Bath City to launch Bath City Women
Bath City FC has announced its intention to set up a new women’s team with the aim of playing in the Somerset County League in the forthcoming season. Bath City Women will wear the famous black and white striped kit and will play their home games at Twerton Park. The move has been made possible through the support of Novia Financial who have come on board as the founding sponsor of the women’s team.
It’s not the first time that the Club has had a women’s team, in fact in 1921, Bath Ladies FC played in front of 31,000 spectators at Old Trafford, at a time when women’s football was extremely popular after the men’s game had been stopped by the first World War. Just over 100 years later, sees the launch of an ambitious project to create a new successful women’s team at the club.
Speaking about the decision to launch the women’s team, Chair of the community owned Bath City FC, Nick Blofeld said, “As a community owned club with a commitment to inclusion, we’ve wanted to get a women’s side up and running for a number of seasons. Thanks to Novia, we now have the resources in place to launch our women’s team in a sustainable and hopefully successful way. We are ambitious for our women’s team and want to provide the best support for them both on and off the pitch. Playing home games at Twerton Park is a clear demonstration of our one club, two teams approach whereby our women’s team is treated equally with our men’s.”
Jane Jones, who is the Women’s Team Lead said, “Bath City have a long and proud history of women’s football and now with it on the rise, including the women’s Euros in England this summer, it’s a perfect time to revive that tradition and launch our new women’s team. The club is fully behind us and, in addition to all the performance support the team will get, we will make sure that they are fully promoted too, with dedicated social media channels and on our website. We hope that playing for Bath City Women will be appealing to local players and we hope that our club can help grow the women’s game in our local area.”
Bath City FC Men’s Manager, Jerry Gill said, “This is an exciting moment in the club’s history. I look forward to working with the women’s team’s Head Coach to ensure the Bath City Way is reflected across both our teams. Pulling on the black and white stripes is a proud moment for any player and we look forward to supporting the women when the team is established.”
Local Bath MP Wera Hobhouse commented on the news and promised her support; “I congratulate Bath City Football Club on this momentous day in the club’s history. It’s wonderful news and I wish the new women’s team all the best! I will be down to cheer them on whenever possible.”
Patrick Mill, CEO of Novia said, “I’m delighted that Novia are partnering with Bath City for this important milestone in the club’s history. The club does incredible work to support the local community and it’s fantastic to be joining them as the club evolves and extends its ambitions to include women’s football.”
Tara Taylor (pictured, above), Platform Support Engineer at Novia, who featured in the launch of the women’s team at Twerton Park commented, “I’ve played in local football teams for over 20 years so I’m thrilled that we’re going to have a Bath City Women’s team and I’m proud that Novia are helping to make it happen. It’s inspiring that Bath City want to make the women’s team equal to the men’s as from experience I’ve seen that’s not always the case. I can’t wait for the first match and everyone at Novia will be following the team’s progress closely, cheering them all the way.”
The next steps will be the recruitment of the Head Coach and a Recruitment Day at Twerton Park on Sunday 10th July for anyone interested in playing for Bath City Women. For further information please visit www.bathcityfc.com/bathcitywomen or email bathcitywomen@bathcityfootballclub.co.uk
Pictured top at Twerton Park (left to right): Carole Banwell, General Manager Bath City FC; Tara Taylor, Platform Support Engineer Novia Financial; Jane Jones, Women’s Team Lead Bath City FC.
