Albion's Women's & Girls' general manager Polly Bancroft has said the new training ground being built for the teams she oversees will take them to a whole new level.
Today marks International Women's Day, with Bancroft outlining the significant steps Albion are making to ensure there is parity between the support and facilities the men's and women's teams have.
Polly, what sets Albion apart from other clubs' commitment to their women’s teams?
From my experience, what sets Brighton apart is the club has a real keenness to continue developing, to open doors and always have keen ears as to how to continue to grow the women’s team and integrate them within the wider club. The time is taken to understand what the different needs might be. Whether that’s the provision of specific kit or sanitary products, that openness from within the club is felt by every member of staff within the women’s team. Paul Barber is a massive advocate as he sits on the Women in Football board. To have his backing strategically and morally is a game changer us. With his support and leadership, there isn’t a ceiling on what we can aim for.
How big an impact will the building of a new training ground specifically for the women’s and girls’ teams have?
The investment and unwavering support despite a pandemic from [chairman] Tony Bloom for a dedicated building for the women’s programme is absolutely massive. It will professionalise way above what we have at the moment and we hope that will be a catalyst for attracting top players. It shows the seriousness of the investment that the club are putting into the women’s and girls’ teams. There’s a team effort to try and be a top four club. Everyone here is together for the development of the women’s team – as a club we go above and beyond.
How does that commitment reflect in the women's team?
There is a really positive attitudes across the club, from the chairman and the chief executive down to sessional staff work. Everyone is trying to look at ways that we can develop and improve. Nobody is settling for an eighth or ninth place finish, everyone wants to improve year-on-year to try and move our way up the table. There’s a want to align as closely to what is provided for the men’s team in terms of facilities, education, nutritional support and many other aspects. There’s a real willingness to learn – there’s a desire to be one club with multiple teams, rather than a big brother team with a little sister. We have long-term goals, and we’re approaching them in a strategic manner. What’s really galvanising across the club is that everyone is pulling in the same direction, there’s that effort to reach our goal of being a top four team in the WSL. They’re not empty words.
How can the women’s team go onto be a top four club in the WSL?
It requires intelligent investment and recruitment and having the vision not just for next season, but the one after that and the following year. The identity of the club and the values means that we want there to be a pathway from the Regional Training Centre (RTC), we want to develop local talent into our players of the future to help us achieve our goals.