Berwick ladies maintain top spot in Northumberland Premiership
Women’s football is in a good shape in Northumberland, according to Berwick Rangers ladies manager Willie Henderson.
The former Alnwick Town star led the side to the First Division title in their debut season last year and they are currently battling it out with fellow-promoted side Morpeth Town at the top of the Premier Division.
“My own opinion is that female football in the area is very much on the up as a good number of large clubs such as North Shields now have junior sections coming of age and joining the Women's section and doing really well,” he said.
“Also clubs who are short on numbers for 11 a side are joining the recreational leagues, which again seem to be on the rise.”
Berwick skipper Jenny Patterson is a passionate advocate for the women’s game in the area and also feels things are going well on the pitch.
“The reason that Northumberland has a Premiership and Division One is because Northumberland have so many women’s teams - there aren’t many Counties have two divisions at County level,” she said.
“It’s just been really unfortunate that a couple of teams have folded in our division. The county have introduced a recreational league so women can “just play” and hopefully from this more teams look to play competitively.”
“Hopefully we gain promotion into the Regional League next season, in which there are more teams.”
Rangers and the club’s community academy have partnered wit Her Game Too to reaffirm their commitment to supporting the growth of women’s football and stamping out discrimination in the sport.
The Her Game Too campaign was launched three years ago by a group of passionate female football fans, and it has since grown to include more than 130 volunteers at clubs throughout the country.
“At Berwick we are really lucky that the environment here feels safe and welcoming for everyone to enjoy football.”
“Unfortunately, sexism still occurs in sport, so the more we can show support in eliminating this then hopefully the better experiences women and girls will have and the more comfortable they will feel to either support or take part in football, or any sport,” said captain Patterson.
Rangers maintained top spot in the Northumberland Premier Division with a 3-0 win over Prudhoe Town that saw Michelle Stewart net twice and Tracy Donachie add the other.
The borderers go to Wallsend Boys Club this weekend.