Rob Fisher of the Everton Fans' Forum explains why Blues should get down to Walton Hall Park...
What a year it has been for women’s football. First, Sky Sports and the BBC gave significantly increased coverage to the Women’s Super League, and then came that wonderful England Euro success this summer in front of a sold-out Wembley.
Now Everton Women kick off their new season on Sunday... and this is why you should be paying attention.
If you know your history
Let’s start with an ‘If you know your history’ of Everton Ladies, as they were known before the change to Everton Women three years ago. Truthfully, they had a massive part to play in women’s football getting on the map. The team began as Hoylake WFC back in 1983, before later merging with Dolphins YC to become Leasowe Pacific and dominating locally.
From 1995 a National Premier League was created and Everton won this for the only time in 1997/98. The teams they battled for honours initially were mainly Doncaster Belles and Arsenal. Indeed, Everton were league runners-up to the latter in five consecutive seasons between 2006 and 2010.
After FA Cup final defeats in 1999 and 2005, Everton finally lifted the trophy in 2010 after a thrilling 3-2 extra-time victory over those familiar foes… Arsenal.
Everton's players celebrate an FA Cup final victory over old rivals Arsenal.
It was only natural, then, that Everton were part of the inaugural eight team Women’s Super League in 2011.
Since then, the Blues have found it harder to get near the top of the league as more and more Premier League clubs have backed their women’s teams and (this is a good thing!) the league has become more competitive. Currently, Arsenal are still a team to be feared but, rather like in the men’s game, Manchester City and Chelsea have become the major contenders.
Everton Women helped the careers of many England stars
The squad with which England magnificently won the Euros this summer had many stars that had at some point played for Everton Women.
Nikita Parris and Alex Greenwood came through the academy, Jill Scott had many years as Everton’s midfield general, the scorer of the winning goal in the final Chloe Kelly started her Super League career at Everton, and Lucy Bronze – long regarded as one of the best players in the world - had a spell with the Toffees a decade ago.
England's triumphant Euros squad had no shortage of Everton connections.
I was fortunate enough to witness some of the Women’s Euros games, including the 8-0 thrashing by England of Norway down in Brighton, a great battle between Germany and Spain at Brentford’s stadium, and the ultimate highlight of being there when England beat Germany in extra-time at Wembley in the final.
The skill, tactical nous and competitive nature on show showed how much women’s football has developed in the last decade. It made for a magnificent spectacle.
Me at Wembley after the Women’s European Championship final.
Why we must embrace the enthusiasm at Everton
The knock-on effect of the England win at the Women’s Euros should not be underestimated. Already, Super League teams are reporting ticket sales have increased from last season - before the campaign has even started.
Everton Women are in a great position to take advantage of this Euros-inspired interest in the game. Why? We have our own purpose-built stadium in Walton Hall Park (only a good golf drive from Goodison!), our own roving reporter who keeps us up-to-date on all the goings on in Sarah Halpin (@SarahHalpin9 on Twitter), and the team already has their own proactive Supporters’ Club – Everton Women Official Supporters’ Club.
Julie Makin does a fantastic job as chair of the supporters’ club and is on the recently formed Fan Advisory Board also. Julie and the supporters’ club are working with Everton to drum up as much support for the team as possible as they again prepare to take on the country’s best, to ensure the experience of watching games at Walton Hall Park continues to get better and better, and to make it a family-friendly, fun and affordable ‘Everton’ day out.
For example, did you know Season Ticket and Official Members get FREE admission for all Everton Women home games? To claim your complimentary ticket, you just need to head to evertonfc.com/wsltickets ahead of each home fixture. Non Season Ticket or Official Members can also buy tickets from the same link.
Hundreds of Evertonians turned out for a recent open training session at Goodison Park.
As a member of the Fans’ Forum, I will be encouraging our group and other Blues to attend home and away games going forward. Us Evertonians love our football and certainly the skill and competitiveness on show in the women’s game today should attract more people than it ever has before. More than 87,000 people at Wembley for the Euros final shows the appetite is there – and the domestic women’s game is only going to get stronger as a result.
For Everton, there will be a fresh approach this season under a new manager in Brian Sorensen – a winner of two league titles and a domestic cup in his homeland of Denmark - and we have one of the world’s most highly-rated young players in Sweden’s Hanna Bennison (top image, centre).
Add our history in the women’s game, a successful youth academy, a stadium that’s located in our L4 heartland and the passion we all know Evertonians can bring, and the ingredients are there for Everton Women to truly become a force again.
As midfielder Izzy Christiansen said in her recent blog for evertonfc.com, get down to Walton Hall Park if you can and be a part of it.
UTT
Rob
Tickets for Everton Women’s home opener against Leicester City on Sunday (kick-off 1pm) are now on general sale. Tickets for Season Ticket and Official Members are FREE, with entry otherwise £8 for adults and £4 juniors and seniors. To secure your ticket, click here.
