The Lionesses’ success over recent years has seen the women’s game in England grow exponentially, especially at a grassroots level.
No one is better positioned to tell us about the growth of the women’s game than Cheltenham Town financial director, Clive Gowing whose daughter plays for Cheltenham Town’s under-14 girls team.
Gowing’s daughter, Aimee, has been involved in the Cheltenham Town set-up for six years and Gowing has seen the increase in popularity since the Lionesses have been successful recently.
“When she started they had one team for every two age groups, now they have a team for every age group from under-eights to under-16s and sometimes even two teams every year group.”
Gowing manages the under-14s team and as a director at the club, he is immensely proud of the ladies’ setup at the club.
“Really proud of the setup, it’s been here for a while but the rise has been great, earlier in the season we only had five or six under eights but now we have around 14 or 15 girls who came on Tuesday night so it’s great to see.”
The senior women’s team at Cheltenham have had their own surge recently, currently sitting seventh in the FA Women’s National League Southern Premier after their promotion two seasons ago.
The Lionesses will continue their UEFA Women’s Nations League campaign tonight at home to Belgium at Leicester’s King Power Stadium.
