Barnstoneworth Football Club is poised to lead from the front in developing the women's side of the world game in Orange.
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The club is trying to push a women's 11-a-side competition for 2020, with the dream to have four or five clubs play in Orange this season before extending that same format into the 2021 year to match the Western Premier League's expected expansion to include juniors and women following its launch this year.
Tori Worboys will lead the Orange club's push into a full-scale women's competition as head of female football, and she said girls who age out of juniors after under 14s either forced to play with Millthorpe or other clubs in Bathurst, or to join a third grade side as she has.
"There are no opportunities for women who don't want to play in a men's competition and 15-year-old girls can find it full on coming up against full grown men in third grade," Worboys said.
"We really, really, really want to provide a change for females to keep playing after juniors."
"We've got the one team in Millthorpe which we've had for a few years which is the closest we've got but you have to travel to Bathurst fairly often as it's in the competition there."
... we're hoping to get the word out and then juniors can have the chance to come through if they want to do it.
She said while it was early days, Barnstoneworth had reached out to both the Orange District Football Association and to other clubs in the city with good signs early.
"(ODFA secretary) Brett Hazzard has been behind it and is keen to get it off the ground, they're normally pretty good with stuff like that," Worboys said.
She said feelers had been sent out to CYMS, Waratahs, Ex-Services with "positive" responses, while there might also be scope for a Kinross and CSU side to join.
"Most have been keen to do it, we're hoping to get the word out and then juniors can have the chance to come through if they want to do it," Worboys said.
The growth of a women's competition would be an extra boon for the sport, which after the revival of the WPL was confirmed earlier this month is adding the missing link between local clubs and higher ranks such as Western NSW FC and beyond.
Barnstoneworth secretary Michael Lewis said the club was aiming to support the ODFA's efforts to increase women's football in the city and confirmed the desire to have a female side and increase the numbers in mixed third grade outfits.
Anyone interested in being part of the Barnies' ladies side can contact femalefootball@bufc-orange.com
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Max Stainkamph
Max joined the CWD in September 2017, leaving the big smoke of Melbourne to come to Orange, where he stayed until 2020.
Max joined the CWD in September 2017, leaving the big smoke of Melbourne to come to Orange, where he stayed until 2020.
