Morecambe Football Club welcome open age women's team into the Shrimps family.
Morecambe Football Club is delighted to announce a partnership has been agreed to support and develop the growth of Women’s Football in the area, and for the first time, formally bring our local, established open age Women’s team into the ‘MFC Family’ as ‘Morecambe Football Club Women’.
The team will represent Morecambe Football Club at open age level, and currently compete in Division One of the North West Regional Women’s League, the sixth tier in the Women’s Football Pyramid. The team can be traced back to 2005, when Sophie Fish formed Lancaster and Morecambe Ladies FC to provide an opportunity for females to play football in the district - within 12 months, Nick Barrett joined as chairman. The open age team is fed into by Morecambe Girls FC, a junior section which started in 2018, with Sophie and Nick as the driving force, supported by an enthusiastic committee of volunteers and coaches.
As a crucial component of the three year plan set out by the Board of Directors last year, the partnership will now see ‘Morecambe Football Club Women’ access improved training facilities in the area, as well as opportunities to play fixtures at the Mazuma Stadium across the season - we can’t wait to share details of the first fixture to be held at the Mazuma Stadium in due course. The team will be proudly wearing full Morecambe FC training kit, leisure wear for travel to and from matches, along with a new and bespoke Joma match kit. The Club will support the team to enhance its’ profile through our social media team and channels, including a new twitter page devoted to all things ‘Morecambe FC Women’. Sponsorship has, and will continue, to be raised through the Club to help grow and develop Women’s Football in the area, including a significant and exciting front of shirt sponsorship deal, to be announced shortly! Morecambe FC Community Sports have to this point and will continue to play a pivotal role in the partnership, offering valuable support in helping to steer and progress the relationship as we move forwards together.
On the partnership, Sophie Fish, founder of the team, says: “After over a decade of working alongside Morecambe FC, the women’s team are now officially part of the Shrimps family and there is no one more delighted than us.
“After establishing the Club twenty years ago, we have quite literally devoted our lives, on a voluntary basis, to ensuring women and girls have a place to play football and to finally be officially part of the Morecambe FC Family is a dream come true.
“Everyone at MFC has always made us feel so welcome, but to officially put pen to paper and for our players to see all the talk become a reality, is extremely rewarding and makes Nick and I very proud.
“Our ambition has always been the same, to provide a place for women and girls to play football, but with the support of Morecambe FC we can ensure more opportunities can open and ensure football for females can continue to grow and improve. On a personal note, being of a generation before there were so many opportunities for women and girls to play football, I have fought a lot of battles to get to where we are today as a Club. Once I hit the age of 12, there was nowhere, local anyway, to play football; to be told you can’t do something you love is outrageous and I will never let the answer be no for anyone wanting to do something they love.
Sophie Fish, founder.
“The passion, commitment and drive I have to ensure the opportunities are there for females to be involved in the game is even bigger (if it could actually get any bigger!) with Morecambe FC fully behind us. Things are changing for female football; it’s taken a little longer than anticipated, but we are here and we’re not going anywhere, thank you to Morecambe FC for believing in us and joining forces to help female football develop further. With Morecambe FC’s support, and the great work from their media team, we know more people will get behind us and reach a wider audience, we have already witnessed the support at the men’s games, we want the Shrimps fans to do the same for the women.
“Being huge fans ourselves, we already know what great supporters are at the Club, the atmosphere is like no other, it truly is a family club, and we are so excited to be more involved. It’s not just about the football, its recognition, knowing that people will see us officially as Morecambe FC Women, everyone saw the success of the Lionesses over the summer, momentum from this needs to continue and it is the right thing for us to join forces with Morecambe FC.
“We have seen a lot of players come and go over the years, all have played a huge part in our history and where we are today and with the coverage MFC can bring, we are excited to attract more players to be part of our future, we have opportunities not only for players, but we are always on the lookout for coaches and physios to name a few roles.
“We are so excited to get going as one club.”
Ben Sadler, CEO of Morecambe FC, has also shared his delight: “I am over the moon that we can now share the news that the partnership has been agreed to bring Women’s Football into the ‘MFC Family’, something we have been working on over the last year.
“This is a project that means a great deal to me personally, with my football ‘journey’ starting in assisting with the formation of Harrogate Town Women’s Team, and the most enjoyable four years thereafter supporting the project and ultimately developing and improving the provision in place for female footballers. Following a wonderful summer for Women’s football and the success of the England national team, we believe that a platform is now in place, and more opportunities than ever exist for female players within football.
"It is absolutely our intention to support, elevate and further improve the provision and opportunities for female footballers in our area, alongside our already established and successful Mens’ and Academy set ups.”