This season Carlisle United Ladies are launching a new Partner Club Scheme, allowing junior girls clubs across the county to affiliate to United.
The scheme further develops initiatives already being delivered in the community by the 2017 Cumberland FA Women’s County Cup winners and will see United working even closer with clubs to ensure as many girls as possible have the opportunity to be involved in the game.
The Partner Club Scheme launches following a successful summer for women’s football with record audiences tuning in to watch Scotland make their major tournament debut and the Lionesses reach the Semi-Finals at last month’s UEFA Women’s Euro 2017 in The Netherlands.
Members of the scheme will have access to a range of on and off field benefits including the opportunity to have United Ladies players attend a training session, one-on-one support from United Ladies staff on coaching and club development, a pathway for players to progress to senior football with United and more.
Two clubs have already signed up in what looks set to be an exciting inaugural season. Allerdale FC Girls and Stanwix FC Girls have both joined already for 17/18 and United Ladies are looking forward to working with them as well as developing new partnerships.
For both clubs already signed up, membership of the Partner Club Scheme will extend existing relationships which have already seen mutual benefits as Suzanne Mason of Stanwix FC explains: “We are delighted to form part of the Carlisle United Ladies Partner Club Scheme.
"We have been working with United Ladies for a couple of years now with our Under-16 girls attending training sessions with the senior players which has helped to develop them further and prepare them for the transition to women’s football.
“Some of the girls have now progressed through to playing for United Ladies’ Development side from where we hope they will develop further into the first team. Above 16 is the age in girls’ football where participation can drop off.
"Working closely with United Ladies has enabled us to keep committed players playing and also developing girls from Under-8 right through to open age football. As part of the Scheme are looking forward to working even closer together going forwards.”
Advantages to joining the Partner Club Scheme include:
- An opportunity to have Carlisle United Ladies players attend a training session
- Access to tickets to Carlisle United men’s team games at Brunton Park through the CUFC Community Ticket Scheme
- Access to United Ladies coach development events
- An opportunity to receive one-to-one advice from United Ladies staff on an aspect of the club such as training plans, development or marketing
- A feature of the Club on United Ladies’ social media channels and in one of their monthly ezines
- An exclusive graphic to demonstrate the Club is a Carlisle United Ladies Partner Club
- A pathway for players to progress to senior football through the Carlisle United Ladies Development squad
Launching the new scheme, United Ladies Marketing Officer, Jamie Grubb, said: “We’re proud of our work in the community and already have strong ties with a number of junior girls clubs from the county.
"This summer in The Netherlands the Lionesses inspired a generation of girls to lace up their boots and give the game a go. The new Partner Club Scheme allows us to begin to formalise some of our existing ties as well as reach out to new clubs and offer our support.”
The Partner Club Scheme is open to all junior girls clubs across Cumbria and the Border areas. For more information, or to apply to join, please contact Jamie Grubb by emailing information@cusclb.com.
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