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dramatically. Speaking as an ex-player and a current coach, how has the interest in the sport over the last ten years changed?
“It’s been huge. When I was playing for Sunderland back in the day, we were paying to be there with our subs to cover travel etc. Now, at the top of the game, in the Super League it’s a career. That’s fantastic. In
the RTC (Regional Talent Centre) you have young girls coming through who have that option for their future, to be a professional footballer. At Sunderland it’s not quite there yet, but who’s to say that in another ten years it’ll not be professional? It grew so quick, but we also need to sustain it and make sure the foundations underneath the structure are solid and that the club remains strong and that it will always been there.”
to training. They’re getting the right training and nutrition and its slowly shifting.”
Watch the Big Match Revisited or a Premier League game from the early 2000s and the difference between the top level is crystal
clear. The Sunderland men’s youth academy has produced some brilliant talents over the
last decade. The two Jordans, Henderson and Pickford, have both gone on to be mainstays
of the national team and fingers crossed, Dan Neil might one day follow in their footsteps. This notwithstanding (and meaning no disrespect to the men’s academy), the Ladies’ team is a talent factory by comparison. Of the 23-player squad for the 2019 Women’s World Cup, seven of the 23 player squad had played for Sunderland
Sunderland has a great track record with players like Steph Houghton, Lucy Bronze (who Phil Neville called the best female player in the world) and Jill Scott playing in the past. Are these the kind of names you showcase to potential players who are undecided or stuck between choosing clubs?
“You always have to remember the history, but we’ve got some fresh faces coming through now in the likes of Neve Herron, Jessica Brown and Libbi McInnes, they’re all playing for the youth set up and hopefully in five years’ time they’ll be senior Lionesses and replace those names. We’ve produced a lot of Lionesses and there’s definitely more to come. Some of the talent inside the club is phenomenal at the moment.”
The inside of the club is phenomenal, but Mel is not always there. Her assistant manager sometimes has to take training on Tuesdays since the nature of her part time involvement means that she also has many other part time commitments. Her schedule is just exhausting to look at. Mel admits that it is a balancing act.
Women’s football coverage is now on mainstream television. Many men seem
to be shocked by the standard when
they initially watch it. There are obvious differences between a top-level Women’s match and a League One men’s game, the latter sometimes descending into something that doesn’t resemble ‘the beautiful game’ whatsoever. Has the standard always
at some point in their careers. The future also looks bright and this season, the squad has an average age of 21.
been so high, or has it improved in the last decade?
“It’s always hard when you compare it to men’s football. In terms of the physicality
of the game, the men are always going to
be quicker, faster, stronger in the way they are built. We’re never going to be able to compete with that. So, it has to be looked at in its own right. But the game has grown, but the men’s game has too. When you look at the men’s game from twenty years ago, the game is much quicker now. It’s exactly the same for the women. They’re getting better training, better facilities, better environments more buy in from the clubs and they’re able to train better. Some of them are full time professionals, not working 9-5 and then going
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BY AMELIA LAYBOURN