Thank you for your interest in this story
To continue reading this article, subscribe to the Stray Ferret for as little as £1 a week
Already a subscriber? Log in here.
17
Mar
The Harrogate captain championing women's football
Women’s football has seen a meteoric rise in the last few years, especially in England.
The Lionesses’ 2-1 win over Germany in the 2022 Euros final saw the national team lift its first ever trophy and was a significant catalyst in increased interest in the women’s game.
Attendances have risen by 200% since the tournament and attendance records are being broken year after year.
But there is still ground to be made in the women’s game. Female footballers’ wages are notoriously lower than those of the men, and opportunities are still limited for those in grassroots football with the hopes of becoming professional.
The Stray Ferret spoke to the captain of Harrogate Town Women’s first team, Ellie Hall, this week to ask her about her experience in women’s football.
She said that she has been playing since she could walk:
I had family and friends who loved football and would go to play on the street, so I got dragged to play with the boys.
I just played casually when I was younger, but when I was around 9/10 my mates joined a team and invited me to come down and play.
I was really shy as a kid, so I wasn’t sure at first. But I decided to go down and I really fell in love with it.
I moved around a bit. I was at York City, and then Leeds until I was 17. Then I moved to Sheffield FC, Leeds’ first team, Guiseley, then Leeds University. When I finished university, I went back to York City and then joined Harrogate a few years ago.
When I joined Harrogate, we only had four players and didn’t have a manager. I decided to stay because I really liked the girls, and I was enjoying my football. Now we’ve got two full squads and a full coaching staff.
Hall also played at York City and Leeds United
‘No one was the same as me’
At under-11s level, girls and boys were separated and could no longer play with each other. Hall said that being told she couldn’t play anymore was one of her biggest challenges.
She said that she felt like she didn’t quite fit in growing up:
A major challenge was no one being the same as me. Throughout school there were no girls football teams and none of the girls were interested in what I was interested in.
None of the female teachers were interested in football either so there was a real lack of exposure.
Ellie explained that she still faces challenges in football. Harrogate Town women’s team currently only train on half a pitch at St John Fisher School, due to the other half being booked by a five-a-side league.
She said:
We’ve been fighting for more space to train on so that we can properly look at tactics and in-game scenarios. We’ve had talks with the management team and there’s been some progress made.
Harrogate Womens’ now have the full pitch for 30 minutes on a Tuesday before having to go back to half pitch, but Ellie is determined they can make it permanent.
The women’s squad train on Tuesdays and Thursdays for around six hours in total. Hall told us that the players do not get paid currently, but that the coaches do.
‘Sport brought me so much confidence’
Despite being extremely shy as a child, Hall is now the captain of Harrogate’s first team.
She told us how she developed her leadership skills over the years through sport and how it was crucial to developing herself.
She said:
Sport brought me so much confidence through meeting other people. I hardly talked when I was younger and now I’m the captain of Harrogate. I just think that sport really brings that social side out of you.
I coach a football team as well, which I think really helps me with my leadership abilities.
Ellie gave advice for girls already playing and wanting to get into football:
Give it a go and just try your best to enjoy the game as much as you can, regardless of the level you’re at.
It doesn’t matter whether you’re professional, semi-pro or amateur, as long as you always work hard and enjoy yourself.
Improving the women’s game
While significant progress has been made in the women’s game, Hall was keen to emphasise that there was still plenty of work to be done.
She said that there is a lack of opportunities for young girls to make it in the professional game compared with boys and pointed to a derth in scholarships as an example.
Hall added:
In general, I just don’t think there’s anywhere near enough opportunities to make it professional as there is for the boys.
There are hardly any scholarship schemes for girls that allow you to study sport whilst you play, which makes it so much harder for girls to get into professional teams when they’re younger.
Only the WSL is fully paid, so anyone in the Championship or below will be part time footballers despite having to still train 30 hours a week.
These women play at such a high level, but the likelihood is that most of them will have a part time job as well.
For Harrogate, the challenge is now getting the funding for new facilities and potentially getting paid. We don’t currently get many people coming to watch our games, but if we could get more people coming down, we could really start to generate an income.
We do feel much more connected to the men’s first team now though.
The women’s team were invited to a club event for International Women’s Day by CEO Sarah Barry. The event was at the Harrogate Odeon and showcased the new film Copa 71, which is about the 1971 Women's World Cup.
The women's team have also been invited to play at the Exercise Stadium on March 29.
0