I’m at the Brick Community Stadium today – no, it’s not a new groundhop, quite the opposite in fact! Previously known as the JJB Stadium and DW Stadium, I’ve already seen countless matches here in Wigan but today is an historic occasion in this, the 25th anniversary of its opening – it’s the first home game for Wigan Athletic’s new women’s team as they host Blackburn Eagles in the ‘Championship’ division of the Lancashire Women’s County League!
This new women’s section of Wigan Athletic is the first in-house women’s football team, part of owner, Mike Danson’s, remit to ‘be a driver of positive change in the town and community’ when he purchased the club last year. Managed by 2013 FA Cup-winning captain Emmerson Boyce, ‘the Lady Tics’ (can’t see that being adopted as an official nickname, but let’s just run with it for now!) opened with a 2-0 win at Haslingden last week and followed it up with a hard-fought 2-1 win at Euxton on Tuesday. Promotion is the evident aim – and with a crowd of over a thousand expected here today, can they continue their form and impress as many supporters as possible, inspiring them to join their journey?
I had to word that introduction carefully, as technically speaking, Wigan Athletic have been represented by another women’s club since 1999 – Latics effectively lending them their name. As I understand it, the other club had two meetings with Wigan Athletic last year after which it was decided that they wouldn’t be incorporated and therefore would have to change their identity. While they’ve since changed their club crest, they’re still going by the ‘Wigan Athletic Ladies’ name – and what’s more, they currently play in the North West Regional League, two tiers above the new team. It's all very confusing.
It's regrettable that an agreement couldn’t have been made between the two clubs – I followed the other Wigan Athletic in the Women’s FA Cup last season (for which, I’ve written a series of blogs – feel free to check it out!), and they’ve built a great club with various youth sections and an exciting first team who swept all before them last season as they won the Lancashire County League Premier Division and reached the first round of the cup (this despite all the players being Under-17's). I can only assume Wigan Athletic (official) wanted to start from scratch, building their own club, rather than having to spend time and money in negotiating whatever legalities will be involved in incorporating an existing club. They've been placed in the seventh tier of the women's football pyarmid and tt the moment, they’ve got a first team and nothing else – but with a Category 2 EPPP set-up at the club, there’s scope to build their own girl’s youth sections rather quickly.
The ambition is to push this team towards the WSL – with Wigan also able to take advantage of the huge population centres nearby, the club can offer local women and girls opportunities to play football and develop in a great environment. A key part of this plan will be their home ground/training centre at Edge Hall Road. The former home of Orrell RU and Wigan Warriors development squad, the 3,000-capacity ground is currently being refurbished to be ‘a hub for women’s sport in the borough’. When it does open (hopefully soon!), that WILL be a new groundhop for me to cover!
It's great to see Boycey back at the club in a key coaching role – not just because of his legend status, but also because he’s got a genuine pedigree in developing women’s football. Previously, he coached the Barbados women’s team and later became technical director of the country’s FA, bringing all his experience to the table to develop the Caribbean nation's youth teams (imagine leaving Barbados for Wigan though???) He’s the perfect appointment, really – a well-loved club figure adds a degree of ‘legitimacy’ to the women’s club project in the eyes of supporters, so they’re on board right away. Him being experienced in the women’s game and team development is crucial, however – his expertise stands the team in the best stead to hit the ground running. He’s been surrounded by several coaches with experience in local women’s football too, so all the pieces are in place for the new club to grow and develop throughout the next couple of years.
What gives me further confidence in the club is their approach from the outset. The players they’ve recruited aren’t professionals, but they’re being treated as such. Introduced before and during half-time of a recent men’s home match, they’ve been heavily promoted on social media – even going as far as giving them squad numbers and names on the back of the shirts. This isn’t a done thing at this level, what with the costs involved – it can be easy to forget that the vast majority of women’s leagues are essentially made up of amateur clubs. What this does, is give players a sense of ‘ownership’ over their shirt – pride that instils that professional approach, driving them on to improve even further.
Entry is free, but to gauge the numbers, the club required people to pre-book tickets, with the period to do so ending on Friday evening. Despite heavily promoting the fixture on social media during the week, I’ve seen people complain on the same platforms that they ‘didn’t know’ the game was taking place. Which I find incredible, to be honest – they’re certainly quick to make negative comments after a post about the men’s team! However, it did leave me wondering how many people would have been here today if they were able to just walk up? Obviously, the club have to be aware of how many people are expected to put sufficient staff in place, but how is this going to translate to Edge Hall Road when they play there? I’m not expecting an average of 1,000+ to turn up at each game in Orrell, but I can see anywhere from 200-500 being present on average, especially considering the novelty appeal of the new ground. With very limited access (the ground is tucked in behind houses), how can they prepare for this, even with advanced online ticketing? There’s even a queue at the turnstile here, as people struggle with their QR codes – I don’t think this is realistic to roll out at the new ground.
Once I do get in, I get a prime seat bang in the centre of the West Stand – a very rare experience. One thing that’s immediately obvious is that the club have placed a lot of emphasis on creating a family atmosphere that’s so prevalent in women’s football. They’ve hit the ground running, putting on various activities inside the stand and just generally creating a relaxing, non-threatening atmosphere. And Crusty The Pie, Wigan’s erstwhile mascot, is in his absolute element too, dancing along to pre-match music, without the worries of being verbally abused by opposition supporters. Saying that, Crusty has just returned from the ‘Mascot Derby’, for which he trained extensively, so with him being quite hench, you won’t catch me calling him anything but a fine, upstanding, young gentleman. And hot and tasty (he is a pie, after all).
Why was Crusty The Pie in JD Gyms, Wigan? 🤔@JDGyms | @LaticsOfficial#wafc 🔵⚪️ pic.twitter.com/SyK3L9R9zh
— JuniorLatics (@JuniorLatics) August 19, 2024
Another nice touch for this historic occasion is having the players enter the pitch with family members. With their names on their backs, family members by their side, a large crowd applauding them on in a professional stadium and one giant pie dancing around, they must feel ten feet tall. The positive feelings take just a couple of minutes to take effect as Ellie Cleary scores the first home goal for Wigan Athletic Women – volleying in a cross from inside the area. That’s her fourth goal in three games – all the more remarkable, considering she was signed on the eve of the opening game last week!
Blackburn Eagles – it must be stressed, an independent community club from the hometown of Rovers – take just four minutes to find an equaliser. A free-kick is played into the Wigan penalty area, the ball is bundled towards goal, which Wigan keeper, Amelia Knowles, saves – but the rebound is put in. We have no idea who scored, nor who is on the Blackburn team – I suspect no teamsheet has been handed to the PA announcer. This is another reminder of the level we’re at here – half of these teams play on 3G pitches in sports centres, so why would they make copies of teamsheets? This goes to show the growth that’s needed in the women’s game.
The match is very competitive for the first half-hour – Wigan shading it with their tidy, short passing, whereas Blackburn favour the more physical stuff. The pressure tells soon enough though, as Cleary adds another – latching onto a ball into the area, she’s challenged by the keeper and slips over, but still manages to put the ball in while on the ground! Cleary has been somewhat of a find; a forward that likes to cut inside, she’s been a constant menace to the Blackburn backline, pressing and harrying them. Not long after her second, she completes her hat-trick – threatening to get behind the defence several times already, with the offside flag or last-ditch block preventing them, Wigan slip a pass through and Cleary runs on it, proceeding to round the keeper and put the ball into an empty net.
The supporters have naturally been enjoying themselves – but so have the players. Each goal has seen them all (bar the goalkeeper) run to Cleary to celebrate. Some of them have run 60 or 70 yards to do so – I hope they don’t knacker themselves out! Boycey must be going spare! Maybe they have tired themselves out, because for some reason, Wigan decide to make two substitutions at the 40-minute mark and then another a couple of minutes later. All the players seem uninjured – couldn’t they have waited until half-time? How bizarre.
The first half was very enjoyable (several goals for your side does tend to have that effect!) But the crowd have been good too, being animated in all the right places and shouting at the ref. Some chap even attempted to start a ‘Cleary’s on Fire’ chant, which raised some nervous giggles. The play is somewhat slower than what most here will be used to, but there’s also been plenty of action which most here will not be used to either! People always make the mistake of thinking slower play means ‘less entertaining’, but it’s been anything but. It’s absolutely pissing it down too, which isn’t helping!
I can only assume Boycey wants to see all of his players in action, as he makes another sub at half-time – replacing goalkeeper Knowles with Faye Mossley. The mystery of these early subs is made clear to me during the second half – it turns out they use rolling subs at this level, presumably to safeguard the fitness of players. Considering this is effectively amateur football (and many of these players are teenagers), expecting them to play at the same intensity for 90+ minutes is unrealistic. I think the rolling subs keep the players fresh and as such, keep the game fresh too – so it’s a better watch for the supporters also!
The second half has been competitive – in the sense that Wigan have dominated, while Blackburn have defended well, without creating anything. Just as it seemed we were going to end the match without a goal, Wigan win a free-kick just outside the penalty area, left-of-centre. Midfielder, Molly Hassall steps up – and smashes the ball into the top corner! It was a great shot; one of those hits that you know is going in as soon as it’s struck. Late on, Wigan had another chance, but it hit the post and bounced agonisingly away from several onrushing attackers.
It finishes 4-1 and the players celebrate and take some well-deserved adulation from the crowd. I feel like there's a lot more to come from this Wigan team – considering they were only put together a matter of weeks ago, it’s still very early to gauge what their potential is, but they’ve certainly started in the right manner by playing crowd-pleasing short-passing, attacking football. Although I’m looking forward to experiencing what Edge Hall Road has to offer, I do hope they host more games at The Brick throughout the season – over one-and-a-thousand were here today and as the team develops and hopefully puts together a successful league campaign, I’d imagine that number could easily be doubled next time. Well, if some people would read their social media feeds properly, anyway!
Wigan Athletic Women 4
Blackburn Eagles 1
Attendance: 1,541
If you’re interested in reading more about women’s football, I have a book out in November! In an attempt to evaluate the standing of women’s football at all levels in the current climate, I followed the winning club through each round of the 2023/24 FA Cup – starting with the ‘other’ Wigan Athletic Ladies – all the way to the final at Wembley, chronicling my experiences along the way. Stay tuned to this blog for more information on the release date – or follow me on X at pints_pies!
