Given the incredible success and fast expansion of AFC Unity which has seen its two years old 11-a-side team exceed expectations, we are excited to announce the launch of an additional 11-a-side team: the AFC Unity Jets.
In-keeping with AFC Unity’s dedication to women’s football and the empowerment of women, the name came about in reference to the suffragettes – ‘jets for short!
‘Given our high retention rates and our previous difficulties in meeting demand – and the breakaway success of the first team – the creation of the AFC Unity Jets provides an appropriate pathway for women wanting to get into competitive affiliated league football, without the increasingly high expectations of the first team,’ said AFC Unity manager Jay Baker.
‘Despite our ever-present challenges of having no affiliation to an established men’s team – with raising funds extremely difficult – we are confident that given our success so far as an indie women’s football club, we’ll be able to deliver a project that will be fun yet also provide development for women not yet ready for the pressures of the first team – as they now become ambassadors for the organisation as a whole,’ Baker added.
The AFC Unity Jets are expected to take off in the summer, and follow their first team “sisters” into the Sheffield & Hallamshire Women’s County Football League for the upcoming 2016/17 season.
A manager of the AFC Unity Jets will be appointed in the near future.