The story of Woodspring Women’s season is very much like one straight out of a book.
After opening the campaign with back-to-back defeats, Woodspring went on to record 10 successive wins to secure promotion from Somerset Women’s League Division Three Flexi in their first ever campaign with a 2-0 win over Cheddar Ladies on February 6.
“Our goal this season was to increase female participation and not finish bottom of the league so that the club survived into next season,” said manager Ian Ridge.
“To have achieved promotion with three games to spare and doing it by winning 10 in a row is beyond anything we ever expected.
“More importantly, they aren’t just a good team but good people, who have come together to create a positive and supportive environment for women to succeed in sport locally.
“I am so proud and honoured to know them both in a sporting and personal context as they are providing great inspiration for young girls in the town to lace up their boots and join the journey.
“Well done to our Woodspring Warriors, you have done me and us all proud!”
It has been some rise for a club that was only formed last summer in the hope of bringing local women from all over North Somerset together to play.
Eight people turned up to Woodspring’s first ever training session in June, but by the end of July, the numbers had reached an average of 25 at training every week.
Now there are over 30 players signed up ranging from 16 to mid-40s and plans are in place to launch a reserve side to meet the growing interest in the club.
Captain Zoe Gissing thanked Ridge and club secretary Carina Smith for giving them this opportunity by creating a 'friendly and welcoming environment'.
She added: “I think, over the period of this season, we have deserved to go up.
“(It’s) fantastic all round from the management, coaches, players, and everyone involved in the club, including the volunteers behind the scenes and people who have supported us from day one.
“To win 10 games in a row in any sport is some achievement and it goes to show not only the quality and development of the team over such a short period of time, with many of our players being new to the sport this season, but the togetherness of our squad as we not only sit top of the league table but top across the board in the individual statistics over the course of the season.
“We are all really excited to be challenging ourselves and competing in the league above next season, whilst growing the club and hopefully entering a second development team into the league and putting ladies sport and women’s football firmly on the map in the Woodspring area.”
When you look deeper into the stats of the side, it is even more staggering, with 50 per cent from Nailsea while the rest of the team are from Clevedon, Yatton and other towns up and down the county.
It is reported that around a third of the squad had not played Sunday football until the start of this season, before Ridge was approached by a couple of his players feeling there were not enough opportunities in North Somerset.
Only Portishead Town have a ladies team, who compete in the FA Women’s National League, with no senior women's sides in Clevedon, Nailsea, Backwell or Yatton.
Bearing this in mind Ridge decided to use his experience from his time coaching in the third tier of the women’s game to form a club locally.
“Basically, I am born and raised in this community and I am deeply passionate about it and sport,” he added.
“I just want women to have the same chances I had, as if I was born a girl, the chances are I wouldn’t be into, participating or passionate about sport, which shouldn’t be the case.
“What some people are starting to realise is, once I get something in my head I find it hard to let it go, so will keep pestering people until the future of female sport in the area is secured, so that this does not become just another short-lived success story.”
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