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A women’s football league is expected to return to Guernsey for the first time in six years this weekend.
Three new teams were formed from a pool of 50 players, with each team selected from a draft system to try to make matches competitive.
There has been no women’s club football since 2020, when two Guernsey teams played in the Channel Islands League.
The new teams – named City, United and Athletico – will play until January, when they hope more teams can join them.
The goal is to have a Guernsey team capable of facing their Jersey rivals for the first time since 2016.
The Sarnians were unable to form a team for the match from 2017 to 2019 with plans to resurrect the game in 2020 upset by the start of the Covid-19 pandemic.
“It’s a shame to see him go from what he was, given that many club teams play week after week on Sunday mornings, next to nothing and then try to rebuild themselves again,” said the captain from Guernsey Ladies City, Steph Batiste, to the BBC. News from the Channel Islands.
“It will be really good to revive local football, it hasn’t lasted that long and to get that I think that’s the key, start at that level and try to develop yourself.”
Guernsey Ladies and Northerners played in the last Channel Islands League in 2019-20, with Ormer FC leading a four-team CI league with three Jersey teams the previous season.
“We were doing really well before Covid hit the Jersey league which was a huge boost for us,” added Guernsey Athletico captain Joelle Pengelley.
“So we were a little behind and had to be a little creative to create these opportunities locally.
“We have managed to put together a group of girls who are keen to play and create teams and we can’t wait to get started.”
“It took the Women’s World Cup a few years ago to bring new faces to the game,” added Guernsey Ladies coach Richard Sutton, who helped organize the league.
“I think the sport generally needed a kick and some encouragement and we had to grow a lot of young players and bring them up through the ranks.
“We’ve been doing it for the past five years and now a lot of the 12-14 year olds we started with in 2016 are now old enough to play football, and they’re combined with old faces coming back and forth. other players we won, we slowly put the numbers back together. “
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