Scary, frustrating, uncertain. Just some of the words used to describe the situation at Taffs Well at the beginning of last season.
It was the first season for their newly formed women’s team, after many of them migrated across from Cardiff Wanderers, where they had won back-to-back third-tier titles. However, despite their best efforts, Taffs Well were placed in the fourth tier of the Welsh pyramid.
While unhappy with the situation, the team got on with their work on the pitch. However, the fourth tier was a lot harder than they had anticipated, as Alisha Northmore explained.
“We went into it thinking it would be a bit easier than what we thought, and then when we played, we realised it was such a competitive level of football. We did well at the beginning, but it was those last games where we shot ourselves in the foot.”
The competitive nature of SWWGL Division 1 shone through, as Taffs Well finished third behind Penydarren and Cambrian United.
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Yet, due to a restructure of the third-tier, Taffs Well were granted their golden ticket, and for defender Georgia Brown, it was a ticket they may not have deserved.
“There was a bit of luck with us getting promoted. We had a bit of luck working against us last year with things like the licencing, but this year, it finally fell in our favour.
“There was a restructure in the league, and I feel it was the first time where we potentially didn’t deserve to be up there.
“It does feel like some sort of poetic justice that we’ve managed to get into a competitive league with some great teams around us.”
After the struggles this team have gone through, it does finally feel that this is a group going in the right direction, and even though last season didn’t go as well as they wanted it to, Northmore believes it sets them up well for this season.
“Fortunately, we have been promoted, and we’re feeling good ahead of this season.
“What we experienced last season has made us more prepared for this upcoming one. We know going a step up, it’s going to be more competitive, and we’re all switched on a little bit more now, and we’ve embedded that into our new players.
“This isn’t going to be a walk in the park for us, but last season definitely opened our eyes.”
Now in a higher tier, Taffs Well have added plenty of players to try and achieve a spot in the top six. Goalkeeper Alysha Hawkins has arrived from Cardiff City, Amber Timol joins from Pontypridd AFC, while youngsters Tabitha Ryan and Lucy Couzens provide plenty of competition.
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Overall, this team has an excellent blend of youth and experience, which they will need in an incredibly tough division.
“This is a super competitive league,” Brown confessed. “We’ve had the likes of Cwmbran Celtic and Llanelli Town in this league of late, and they were tough to play against, but this is different.
“The league splits into a top six and a bottom six and getting into that top half is going to be tough. A lot of teams have recruited well, but it’s brilliant for women’s football, and it’s great to see this level of quality in the third tier.”
“We always want to do as best as we can,” Northmore added. “We want to finish in that top six when the league splits in December, and that is our first goal.
“We’re confident of doing that, and then after that, we want to take it one game at a time and see how it goes.”
When I spoke to people at the club last year, there was a feeling of devastation, a feeling that something had been taken away from them. Something they had been fighting so hard to get was all in vain.
Fast forward a year later, all of that is gone. There’s hope, there’s optimism, but most of all, there’s confidence and excitement for what the future holds.
In many ways, those at Taffs Well are showing impossible is nothing, and Brown firmly believes anything is possible for her and her side.
“The last couple of years we have felt robbed, and we were angry.
“Now, we’re back where we wanted to be, and we’ve got an incredible support system around us and girls that really want to achieve something.
“We feel like we’re ready to prove ourselves again after not doing as well as we expected last season. We like being the underdogs, and we always strive off that.”
The next steps for this team are clear and visible, according to Northmore, as the squad once again try to prove their doubters wrong.
“Just for women’s football as a whole, we want to get more recognition, just like any other football team.
“We want to build a closer affiliation with the men’s team and the youth teams and be more cohesive as a club.
“This is the first time where we’ve been connected to a lot of different teams within one club, and we want to push the relationship with that.”
This is a group of players who have been told “No” for so long, but now, try and stop Taffs Well if you can.
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