Sunday 19th November 2023
First Round
Wigan Athletic vs. Chorley
My wish for a home draw for a historic First Round tie for Wigan is granted and what’s more, they’ve drawn fourth tier Chorley – the Women’s National League Division One North side are located just 8 miles away, so I’m expectant of a sizeable crowd for the match. Scheduled to take place at Ashton Athletic of the North West Counties League Division One North (situated in men’s tenth tier), the tie was postponed on the day of the game due to a waterlogged pitch. With more heavy rain expected, the club took no chances and instead, arrange for the fixture a week later to take place on a 3G pitch at Leigh Sports Village.
There’s been a little bit of press attention for this match – but not from the outlets I expected. After the win at Harrogate in the last round, I eagerly watched the (official) Wigan Athletic Twitter feed, waiting for a post congratulating the team on their achievement – perhaps it could work to inspire people to go and check out the next round? But there was nothing. I’m not saying they should be taking control of the club or even slipping them a couple of quid (it’s been especially difficult for the club financially in recent years, so that’s completely understandable), but a short piece on the website, a social media post, anything that wouldn’t take up too many resources and yet pay tribute to its representative women’s team for their achievements would be great.
Prior to the original date this fixture was due to take place, I e-mailed the local paper with a short article on the Harrogate win. The paper (or website, as it is these days) usually publishes views from Wigan Athletic supporters each week, so I assumed a piece on the burgeoning women’s team would be an interesting read. Again, nothing. Not published, no e-mail acknowledgement, nothing. There was, however, a very good piece in the Liverpool Echo – knowing how many scousers there are in the Wigan team, I’m guessing that one of the parents was somehow involved in it getting published. In fact, the only Wigan-related media to mention it was a supporter podcast (shoutout to Progress With Unity) – but it’s peculiar that the local press are either not aware or just not interested in publishing news that local football supporters might be interested in.
I can’t feel anything but disappointment, to be honest. Here, we have a young team who have been sweeping all before them in the league and cup, reaching the First Round for the first time and it didn’t even warrant a mention in any publication in Wigan. I understand that they aren’t ‘officially’ part of Wigan Athletic, they’re just allowed to use the name, but would it have been too much bother to make a single post on social media to say congratulations and inform supporters of their existence? What’s the point of them being allowed to use the Wigan Athletic name if Wigan Athletic don’t even acknowledge them? With women’s football in England receiving more attention than ever in recent years, it just feels like a missed opportunity for all involved – the women’s team to get some much-deserved exposure and support, and the football club to inform everyone that their commitment to equality goes beyond the rhetoric on social media and in the matchday programme.
Thanks to the Liverpool Echo, a few gaps in my Wigan Athletic Ladies’ knowledge is filled in – with the backgrounds of the players and the objectives of the club being the focus. After a difficult period, last season’s first team was disbanded and instead of trying to recruit senior players, chairman, Kevin Spencer and manager, Chris Knights, decided to promote their youth players instead. Many of these were released by the academies of professional clubs, with Spencer explaining in the article that the club will effectively act as a ‘way back’ into the pro ranks for these players.
From what I’ve learned about women’s football in recent months, there doesn’t seem to be a huge gap between the lower divisions – we’re still very early in the development of the women’s pyramid, so the standard of teams will vary wildly across the divisions, probably up to as far as the third tier when semi-professional sides and full links with men’s sides come into play. The chairman believes the club can be the ‘missing link’ between grassroots and the top tiers of the game – attracting released players from professional clubs in the North West. If they can build a great reputation doing this, then future recruitment will be made much easier – it’s a strategy that has worked wonders so far, and I’m very excited to see how the club and its players will develop in the next few years.
Regular women’s football watchers may recognise Leigh Sports Village as being the home of Manchester United Women. Built between 2007-2008, the £83m complex is home to several sports, retail and housing developments, with the 12,165-capacity stadium being the centrepiece. However, today’s match will be taking place on a 3G pitch – of which there are bloody many. As I’m walking up one of the streets at the back end of the village, I’m wondering about which of the pitches I need to be at. I can hear the thudding of balls, the clattering of the cages and the utterings of industrial language (‘for fucks’ sake!’, ‘shit!’, ‘what was that, prick?’) – women’s football is certainly catching up alright. Only joking; there’s a couple of pitches being used by over-enthusiastic lads playing scratch games but thankfully, I quickly spot the Wigan Athletic training tops and head towards there.
The caged pitches are neatly arranged in two rows, with a path in between them for ease of access. At the entrance to this, there’s a small hut with a poster attached to it, detailing today’s match and the entrance prices. I hand over my two quid and the home club official looks genuinely surprised to see me – obviously, I’m one of very few non-player-relations here and he greets me with ‘Are you supporting Wigan’? ‘Er – yes’, I reply – I suppose I am, but technically speaking, I’m a neutral for the purposes of this blog – which you already know, as I’ve done such a GREAT job at hiding my allegiances so far. I get handed a programme – a folded A4 – and sent off with a cheery ‘nice one, lad!’. Once again, I feel a sense of regret that more hasn’t been made out of this tie in the local press – these girls deserve more support, and I’m left wondering if more people would have gone to see them at Ashton Athletic if the weather hadn’t intervened?
Saying that, it’s a good job the game was moved to a 3G pitch for today because it’s been raining all day. While it’s certainly a great training facility here, it’s not suitable for spectators – there’s no covered standing and there’s netting all around the pitch, obstructing the view. I do stand next to a friendly dog, so it could be worse. The pitch where we’re at is located at the far end of the 3G gauntlet and instead of another pitch lying opposite, there’s a bar and restaurant that’s attached to the changing rooms. Even I can’t stomach a cold beer in cold and wet weather (at least not yet – there’s a queue), so I occupy myself with the folded A4 programme I was given at the gate. With the insides containing a short welcome note and the squad lists, the back page has a nice message, dedicating the win at Harrogate to club founder, Flo Mather, who retired 18 months ago. I learned from this that the club was created in 1999 – coincidentally, the year Wigan Athletic moved to the now-named DW Stadium.
Kick-off today was supposed to be at a bizarre time of 15:45 but it’s delayed by fifteen minutes, with the rumour going around the gathering crowd that the referee is late. With the teams warming up, waiting for the ref, some Chorley supporters make themselves known – and they have a drum with them. Unless they intend to play ‘In The Air Tonight’ on it, I’m not sure I can bear listening to it, on top of the rain, cold and lack of drink. Thankfully, they produce a couple of half-hearted beats which is met by the giggling parents around me with ‘Wigan!’, and they soon give up. Still, I suppose you can say this represented my first experience of chanting and supporter clashes of this FA Cup run so far!
When the game does finally start, Chorley immediately take control, looking much tidier on the ball – all their passes finding a teammate, whereas Wigan can’t keep hold of it for long when they do gain possession. After ten minutes, Chorley finally make a breakthrough – the ball is played to a forward with her back to goal, she finds enough space and turns to shoot past the goalkeeper. The first time Wigan have been behind in this competition this season – how will they respond?
Quite well, actually. The goal seems to wake them up a bit and they start to string together more passes, but it’s the aggression they’re showing in midfield, against more experienced players, that’s impressive. One such occasion saw a Wigan forward win the ball on halfway, skip past three defenders but as she approached the last, the ball got stuck under her foot and was cleared. The parents around me ‘oooh’ and ‘aaah’ (the dog next to me just seemed non-plussed, probably wanting a biscuit), sensing that it was one of very few chances their girls might get to score today.
This is the difference I’m talking about– the higher-ranked and more experienced side just use the ball better. I don’t think there’s much difference between the abilities of these players, Chorley just have a heightened tactical awareness that sees them use the ball more effectively. Whether in defence or attack, their experience gives them the ability to sufficiently organise themselves – which allows them to play easy passes, whereas Wigan have to rely on individual players to create chances. All this is exemplified not long later when a simple pass splits the Wigan backline and a defender goes to ground to prevent the attack from getting a shot off – it’s a foul, apparently, penalty. I say ‘apparently’ because it did look harsh – she seemed to have got the ball, but then again, I’m stood further away, watching from the outside of a cage. And you know what they say – you give the ref a decision to make if you go to ground in the penalty area. The penalty is comfortably tucked away, and the young Wigan team have a mountain to climb.
That mountain becomes Everest-sized midway through the half as Chorley make it three – and it’s a well-worked goal. Some neat play down the left sees an attacker scampering towards the penalty area and as soon as crosses the 18-yard line, she shoots, the keeper makes a good save, but an on-coming attacker is there to smash in the rebound. It’s a tad harsh on Wigan who go on and dictate the play themselves for the rest of the half – Chorley comfortable enough to let them have the ball, restricting their hosts to some long-range efforts.
Despite the current scoreline and the freezing conditions, the parents – and the rest of the assembled crowd – are having a good time. The Chorley drum isn’t sounding, but amongst the shouts of support for the girls, animated chatter and laughter dominating the soundscape – I suspect people are being giddy just to keep warm! One chap next to me gets in a round of hot chocolates for his group and they all stand there, unknowingly taunting me as the aroma wafts under my increasingly-wet nose. Something else me and the dog have in common.
The cheerful atmosphere is replaced by one of concern just before half-time, however. Wigan play a ball through and as an attacker challenges the on-rushing goalkeeper, she goes down and there’s a brief pile-on as a couple of defenders get back to help. The referee immediately shouts at everyone to ‘move away’ as it’s clear the Wigan player – who I learn later is Grace Carr – is in some distress. While the physios are tending to her, the consensus around me is that she’s ‘broken her leg’ – not dure how they can tell from here, but again, I’m not a scientist. The referee decides to blow for half-time so she can continue to get treatment and wait on the pitch for the ambulance. I’m immediately reminded of the incident at Marine when the game was ended close to full-time when one of their players went down and broke (or fractured) her arm. When all you watch is professional football, what with games having ambulance crews on hand, it’s easy to take them for granted. We hear that there will be a 45-minute delay, so all that can be done is for club staff to make Grace feel comfortable and cover her in blankets, while the players either stay in the changing rooms or sit in the bar. I notice many of the Chorley players are in the bar, so hopefully they’ll all have a couple of pints each before the start of the second half.
With the players and supporters packing out the bar area, there’s not much indoor space for me to warm up in. Looking through a window, I see that the restaurant seems to be hosting a family party of some kind, and there’s a buffet staring at me, suggestively. Butties, quiche and chocolate cake tipping me the wink, making my empty stomach dance. Maybe I can borrow my doggy friend to cause a distraction? I somehow manage to prise myself away from the potential heist and find some cover from the rain close to the changing room, but I just can’t get the idea of rifling through the buffet out of my head. I occupy myself looking through another window and see some signage and even a couple of trophies that tell me these facilities must be used by Leigh East Rugby League club, so I can only assume this particular 3G must be their home pitch. Suddenly the rugby posts, that sit behind roll-on football goals here, make sense! Still, I’m intrigued how they manage to get crowds here, and after some research, it looks like they take down the fences on this side of the pitch to allow spectators to have a better view. It’s a shame that this game had to be arranged at such short notice and thus not set up for spectating, as it’s been a struggle to connect with the action at times.
As I was looking this information up, I’m stood close to the entrance of the changing rooms, and I overheard the ref tell spectators that it would be ‘up to the girls’ whether the game would continue. When the ambulance arrives and tends to Grace, lifting her in a wheelchair, all the Wigan team come out to see her off – we’re continuing as the Chorley team come out and warm up not long later. Best wishes to her on her recovery (hopefully I’ve got your name right and not confused you with the other Grace!)
The second half gets back underway after a delay of an hour and I’m wondering how Wigan will react, considering the momentum they had been building up and the effects of the incident, of course. They react well, as it happens – just a minute into the half, they have a shot from distance that the Chorley keeper does well to palm wide. They continue to dominate the ball and be aggressive in midfield, maybe this tie isn’t over?
In fairness to Chorley, they manage the game well – again, a clear indicator of their experience at playing at a higher level. Wigan just can’t get beyond their backline – some well-timed tackles on winger, Casey Green, preventing any meaningful penalty area action for Wigan. It’s actually Chorley who get the next goal – again, some simple passing sees an attacker in space and she half-volleys into the corner from inside the area. Totally against the run of play, but that’s what good sides do – finding a goal despite being up against it.
It stays nil-four as the ref blows the whistle on this marathon fixture, bringing the curtain down on Wigan’s historic run in this competition. It’s been a great journey, and they can feel very proud of their achievements – for such a young team, they play some exciting football and have competed well today against a side three divisions higher than them. Hopefully – if any of them aren’t snapped up by clubs at a higher level – the players can stick together, develop even further and rise through the divisions. And hopefully, they’ll be officially recognised by Wigan Athletic at some point!
So, four matches gone and we’re changing our ‘allegiances’ for the first time – we’re now following Chorley on the road to Wembley, so let’s see where we’re going next!
Wigan Athletic 0
Chorley 4
Attendance: About 50, and 1 dog
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