Merseyrail Bootle LFC tell us how, in early 2013, following an idea born in the hospitality lounge of Southport FC, a trio of Merseyrail employees embarked on an ambitious scheme to develop a ladies football academy in the heart of Liverpool.
The small team acted entirely under their own steam and initiative, seeking advice from the FA, Southport FC and other sporting organisations, to establish an independent football club. Once they had figured out how, Merseyrail agreed to provide investment through sponsorship to enable it to happen.
The launch
In the summer of 2013, Merseyrail Bootle LFC was launched, in conjunction with the well-established male football club Bootle FC. Through significant effort on social media and via the company’s internal communication channels, a group of ladies were brought together to form the First Team (over 16s). They were drawn from the local area and in most instances were ladies who, through lack of local clubs, had been unable to play for a number of years. Many had stopped playing at 14, something Merseyrail Bootle LFC recognised early as a common problem for girl footballers. This team entered the Liverpool FA Open Age League for the 2013 / 14 season and finished third, quite an achievement in their inaugural year.
The core of the 13/14 team remained for this season and some new faces were added to strengthen the squad. The team enjoyed a successful pre-season and have carried that through into the league, winning 7 out of 7 so far. The team’s ambition for this season is to win the league and hopefully do it in style with an unbeaten record.
After the success of the first year, Merseyrail Bootle LFC has now developed an U-10s team and an U-8 development squad. The U-10s also participate in the Liverpool FA League structure and our intention for 2015/2016 season is to further expand the number of teams we currently have.
Over the past 18 months, we have seen the open-age team grow in confidence together and really gel on the pitch. Off the pitch the girls are all great mates and this shows with how well they work as a team on it.
New captain Tessa Littler (22) had previously played for Bleak Hill Rovers with a few of the other Bootle girls. She shows real calmness and composure on the pitch. She controls the centre of midfield and adds plenty of goals and assists to the team as well as working tirelessly to break up any opponent’s attacks.
This season saw a new manager take over as Dave Miley took the step up when previous boss Joe Doran was given the opportunity to manage the Bootle men’s first team. Dave has a really good relationship with the team and creates a style of play that is brilliant to watch.
The charachters
Although the team are very serious and competitive on the pitch and at training, there is also a brilliant social aspect to the team. We always know that first up to the bar will be Georgia Mills, Amanda Parker or Olivia Patterson and on a night out there are a few that are first on the dance floor including Siobhan Cliff, Emily Swindells and Jess Muirhead, who is shy on a match day but comes alive when a bit of music comes on.
Team characters include Lauren Williams, who likes to think of herself as the joker of the team but probably the most laughs she gets is from herself, captain Tessa Littler who thinks she is the princess of the team, plus oldest on the squad, Leanne Cunningham, who won’t mind me saying at 33 she can still get up and down that wing.
The ‘babies’ on the team are; Rachel Atherton, Jess Muirhead and keeper Danni Platt, while the more experienced player is Sami Fretwell, who is now player/coach this season. Bootle even has a set of twins in the ranks with Danielle and Devon Riley. Also notably, Kathryn Bradley is yet to concede in the league this season, while centre back Danielle Flynn is known for her loud mouth on the pitch. Two of the new faces this season, Alicia Hardacre and Alice Brown, have been great additions with 14 goals between them so far, Alice even got married on a Saturday and then played for us on the Sunday!
Georgia Mills likens herself to Rickie Lambert or Romelu Lukaku upfront and Olivia Patterson will never let us forget her brilliant hat-trick in a 15-0 win for Bootle. Siobhan Cliff is leading scorer for the two seasons and Emily Swindells is sometimes mistaken for a U-10 player due to her size but does a brilliant job upfront.
Amanda Parker has done great to come back from a horror injury at the back end of last season when she dislocated her knee after a 50/50 challenge and Chelsea Penny is yet to feature this season after a bad injury in pre-season. Jess Norris will be looking to get back into the team after work and study commitments and the final addition to the team this season was Molly Rideout.
Merseyrail Bootle’s main focus this season is to win the league but they will also put their best efforts into trying to win any cups they are entered into.
The overall club’s main ambition is to focus on girls’ and women’s football development and will look to over the next few years eventually create an academy whereby they will have a team for girls at all ages and this will provide a feeder system into the teams above.
Pictured from top – Dave Miley gives instructions, the Merseyrail Bootle squad, top scorer Siobhan Cliff.
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