BARNSLEY Women’s FC begin what they hope will be a promotion season this weekend and, despite their sadness at the folding of Barnsley FC women, will look to fly the flag for female footballers in the town.
The club play in the fourth tier at the Olympic Legacy Park in Sheffield, on the site of the former Don Valley Stadium, but their long-term aim is to play in the borough of Barnsley where they train.
Their manager is Craige Richardson who is the brother of former Wigan Athletic and Rotherham United manager Leam and an executive director at Leeds Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust.
They are now the only Barnsley club outside of the grassroots level after the women’s team at Barnsley FC folded this summer when the FA would no longer let them play on the training pitches at Oakwell and the Reds declined to fund the women playing on the main pitch or a different stadium.
Richardson told the Chronicle: “It was sad what happened to Barnsley FC.
“I haven’t been in women’s football for ten years to see clubs fold. It’s a poor indictment on the women’s game.
“I certainly wasn’t revelling in the downfall of another club.
“We need to kill the myth of ‘Barnsley Women are not a true Barnsley team.’ We were the original Barnsley team.
“The only reason we’re not in Barnsley is because of the lack of facilities, and that’s the reason Barnsley FC folded too.
“When the rivalry started there was a lot of noise around us playing in Sheffield. But we train twice a week in Barnsley and we have a youth system in Barnsley who are all local girls.
“More has been made of where we play rather than saying: what is the town doing to create facilities to host a women’s team at this level?
“We very much hope we will return to Barnsley eventually.
“It should be seen as a real positive that we had enough talent in Barnsley for two teams to be at that level – Huddersfield and Leeds never had that – but unfortunately there aren’t the facilities in the town for even one team.
“We’d ask people from Barnsley to come and watch us and hopefully they get as hooked as us.”
Richardson will be assisted by Jess Horsley, who was the manager of the Oakwell team last season.
He said: “To have Jess join our coaching team is fantastic. I think it dispels the myth of a rivalry because Jess just wants to develop young girls to play football regardless of where it is.”
Alongside his role in the NHS, Richardson has been a coach in women’s football for a decade.
After six years with Leeds United, he joined Barnsley WFC as an assistant under Dan O’Hearne who left early on last season to be replaced by Richardson.
“I have a very demanding role and sometimes you need a release from the profession you are in.
“I coach totally voluntarily.
“At this level, a lot of coaches charge but, the money the club would pay me, I ask for it to be put back into the club and players.
“I am not playing the martyr. I am just passionate about the game and I find it very rewarding.”
It has been a big summer for women’s football already with the England Lionesses retaining their Euros title.
Barnsley WFC finished sixth out of 12 last season in the National League Midlands, the fourth tier, and are hoping to gain promotion this campaign – with one automatic place for the champions then the runners-up going into a play-off final.
Their first game is at home to Worcester City on Sunday from 2pm then they host Sheffield United Academy in a cup tie on Thursday.
Richardson said: “We’re pitching for nothing less than promotion.
“We’ve had a better pre-season than last year and I think we’ve recruited well. Last year was about taking stock and rebuilding. Finishing just above halfway, while disappointing, wasn’t unexpected and gave us an opportunity to rebuild behind the scenes.
“If I was going to be critical of ourselves, we have brought in eight new players and it’s a new squad whereas a lot of our opponents are well-established. It’s only our second season in the league.
“But we have a squad that should compete and an infrastructure behind us which should help us compete.”
