Impetus is in its fourth season as a content partner with tier four FA Women’s National League Northern Premier side Chorley. Chair Janet Mitchell and our sponsored player Lisa Topping speak to Ben Gilby about the club’s season to date, and the reality of being an outfit in the FAWNL not aligned with a men’s club (23/02/24).
Above: Chorley, with Impetus 71 sponsored Lisa Topping (far left) celebrates a goal against Leeds United this season. Photo: Jon Shirras.
Chorley are a club with skill, determination, and ability that for years now regularly come up against teams with far bigger budgets than themselves, backed by men’s clubs. Yet they continue to battle away, punching way above their weight.
Impetus has sponsored Lisa Topping for four seasons now, with the former Liverpool player returning to the squad this season after giving birth to her daughter. It’s been a period full of challenges for Lisa, but she’s loving being back in the Chorley family again.
“It’s been great returning to the squad since having my daughter,” Lisa said. “It’s always been a dream of mine to have my own child as my mascot, so to be able to fulfill that dream a couple of times already has been amazing.
“The return was a lot tougher than I anticipated, in terms of my fitness and overcoming the new challenges that motherhood brings. I didn’t realise how much my body would adjust and the time it would need to recover and get back to fitness, but the team have supported me every step of the way.
“Juggling my new job of motherhood with football at tier four requires a lot of commitment and travelling long distances and so that’s definitely been a challenge.”
As the league just passes the halfway mark, Chorley sit just below mid-table, five points clear of the relegation zone. Topping reflected on the campaign to date. “As a team, I think we’ve picked up some great results and also had some results that we thought we’d do better in – which is probably the same for everyone.
“We’re not looking too bad in the table and competing with the bigger clubs in our league. As always, Chorley is full of players who dig deep, crack on, and work hard to churn out those results when things don’t always easily fall into place. An example of this was our FA Cup tie with a very strong, professional Newcastle United side, the team held their own for a large portion of the game and put in a performance to be proud of.
“For me personally, I was conscious to not set myself any big expectations this year other than to get back into football and enjoy being back. But positively, I feel my performances have been good so I’m happy with my campaign so far.”
In terms of the challenges that the club have faced on and off the pitch, chair Janet Mitchell emphasised the financial challenges that a club such as Chorley has to juggle with, and the potential impact it can have.
“As a team we have suffered several serious injuries in the season and we have found it difficult to recruit for all three teams mostly due to clubs in the area paying players -something we cannot offer. At tiers three and four, it’s about who has the most financial backing. The majority of teams in our league are paying players that’s a fact; unfortunately, we just aren’t able to do this. The gap is becoming increasingly bigger.
“Middlesbrough are currently top of our league so I think that speaks volumes for the impact some men’s clubs are having on their women’s teams.
“It’s really difficult for women’s teams to exist at this level without financial backing and usually that comes from their male counterparts. I’m not against the idea at all, in an ideal world every Ccub would have a men’s and women’s team and they would be equals, but let’s be honest that is never going to happen.
“There isn’t a season that goes by where there isn’t a big story about a men’s club treating a women’s club poorly. What I would like to see is more women’s clubs with youth systems – Regional Talent Centres of their own – rather than women having to necessarily depend on the men’s team and facilities.”
Chorley is run independently of the town’s men’s club of the same name – and their male counterparts have been given significant media coverage in recent times with members of the band Boyzone linked with making an investment in the club. At the present time, with the women’s team a totally separate entity, they would not receive any benefit from this potential financial injection. Mitchell outlines the present relationship between the two clubs.
“They have helped us out twice this season with playing two evening matches at Victory Park. There had been preliminary talks about the future but unfortunately, we are struggling to make contact with them club at the moment. There seems to be a lot going on.”
Mitchell’s aim for the remainder of the season is to enjoy their community-orientated feel – and ensure they can get the funds together to remain a sustainable National League club.
“I want to carry on enjoying the game and supporting the team to get points. Off the pitch, we’re a family-oriented club that runs off of sponsorship and fundraisers and we’ve got another fundraiser coming up that we will be hoping brings us in the vital funds needed to allow us to compete.”
Follow Impetus ’71 on social media –
Twitter (X): @impetusfootball and @impetus71 TikTok: @Impetus71 Facebook: @Impetus71
Instagram: @Impetus_71 Threads: @Impetus_71
impetusfootball.org 