How the Posh Women became our team
Four years ago, if you’d told me that following the Posh Women would become one of our family’s favourite things to do, I’m not sure I’d have believed you.
In fact, four years ago, we hadn’t even heard of the Posh Women.
My eldest daughter, Libbi, was 10 at the time and her grassroots team were mascots for a game at Abbey Lawn, so off we went. We weren’t supporters, we didn’t know the players or the fixtures and, if I’m being completely honest, we didn’t really know what to expect but we sat there watching and very quickly found ourselves thinking, hang on a minute… this is great.
A women’s football team. Our home-town club. Local. And football that we were genuinely enjoying watching.
Both of our girls played football themselves, so it felt like such a lovely thing to do together, and we all had a really lovely Sunday, so we went back for the next game… and the next…
And we’ve never looked back
At first, it was just home games, but somehow home games became away games. It stopped being something we simply went along to and became something we looked forward to every week. The more invested we got, the more we wanted to follow them.
We now try to get to as many away games as we do home games, although fitting that around two children who are heavily involved in football, dance, cricket and swimming isn’t always the easiest job!
We even have a Posh Women playlist and there are songs on there that remind us of certain journeys, good wins and special days, and they get played in the car on the way to a game-It’s become part of our ritual!
Over the four years we’ve been following them, we’ve watched the team change enormously. Back then, the players didn’t even have their names on the backs of their shirts, and I remember thinking they deserved that recognition just as much as anyone else.
We loved Abbey Lawn, it became familiar and became part of our Sunday routine. Now they’re playing at PIMS Park, in their hometown, and we love it there too.
I’ve seen big crowds and small crowds over the years, but I’ve always seen a crowd. There’s always somebody cheering, somebody singing and somebody bringing a bit of life to the place.
And then there are the players
We’ve watched players come and go, had some difficult goodbyes and watched long-standing players like Meg Lawlor finish their Posh careers. We’ve watched younger players come through and grow into the players they are today.
I can still remember the first time we saw Poppie Brown. She was only around 15 or 16 and, at one point, her boot came off in the middle of play so what did she do? Picked it up and carried on playing, of course! One boot on her foot and the other in her hand, absolutely going for it and I remember thinking, what a baller. I knew then she was going to be special.
We’ve been lucky enough to watch so many of those journeys unfold. But for me, the biggest thing this team has given us isn’t actually about the football.
It’s what they’ve given my girls
My daughters are now 14 and 10. They were 10 and 6 when we started following the team, so they’ve actually grown up watching these women play.
They already loved football and were good players in their own right so watching the Posh Women didn’t teach them how to play, but it made them see the little things differently; positioning, scanning, communication, movement, the importance of making the right run and they’ve watched footballers work hard, make mistakes, improve, win, lose and keep going so much so that their own football has only got better and better.
I don’t think the players realise quite how much they are admired by the girls watching them.
That’s probably why the Posh Women have such a special place in my heart. I know what they’re doing for my girls, even when they don’t know they’re doing it but that doesn’t end on the pitch.
The players have time for them. They speak to them, acknowledge them and make them feel important. Over the years, I’ve even got to know some of the players’ parents, and they’re all absolutely lovely, it really does feel like one big Posh Women family and most of the time when I’m watching them play, I feel a bit like a proud Mum myself!
Not just proud of what they’re doing on the pitch, but proud of who they are.
Because they might be absolute ballers, but they’re also really good humans. And I think that’s a huge part of why we’ve all become so attached to them.
Promotion reward
So, after four years of following this team, seeing them secure the league title and promotion to Tier 3 was one of those moments where I thought, this is why we do this.
We travelled to Droitwich Spa to watch them play Kidderminster Harriers, knowing that a win would secure the title.
They won 5–0.
The champion shirts came out. The players ran over hand in hand, jumping and celebrating. There were tears, hugs between players and their families, and a real sense that everyone there had shared something special.
We’d watched so much of that journey and now there’s another one ahead.
Our team
Tier 3 is going to be hard. They know that. We know that. They’re going to come up against established, strong teams and the challenge is going to be bigger.
But that’s the thing about following this team.
We’ve seen where they’ve come from.
Four years ago, we didn’t even know they existed and now they’re part of our family’s life! They’ve given my girls footballers to look up to, memories they’ll carry with them and a team that they can genuinely call their own.
So whatever happens next, we’ll be there.
Home games, away games, the long journeys, the good days and the difficult ones.
Because somewhere along the way, the Posh Women stopped being a football team we went to watch.
They became our team.
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