Bath City Women promoted!
Bath City Women’s First team have secured promotion to the South West Regional Women’s Football League Division 1 East after just one season.
Having only formed in July 2022, the team finished second in Division One of the Somerset County Women’s League in April and will now head into the sixth tier of the women’s football pyramid for the 2023/24 season.
Jane Jones, Community Director at Bath City FC who leads on women’s football for the Club said: ‘When we announced just under a year ago that we were launching a women’s team, we said that we were ambitious to move up through the pyramid and to grow the game for women and girls in our area. With the news of this promotion, and a development team starting next season, we are delighted with the progress so far.
“The Club set out to treat the women’s team the same as the men’s. This means employing qualified coaches, playing our games at Twerton Park, promoting the team on our website and social media channels, offering physio support to the players and adopting the same professional approach as the men’s team. So far it is paying off.
“Matt Abreu and his assistant Adam Casserly deserve lots of praise for the way in which they have taken a group of players and moulded them into a team in such a short space of time. Thanks to the players too, who have been dedicated on the pitch, and taken the responsibility of being role models off it seriously, even supporting the Bath City Youth girls’ teams in their matches. And none of this would have been possible without our founding partner Novia, who believed in our vision for the women’s team and backed us, so a huge thanks to them.
“This is just the beginning though and we can’t wait to see what next season brings.”
Manager Matt Abreu said: ‘I am absolutely delighted that we’ve secured promotion after our first season. We improved hugely over the course of the season and are determined to keep this up over the next one. With a Development team launching too to keep pushing the first team players and help local girls to take the next step into senior football, there’s a sense that we’re really building something at Bath City.”
Novia CEO Patrick Mill said: ‘The first time we spoke to Bath City about their vision for a women’s team it was clear that they had big ambitions and we had no doubt that they could achieve them. Securing promotion after only one season is incredible and everyone at Novia has been continually impressed at the commitment and effort on display from everyone involved since day one. We’re delighted to be continuing our support for the next two years and can’t wait to see where the team go from here.’
A recruitment day for the First and Development Teams will be held on July 9th at Twerton Park. Anyone interested in attending should visit www.bathcityfc.com/bathcitywomen/ to register.
The First team will be up against Paulton Rovers Ladies First, Frome Town Ladies First, Weston super Mare Ladies First and Weymouth amongst others in the Eastern Division. Matches are played on Sundays at 2pm and entry to Twerton Park is free.
