Earlier this week, Amar Mehta sat down with Sarah Orton, president of the women’s football club, to discuss BUCS, the David Ross Sports Village and the growth in women’s football.
Hi Sarah, thanks for joining me today. How have the women’s team been doing this year in the BUCS league?
“Our first team have been in excellent form, they are unbeaten. If they win their final game of the season they’ll go onto win the league. The twos have had a tough season, and are aiming to stay in their division. They were promoted a few seasons ago, so are still settling into the new league. Like the firsts, our threes have been on excellent form and are aiming for promotion.”
What are your goals for the rest of season, especially with Varsity around the corner?
“Obviously, we are aiming to get a double promotion with the firsts and thirds. Looking at Varsity, we will hope to win. The firsts are in the same league as Trent for BUCS and both the results this season have been draws. We will be hoping that come Varsity we can get a win.”
What sort of commitment is needed to play football at UoN?
“The firsts train four times a week with games on Wednesdays and the twos and threes train three times a week so there is a high level of commitment. If girls don’t want to commit that much time we do have a Sunday IMS league.”
Do you work at all with the men’s team?
“Not really, we did a showcase with them at Nottingham in Parliament but apart from that not really.”
We’ve seen in recent years that the professional women’s game has gradually grown in popularity; have you seen an increase at university level over the years?
“Yeah! We have seen a massive increase in interest in recent years. We have a sister partnerships with Notts County Football Club, which gives us access to a whole range of great facilities. Tanya Oxtaboush is the assistant coach, who is our head coach, Yan Critchen a Scottish international is the second’s coach. Some of the girls have gone on to play for Notts County. The improvement in standards is evident by the potential for two promotions this season.”
How has the new David Ross Sports Village impacted you guys?
“I think facilities are amazing, what they’ve built is incredible. We don’t use it much apart from booking the 3G. We do use the spin studios for recovery sometimes which is great and the firsts use the weights rooms downstairs.”
What are the costs associated with playing football?
“You have to get the gym membership and then you pay for the BUCS membership and kit. IMS is £20 to play.”
What are your socials like?
“We try to do a bit of everything. We do go to Crisis on Wednesdays but we aim to cater to everyone, keeping it inclusive – so we’ve been bowling in the evenings and sometimes go for meals or barbeques.”
Keep up to date with the club on their facebook page here University Nottingham Women’s Football Club.
Amar Mehta
Image courtesy of University Nottingham Women’s Football Club.
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