Today’s match result was another loss for AFC Unity as they fell 0-9 to Thurcroft Miners.
Unity began the game well and had defended 7 corners throughout the first half. However, in the 20th minute Thurcroft’s number 9 converted one of their chances and made it 0-1. Although Unity were 0-1 down, they continued to chase down all 50:50 balls and won possession in many instances in the first half. Thurcroft were unable to convert many of their shots for the majority of the first half. Up until the 32nd minute when their number 10 scored 3 to earn a quick 10 minute hattrick for herself ending the first half as 0-4.
Once the second half was underway, Unity started brilliantly and Jane Watkinson’s shot missing the top corner by just a few inches. However, after Jane’s chance Thurcroft went straight into attack and number 9 scored making it 0-5. 5 minutes later, Jane weaved in and out of Thurcroft’s defence and narrowly missed once again. Despite Unity being 0-5 down they continued to keep their heads high and carried on fighting in the last 30 minutes of the game and still created chances for themselves. Although, this wasn’t quite enough and another quick hattrick was scored by Thurcroft’s number 13 making it 0-8 in the dying minutes of the game. Unity still carried on piling on pressure right up until the last minute of the game. In the 89th minute number 9 for Thurcroft converted her chance ending the game 0-9 to Thurcroft Miners.
Talking to Unity’s manager Jay Baker after the game he said, “In the first half it was really hard for us to get hold of the ball and get it on the floor and start playing football.” Speaking to Unity’s Jane Watkinson she felt that, “we played a lot better in the second half as we were more assertive, and we attacked a lot more. However, we made simple mistakes, things we know we’re doing wrong that we shouldn’t be doing and we can improve on this in our training.”
We spoke with Solidarity Soccer attendee, Helen McKenna, about her experiences attending the weekly innovative, informal women’s football training engaging women (16+) of any experience and ability in non-competitive football.
Solidarity Soccer is a great introduction to our alternative ethos, playing style and approach as a club and runs at the U-Mix Centre, Wednesdays, 7-8pm. Get in touch to get involved!
AFC Unity: In a few words, how would you describe Solidarity Soccer to someone who hasn’t been?
Helen: Football skills and games with a really friendly group where you’re made to feel welcome regardless of experience or current ability and everyone’s efforts are valued. Also, it’s fun!
AFC Unity: Do you have any stories that stand out from your time of being involved in Solidarity Soccer?
Helen: One week a coach on another pitch was constantly berating his team. It made me really angry and brought home to me how precious it was to have found a group where you’re respected and where it’s OK to make the mistakes that you need to make in order to improve.
AFC Unity: Has Solidarity Soccer had an impact on your outside football life?
Helen: It’s had a very positive impact and has led to less of my life being outside football! After years of panic attacks and depression my exercise had become very limited and I’d lost interest in things I used to enjoy. These sessions provided a safe space to get back into playing and reminded me how much I’ve always loved football. Finding that spark again has become a major part of my recovery and I’m now a volunteer football coach with Brunsmeer Awareness FC, a mental health friendly football team.
AFC Unity: Has Solidarity Soccer helped you with 11-a-side football at all?
Helen: It’s reminded me how much I miss playing it!
AFC Unity: If you could pick one word to describe Solidarity Soccer what would it be?
Helen: Inclusive.
AFC Unity: What has been your favourite skill to learn and why?
Helen: Cruyff turn, because I now know I’ve been doing it wrong for 30 years!
AFC Unity: Anything else to add?
Helen: Thank you! Solidarity Soccer has been genuinely life-changing.
The result from today’s match was not what AFC Unity would have hoped for, as they were defeated 0-11 by Sheffield Wednesday Development.
Unity started well and pressured Wednesday keeping them at arm’s length for the first 10 minutes of the first half. However, goal number one came in the 12th minute from Sheffield Wednesday’s number 7. Unity continued to keep pushing on and try to create chances, but Wednesday weren’t allowing them to get through their defence. In the 14th minute, number 15 for Wednesday was taken off and they only had 10 players for the remainder of the game. Wednesday then continued to push forward and converted 4 more goals before half-time making it 0-5.
After half-time Wednesday continued to attack at Unity’s defence and rack up the score tally making the score-line 0-8 by the 60th minute. Shortly after their 8th goal, number 13 for Wednesday was taken off due to another injury resulting in them only having 9 players on the pitch. There were some brilliant saves from Unity’s keeper, Hannah Lamb, as she tipped over a close range shot from number 7 in the 68th minute and then again in the 72nd minute, keeping the score from worsening. Although Unity didn’t give up and carried on pushing on for the final dying minutes of the second half, Wednesday score 3 more goals in quick succession resulting in the final score AFC Unity 0-11 Sheffield Wednesday Development.
Talking to Unity’s captain, Rachel Rodgers, after the game she said. “We won a lot of personal battles in defence, but they were just the better team and they took their chances when they had them.” Unity’s number 3, Jane Watkinson, spoke about how she felt that, “We had good spells of good passing, but we just need to be more consistent.” Unity’s Manager, Jay Baker, talked about how he was pleased that “we kept on going throughout the game, there were a lot of individual errors from each player, but on a whole we played well as a team.”
We spoke with Solidarity Soccer attendee, Sarah Peck, about her experiences attending the weekly innovative, informal women’s football training engaging women (16+) of any experience and ability in non-competitive football.
Solidarity Soccer is a great introduction to our alternative ethos, playing style and approach as a club and runs at the U-Mix Centre, Wednesdays, 7-8pm. Get in touch to get involved!
AFC Unity: In a few words, how would you describe Solidarity Soccer to someone who hasn’t been?
Sarah: Fun football training in a friendly and welcoming environment.
AFC Unity: Do you have any stories that stand out from your time of being involved in Solidarity Soccer?
Sarah: I came to Solidarity Soccer for the first time about 4 months after my daughter was born – it was the perfect environment to start getting back into sport again, especially the emphasis on technique and skills, rather than solely focussing on the physical side of the game.
AFC Unity: Has Solidarity Soccer had an impact on you outside football life?
Sarah: I think becoming involved in Solidarity Soccer has made me realise that you can play sport (especially football) and preserve the values that are important to you at the same time. It often feels that sport brings out the selfish, aggressive and judgemental side in all of us, but the way Solidarity Soccer sessions are conducted emphasises learning, inclusivity and fair play.
AFC Unity: Has Solidarity Soccer helped you with 11-a-side football at all?
Sarah: I’m not currently playing 11-aside but it has encouraged me to think about doing so in the future!
AFC Unity: If you could pick one word to describe Solidarity Soccer what would it be?
Sarah: Welcoming
AFC Unity: What has been your favourite skill to learn and why?
Sarah: Probably the double – drag back – it’s very slick and you can always make it more challenging by using your weaker foot or trying it at speed.
AFC Unity: Anything else to add?
Sarah: It’s been great to find AFC Unity and the Solidarity Soccer sessions and to find such a positive sports club, both socially and in the approach they take to playing football. The focus on skills development is fantastic as is the emphasis on fair play and inclusivity. It’s also great to be involved with a sports club that is so tightly knit to socially progressive causes, proving that sport can be a vehicle for caring about society more widely.
This will be a true test of character for even the best of players: We now have the toughest stretch of our whole season underway, a six-week period of cup and shield games alongside league matches against top teams, while our squad is still finalising the process of starting to gel after having had just one pre-season friendly.
Despite this, we still started the season playing our best football yet against every league opponent but one; those games we only took one or less points from were games where we knew we played the better football, and had to stick to a longer-term plan.
Having said that, we can be better, and will be better, and we know we must be better to overcome the odds we’re up against in a league full of boom-and-bust teams who throw everything they have at every game for short-term results, build a squad or system around one player, or win at all costs. It’s an epic challenge for us, and that’s why we have to work even harder than these other teams in order to succeed.
We want to do well on the field so we can do more off the field, as well. Our profile has skyrocketed in just under five years; we’ve been in local, regional, and national press, been covered in books and talks, and achieved a heck of a lot in the community. But we still need more support. I realise people want to support a team that wins every week, but with us, regardless of the result, there’s an opportunity for purists to watch truly beautiful football when we’re on our game, and we can’t truly succeed if that support isn’t in place on the side of the field as well.
As a not-for-profit limited company as well as a socially progressive, independent women’s football club, it’s harder to get that support, but it’s also more important for us too. That’s the irony. So a massive thanks to everyone who has attended games so far this season – it means a lot!
The players deserve such support. They work so hard and they’re involved in the football club more than they have ever been; they organise socials, fundraising, and all kinds of events; they take on coaching roles at Solidarity Soccer, where there’s a wonderful link formed between first team players and other participants at those sessions (some Solidarity Soccer players have been amongst those attending games to root for the first team players, their Ambassadors at those sessions!)
Those who have attended a few games will have noticed how the captaincy changes almost every time. It’s another unique Unity approach to empower players throughout the squad.
But more than just lead, players have to want to learn and understand the whole football philosophy. Not yet everyone truly grasps the inseparable link between our ethos and the Barcajax approach – that is sacrosanct, in my view. When we fail badly, it’s because we have deviated from those principles, it’s no more complicated than that. So players must have a full comprehension of that.
It’s a learning process. It’s a long-term project buoyed by the immense talent emerging at Solidarity Soccer from players learning the fundamental elements of the Barcajax style from scratch, players who are starting to bang on the door of the first team, a door I’m eager to kick open for them if the opportunity arises!
However, the first team roster is now officially full, since I signed our twenty-fifth and final player last week – like the other incoming players this campaign, another addition who fits our culture and playing style perfectly, and again having attended Solidarity Soccer first.
And this is important: players wanting to play for the first team really must attend Solidarity Soccer beforehand, because it doesn’t matter how good you think you are, our playing style is very different to other teams, as is the ethos it’s designed to fit. It’s also a real test of character for players: by them biding their time in Solidarity Soccer, working hard, going over concepts again and again, absorbing information like a sponge, they demonstrate the commitment to our club while also tooling up on the skills and knowledge of our approach to football. If someone wants to just play any old football for any old club, they have lots of options out there for that!
Solidarity Soccer is also a great way for me to scout players and see if a rapport can be built!
during The FA Community Shield match between Leicester City and Manchester United at Wembley Stadium on August 7, 2016 in London, England.
I’ve never missed a match in our history, nearly a hundred of them in just under five years – I’ve been there for the record 1-13 win and the record 17-1 loss; I’ve accompanied a player to the hospital in the back of an ambulance; I’ve taken on clubs and committees over a nine-month painstaking process because I challenged bullying against my players; I’ve been to Wembley to accept the national Respect Award for women’s clubs in the country in a rare recognition of our club and its integrity in practice.
But, at the end of the day, it’s voluntary, it’s tiring, and traditional clubs with men’s teams and several other tiers to their system have more support networks for head coaches and managers, and it can be tough at times, I’m not too proud to admit – more so when you’re trying to do something so very different. The women in this club are important. I’m a feminist and I believe in what I do, and what this club is about. That’s why I’m committed to this season.
Yes, we’re trying to do something different. We’re determined to play a certain kind of football that, despite borrowing from developed concepts from the past, is years ahead of its time in many ways. It’s why every game is a struggle – when we win, there’s no doubt we deserved it, and there’s no doubt it took a collective effort from everyone, not just one key player. We’re trying to reflect our ethos of collectivism on the field as well.
We believe in a way where everyone is unique yet has their part to play in equal amounts. A way where everyone must stay positive to help the team get ahead. A way where we stick together. A way where we root for each other.
