Sunday 10th September 2023
First Qualifying Round
Penwortham Town vs. Wigan Athletic
Located roughly a mile-and-a-half away from the centre of Preston, Penwortham is a small town situated on the south bank of the River Ribble. Thankfully for me, it’s easily accessible by foot from Preston’s train station, with the bonus being that most of my walk will be done through the city’s fine parkland. A massive bridge runs through Avenham Park, connecting Preston with those towns and villages south of the Ribble, with yet more nature on that side surrounding today’s venue. Today’s weather is somewhat mild (coming at the end of a VERY hot week), so it feels like a somewhat idyllic start to this journey through the rounds of the Women’s FA Cup.
It’s quite apt that I’m in the Preston area today as the influence the place has had on association football cannot be underestimated. You may already be aware of Preston North End and their men’s exploits as founder members of the Football League in 1888-89, winning the first league and FA Cup double that season – but women’s football has historic roots here too. The growth of the female game in the last decade has seen a resurgence in the story of Dick, Kerr’s Ladies – a works’ side that is considered the first ‘super team’ of the women’s game.
Originally a manufacturer of locomotives and tramcars, Dick, Kerr & Co of Preston switched to making munitions during the First World War, with their factory helmed by women during this time. As the men were away, it was seen as ‘good for morale’ to allow women to participate in such a strenuous sporting activity as football, with the factory team going on to play in charity matches across the country, raising money for injured servicemen during (and after) the war. The most famous of these matches was against St Helens Ladies at Goodison Park on the 27th December 1920, attracting a crowd of over 53,000 spectators. This is a record that would remain intact for 98 years before 60,000 saw Atletico Madrid host Barcelona in 2019. Earlier in 1920, Dick, Kerr’s Ladies had the distinction of playing against the first ‘official’ national women’s team, as they hosted France in a series of matches. Despite the success and apparent positive spectacle of women playing football, barely 12 months after attracting that record crowd, the Football Association deemed football ‘unsuitable’ for women to play and banned female sides from the pitches of their member clubs.
Dick, Kerr’s struggled on, playing where they could – including going on a much-publicised tour of the United States in 1922 – before a falling out with factory management saw the club spin-off as ‘Preston Ladies’, eventually folding in 1965 (only 6 years before the FA ban was lifted). Today, they are celebrated as being pioneers of the women’s game in England and a blue plaque sits on the wall of the original Dick, Kerr & Co factory building, just outside Preston city centre on Strand Road, marking their achievements.
Have you ever seen Gorillas In The Mist? It doesn’t matter – just imagine a big, sweaty (but quite endearing) gorilla snorting and sweeping back foliage. That’s me right now; I’ve arrived at my destination, following the winding forest path that allows me a sight of Vernon-Carus Sports Club. This multi-sport facility is home to several local sports, primarily Vernon’s Cricket Club and Penwortham Town FC – with the cricket ground the centrepiece, what with its pavilion overlooking the vast greenery. There’s a cricket match going on right now – so you can imagine how awkward I feel; appearing from the tree lining, looking for a way in, as people are playing and watching the cricket. I’m nervously looking over my shoulder as I walk around the boundary fence, just in case somebody fancies hitting a sweaty gorilla with a cricket ball.
Opportunely enough, Vernon’s was recently featured on television in ‘Freddie Flintoff’s Field of Dreams’, a 3-part BBC One documentary that followed former England cricket star and local Preston lad, Andrew ‘Freddie’ Flintoff in his attempts at putting together a team of local teenagers who had never played cricket before. It highlighted the importance of community, the social impact that being part of one brings – and how clubs like this provide the means for one to be created. Aside from the cricket, the teamworking aspect of being part of a community was illustrated in the final episode as the teens bandied together to help with a refit of the clubhouse. These kinds of facilities are vital for the club and the area that surrounds it – offering a venue for people to come to, away from the pressures of home and work. I felt that this was the perfect exercise for these young people to understand the value of working together to create something for others – they saw it transform from a building site into a smart clubhouse. Naturally, I’ll be inspecting it later.
Nicknamed ‘The Pigeons’ (automatically a contender for my favourite nickname for a football club!), Penwortham Town were formed in 1977 and, typical of the community-focused approach of these clubs, their flock comprises of many teams, from the men’s and women’s firsts, right down to under-6’s and even veterans. Currently playing in the Division One North of North West Women’s Regional League, the sixth-tier side are one level above their opponents today – sharing a league with clubs such as Preston North End, Bolton Wanderers and Accrington Stanley. I think this underlines that being attached to a professional men’s club isn’t necessarily a status guarantee in the women’s game right now – the former two are long-established Football League outfits and (along with Wigan) have the all the facilities (as well as the name recognition) to quickly build a women’s football section. Yet they’re playing at the same level (or lower, in Wigan’s case) as Penwortham Town.
After a brief sit down on a bench under the pavilion to watch some of the cricket, I make my way over to the ‘main’ pitch that is hosting today’s game – and it’s just that, a pitch. Penwortham Town men play in the Lancashire Sunday League, which isn’t part of the national league system, so there are no stands, floodlights or any barriers (which are all required to be part of the English league system) – the only bit that’s ‘roped off’ is the end that sits in front of the car park. Not sure how a rope is going to stop a ball from flying into the road, but then again, I’m not a scientist. There are a couple of benches by the side of the pitch (which have already been occupied), while some intelligent people have bought deckchairs with them. The only thing around that I can use to give myself a modicum of comfort are some cricket nets – so I ended up leaning on the metal structure that frames them, safe in the knowledge that I can watch the game in relative comfort AND have some protection from the cricket match going on behind me!
The two teams emerge from the changing area, but the referee calls them back to perform a proper ‘walk out’ onto the pitch – despite us being at a field in a community sports centre, it’s still the FA Cup, so ceremonies must be observed! I just know we’re just one step away from having one of those silly plinths at the side of the pitch that the refs must walk to pick up the ball or worse – a model car delivering the ball to the centre circle. Nevertheless, it presents an opportunity for the two sides to receive a round of applause from the fifty or so people watching on, giving them a sense of occasion – no matter what happens today or how far they get in the competition, the players can at least say they have played in the FA Cup. From a field in Penwortham to Wembley Stadium, it’s all the same; each team’s performance in it will shape its story – this is why this competition, women’s or men’s, is so intriguing.
Wigan, who are wearing replicas of last season’s men’s blue-and-white halved jerseys, quickly take control and take an early lead – a defence-splitting pass sees two players run clear of the defence and the ball is hammered in. The cheer that sounds informs me that most of the crowd here are Wigan supporters – more specifically (judging by the number of Scouse accents!), parents of the players who have given their kids a lift to the ground. A benefit of there being no barrier at the side of the pitch is that as a spectator, you feel a part of the action – you’re just a couple of yards away from the touchline and you can hear every shout. Naturally, the parents here get a bit too involved and try to do the officials’ job for them – brilliantly a shout of ‘that was offside, referee’ was met with a retort of ‘you can’t be offside from a corner, mate’ by the ref when a Wigan supporter makes a claim, resulting in chuckles from everyone at the side of the pitch!
Penwortham try to put some pressure on, keeping the ball, but without creating anything to test the Wigan goalkeeper – in fact, Wigan seem quite happy to let them have the ball, instead looking to spring counter-attacks whenever they pick up on a loose pass or long ball. This tactic would work brilliantly midway through the half as the midfield pick up the ball and a single pass splits the defence, leaving a forward to cut inside from the right-hand side of the penalty area before striking home. Then a couple of minutes before half time, they add a third – a shot from the edge of the area flies into the top corner, leading the Wigan Scouse Ultras into raptures.
Some cricket lads, who have all been dismissed from the batting, have come to watch and are remarking about how good the play is – and they’re right. While the pace is a little slower than what you might see at a typical men’s non-league game, both sides are showing a great range of passes – Wigan favour the short, one-two style, whereas Penwortham like to hit it long and look for runners going beyond the forwards. The cricket lads have also picked up on the number of parents here and so have mistaken this as being ‘Wigan’s under-18s’ – saying they look ‘really good for under-18s’. I’m not sure how old they are, but they do look young which, while great to see young women playing with such quality, does suggest there’s an issue in retaining older players at this level. The challenge going forward I suppose will be trying to keep them in the game for longer, regardless of the level they end up playing at – the more depth there is at all age groups, the better.
There’s enough time left in the half for Wigan’s forward line to cause more chaos in the Penwortham defence; the three main attackers combine, one of them skips past a couple of players before unleashing a powerful shot that goes wide, and into someone’s garden. The ref blows for half-time and it must be said that it’s been really entertaining – while Wigan, with their short passing and pace on the break, look the better ‘footballing’ side here, Penwortham have worked hard to counteract them and have even looked dangerous whenever they’ve had a chance to hit a long ball into the area. However, I’m already seeing that fitness might be an issue – despite having that spell of possession earlier in the half, the hosts have spent most of their time chasing the ball. With a mountain to climb already, will this result in an avalanche heading The Pigeon Ladies’ way in the second half?
The half-time whistle hasn’t even finished sounding as I turn on my heels and make haste towards the ‘new’ clubhouse – leading a pack of spectators like the Pied Piper, I get there first to have a nosey around (as well as a pint of lager, I suppose). The recently upgraded interior is sleek and contemporary-looking; a uniform light grey with black framing the doors and windows. Although, purely for the historic ambience they evoke, I value a good old-fashioned clubhouse that has decades-old stains on the walls and floor, this upgrade offers an attractive facility to host parties and events for the local community. Instead of staying inside, I choose to take my pint outside to watch the cricket – I spy a spare bench and just sit there in the sun, supping my pint while watching the batters struggle to hit the ball beyond the fielders, trying to not swear whenever they hit a shot. It can’t get as pleasant as this.
Well, I say that – I almost spilt half of the beer down my front when I noticed the two teams taking to the field for the second half, such was my rush to get there in time. Penwortham come out fighting, putting some pressure on the Wigan backline with more long passes down the middle. Some combinations see the ball slipped through to an attacker, but the shot is beaten away by the Wigan keeper – a sign of things to come?
No, unfortunately for the home side, as Wigan score two goals in quick succession to definitely seal the game. The Penwortham defence is nowhere to be seen as a ball down the left is passed inside to the Wigan captain (you can’t miss her luminous yellow armband), who takes a touch before finishing past the keeper from close range. Just a couple of minutes later, an attack from the other side is similarly passed inside and finished from close range – again, the home defence nowhere near the attackers. The Penwortham coach tells his side to ‘wake up’, but I genuinely think they’re struggling physically here – twice again, Wigan attackers find themselves through on goal but waste their chances by shooting over. They make no mistake with their next opportunity for a sixth goal, though – this time the forward was put through by a simple pass and carried the ball as close to the keeper as she could before shooting past her and into the net. No pun intended here – considering the environment we’re present in today – but it could well be a cricket score here.
I was feeling jealous of the cricket lads earlier as they got a touch of the match ball when it was kicked out of play – I feel that by touching the ball, it somehow makes you part of the match. You’re gripping the very thing that can cause so much joy (or hurt) to so many people; every groove, imprint and speck of mud on the ball telling you the story of the game so far. Just standing there holding it, you become connected to the energy and spirit of the beautiful game. And as you’re pondering all this, your thoughts are interrupted by someone shouting at you to ‘give it back, you prick’. Anyway, I manage to get a touch of the ball here – ‘touch’ being the operative word. The ball flies out of play at pace so I stick a foot out to slow it down – I didn’t quite control it, but I got enough on it to make it stop. I still got a touch. It still counts.
The match grew even more one-sided as the half wore on – Wigan add three more as Penwortham struggled to contain them. The left-winger for Wigan has been the instigator for many of her sides’ raids – right-footed, so constantly cutting inside and running at defenders, she scores the goal of the game by running past three defenders before finishing in the corner. Number 8 arrives as another through-ball is picked up on by the left-winger and she slots confidently home – then she’s involved for the ninth as a ball in from the left is controlled and stoked into the corner by an onrushing teammate. I wish I knew these girls’ names so they get the credit – with no programme, team sheets or website to speak of, it’s very difficult.
Despite having several late chances – all of which either went wide or over – the score remained at nine as the ref blew for full-time. Wigan were relentless and deserve huge credit for the way they played – technically, tactically and physically, they were much superior and in fairness to Penwortham, it wasn’t as if they were bad, either. I bid farewell to Penwortham and Vernon-Carus Sports Club as I make my way back round to the forest path and the bright lights of Preston, keeping my eyes out for cricket balls and wondering where my journey might take me next.
Penwortham Town 0
Wigan Athletic 9
