.

This represents a hectic schedule but it’s one that Tracey is keen to get stuck in with, as she explains the growth witnessed at the club:

“It goes hand in hand with what we’re seeing everywhere, I think women’s football is regarded as one of the fastest growing sports in the world, and we really started to see that first hand when the England Lionesses had their amazing World Cup run in 2019.

“With so many girls wanting to replicate their heroes it was a really huge pull, there’s a lot more coverage on TV now and with such a high demand we were really excited to expand the number of teams we have.

“I registered somewhere between two to three hundred ladies last year which is a huge figure compared to the previous years, and the vast majority of the girls that I’ve been running through the process with have been from the local area, so for them to have something to get involved with and benefit socially as well - it can only be a positive thing.”

While the club aim to step the ladies’ team up to a competitive level, grassroots football can often suffer due to the differing quality of locally ran pitches. However, the move to a new £10 million home is something that Tracey identifies as a massive bonus to everyone involved with Stoneham.

“The new base is absolutely amazing; we’re not restricted or dependant on the weather like many teams are - flooded pitches see hundreds of games cancelled at this sort of level every year.

“For the ladies to play on the stadium pitch is fantastic for them, every team at Stoneham gets to use the facility and with less disruption we can focus more on improving the quality of football we’re producing.

“It’s another one of the reasons we’ve had such a massive increase in interest, why wouldn’t you want to play in that kind of environment?”