Our Patch JUNE 2016
Our Patch JUNE 2016
PITCH
BATTLES
THE LADIES' GAME
IS A TURF WAR
Forget Messi and Ronaldo, think Milly and Renata! Women’s
football is growing rapidly, with Hammersmith Ladies one of the
liveliest teams in the capital. Tim Harrison reports
18/19
A
s the 15th staging of
Europe’s quadrennial
football bonanza gets
underway in France,
closer to home the stars
of Hammersmith Ladies
are getting in shape for a new season.
Women’s football is thriving,
thanks to girls’ schools enthusiastically
embracing the beautiful game. And
Michael Smith, manager of the
Hammersmith Ladies team, believes the
Euros will be an important recruiting
sergeant.
“It’s funny,” he said. “Female fans
get just as agitated about football as
male fans. Anything to encourage
players will boost women’s football,
especially if England do well at the
Euros.”
The local ladies’ team first kicked a
ball in anger in 2015. West London has
had fully fledged professional women’s
teams for ages, including QPR LFC,
London Bees, Fulham FC Foundation
Ladies and Chelsea LFC, recently
pipped to the FA Women’s Cup at
Wembley by Arsenal. But there hasn’t
been one for local amateurs.
Michael launched the club when
he lived in Ravenscourt Avenue – right
by the park where the ladies now
practise.
“Hammersmith & Fulham
Council helped us to get started,”
he said.
“Seven women turned up on
the first day, and that quickly
rose to 30, so we entered the
Greater London Women’s
Football League, which is
down at the level of the
Hebrew slaves!
“Then Horton and
Garton offered to
sponsor the
team, so with
our new kit
and our
grant
Ange McPhee juggles
from
in Ravenscourt Park.
the
She's pictured left
council we
with her teammates
began.”
Kelly Bowen and
The team have
Lumiere Chieh
weekly warmups on the park’s
astroturf pitch on
Tuesday evenings from 7pm – a good
place to turn up, introduce yourself
and assess the standard.
The first friendly was played at
Wormwood Scrubs, but the club
began playing regular games at Barn
Elms, just over Hammersmith Bridge,
and at the Old Meadonians ground near
Barnes Bridge.
Luke Craig, a central midfielder
with Bedfont & Feltham FC who lives
in Goldhawk Road, runs the summer
coaching. Both he and Michael are
involved with Shooting Starz, the
multi-sport summer fun club in
Ravenscourt Park.
Captain Ange McPhee has played
football ever since she was inspired
to take up the sport by a visit to her
secondary school by a female footballer.
“My twin sister and I were
immediately hooked,” she said. “Last
year, after my first ever year with no
It’s funny. Female fans get
just as agitated about football
as male fans. Anything to
encourage players will boost
women’s football, especially if
England do well at the Euros
football, I was desperate to find a team
when I moved to London to start as a
PE teacher in a school in Chelsea.
“I’ve enjoyed making new friends
through the team and I'm looking
forward to next season, where
promotion will see us face more
challenging opposition.”
Hammersmith Ladies came
second in their league this
season, and reached the semifinal of the cup. Next season the
team will enter the Women’s FA
Cup for the first time.
“Technically we
only have to win nine
games and we’re
at Wembley,” said
Michael.
There are eight
divisions in women’s
football. Hammersmith
were in Div 3, and a re
now in Div 2, with a
realistic shot at Div 1 next
year. That would open
the way to the regional
leagues.
“My last team was
in Wandsworth,” said
Michael. “Within three
years we’d gone up three
levels and were playing
CONTINUED ON PAGE 23>
UEFA EURO 2016
CAN VARDY & KANE
GIVE PAIN TO SPAIN?
Will Harry
Kane's form
inspire England?
T
he month-long Euro 2016
tournament kicks off on
Friday (June 10), with the
continent’s top 24 national teams
slugging it out for the trophy.
Both the 2008 and 2012
competitions were won by Spain,
in events staged in Switzerland/
Austria and Poland/Ukraine
respectively.
This time, France is hosting as
Spain go for the hat-trick.
The tournament’s theme is
‘celebrating the art of football’,
with the mascot being Super Victor,
a youngster who discovers a magic
cape, boots and ball and becomes a
pint-sized superhero.
The teams are competing for the
Henri Delaunay cup, named after
the man who came up with the
idea of a European championship.
The silver trophy weighs 8 kilos
and stands 60cm (2ft) tall. Each
squad member of the winning team
also gets a gold medal.
What are England’s chances?
Well, with in-form Leicester striker
Jamie Vardy alongside free-scoring
Spurs frontman Harry Kane,
anything is possible.
One of the critical games to
watch for is England v Slovakia on
June 20. It could propel the Lions
into the Round of 16, after which
there are just three steps to the
final in Stade de France, Paris, on
the evening of Sunday July 10.