We have HUGE news. We are absolutely delighted to announce that we FINALLY have a new training home… Haggerston 11-a-side pitch!

In 1921, the FA declared football “quite unsuitable for females” and banned womxn from playing football on any FA affiliated pitches for 50 years. That policy change meant that the womxn’s game is still fighting for space 100 years later.

For almost five years Goal Diggers have been campaigning for a review to the outdated “first come, first served” pitch booking system. A system that prevents teams that are new to the sport from getting a look in. These teams are predominantly womxn’s teams due to the FA’s ban.

We have repeatedly raised the issue of pitch space with local councils, leisure centres, The FA, the Football Foundation and the press. However, our only option has been to train on a seven-a-side pitch… UNTIL NOW.

We dug deep. Due to our campaign efforts we now have a training home which is large enough for our membership. We have an 11-a-side pitch in a prime location, during prime times.

Not only is this hugely important for us as a club on practical terms (the pitch is larger, more centrally located, better equipped and better surfaced than our previous pitch) but also the visibility of us on this pitch space is of paramount importance.

Until this block booking, no womxn’s teams were training on Haggerston Pitch. It’s a truism in womxn’s football that you can’t be what you can’t see. If pitches like this are used by men every night of the week, the effect is catastrophic.

It means these spaces are seen as masculine and this simply re-enforces the harmful narrative that football is a man’s game. We are ready to change this narrative. We are ready for our new training home.

Although we now have a home, this is the first step. No meaningful, long term change to the pitch booking system has occurred. We will keep fighting – fighting for a fairer system which allows all womxn’s teams to access the space womxn were banned from in 1921. Pitch please.

N.B. If you are a womxn’s team who have suffered from this pitch booking system, please message us. We can work together.

P.S. this new pitch will cost our non-profit club an extra £5,500 a year. Any donations are appreciated during these times when grants are scarce & added income from our fundraising club night, Murder On Zidane’s Floor, is no longer available. Thank you https://www.goaldiggersfootballclub.com/donate