It’s so much more than just kicking a ball
For many young men who grew up playing football for our local football teams, we took it for granted. Whenever we wanted to join a team there was likely one there, pretty much no matter where you lived.
For most girls though that wasn’t the world they grew up in. For a number of young girls their careers in amateur youth football stopped at a certain age, with clubs either unwilling or unable to field girls teams beyond a certain age.
It is within this reality that Dulwich Hamlet FC’s new women’s team means just as much as it does.
In June of this year the club, which plays in the National League South – the sixth tier of English football – announced that it would be launching a women’s team, “rising from the ashes of AFC Phoenix”, and launched a video about the team in conjunction with FootballJOE.
WOMEN'S TEAM:
Dulwich Hamlet are delighted to announce our new Women's Team
Rising from the ashes of AFC Phoenix, our new team will play in pink and blue from the 2019/20 season
Here's your new team, with thanks to @FootballJOE!
Follow them here: @dulwichhamfc_w#DHFC 💖💙 pic.twitter.com/PpHzhQrbfD
— Dulwich Hamlet FC (@DulwichHamletFC) June 6, 2019
As part of our series documenting their first season of competitive, we travelled down to the club during their first game of the season against QPR to see what it means for all involved.
"I was 10 years old when I was told, 'You can't play anymore because there's no girls' teams. You can't play with the boys.'"
For @DulwichHamFC_W, playing their first ever season as the club's official women's team means everything. pic.twitter.com/SRwbdS7O7D
— FootballJOE (@FootballJOE) October 22, 2019
