New women's football team created in Bath in wake of England's Euros success

  • Watch Naryan Branch's report

A new women’s football team has been established in Bath and will join the women’s football league in September.

Bath City Women have been created this summer after the community-owned club acquired sponsorship and funding.

The Black and Whites’ stadium, Twerton Park, will also be the home venue for Bath City’s men’s and women’s sides.

The community director, Jane Jones, has taken the lead on creating the team and says heightened popularity in the game over the summer has helped the club.

Jane Jones said this summer was the ideal time to create the club following England's participation in the Euros Credit: ITV News

She said: "It's been quite a slog to get here but to see women playing on this pitch after the summer that we've had will be fantastic.

"A lot of things have fallen into place so you can see the Women's Super League on terrestrial television.

"And then when you add into that the Euros and the fact that the Lionesses won, I think it just shows how far the women's game has come.

"Bear in mind when I was at school I couldn't play. It was banned by the FA so now look where we are."

Bath City over a century

The club has had a history of women’s teams over the years stretching back more than 100 years.

In 1921, Bath City Ladies played at Old Trafford in front of 31,000 to raise money for unemployed ex-servicemen in Manchester.

Bath's women's team in 1921 raised £2,000 in a fundraising fixture Credit: British Newspaper Archive

The fixture raised £2,000 for the fund to help returning soldiers from war.

However in the same year, the FA banned women’s football because the Association felt the physicality of the game was unsuitable for women.

Women’s football suffered for decades but it was reintroduced around the mid-century and has since progressed significantly.

"It feels professional"

The investment in women’s football is one of the contributing factors behind England’s Lionesses winning the European Championships in July.

Having said that, there are still challenges with inequality in the game.

Bath City Women’s player, Tara Taylor, is an application support engineer at Novia – the club’s sponsor – and says the club has made strides to promote equality.

She said: "I've had it before at teams where you're not allowed to play on the same pitch as the men and that can have quite an impact on you mentally thinking that you're told you're not good enough.

"So for us to be on the same pitch it's brilliant, especially Twerton Park because the way you come up out the tunnel and then straight onto the pitch with the stands around you.

"It just feels quite professional actually."

The men's and women's teams at Bath City will both play their home fixtures at Twerton Park Credit: ITV News

"When I grow up I want to be a football player"

Lifelong fan, Matt Abreu, is the head coach of Bath City Women and admits he wasn’t involved in women’s football until the birth of his daughter.

Since then, he’s been coaching girls at a youth level and is motivated by the idea of inspiring the next generation of footballers.

He said: "I've been coaching young girls and I've heard two of them for the first time say 'when I grow up I want to be a football player' and that was lovely to hear.

Bath City Women's head coach, Matt Abreu, hopes his side can inspire the next generation of girls to get into football Credit: ITV News

"You don't normally hear that and that was a new experience for me and I think it's going to be a new inspiration for them.

"A success for me this season would be to prove we are capable of having a women's team in the area.

"If I get one or two people come up to me and say they feel inspired by the players that I've been coaching that'll be a success."

The Romans kick off their season in Division One in the Somerset Women’s County League on September 4.