Impetus is a women’s football website that is recognised by the Women’s Sports Alliance and the British Library Archives.
Launched in September 2019, the site has grown its audience consistently since October 2020 after an article in support of Sam Kerr after she received abuse on social media was read over 3,500 times around the world in the space of 48 hours. In 2023 the site was voted as Women’s Football Platform of the Year at the On Her Side Awards, with our graphics designer Paige Walder also named Women’s Football Designer of the Year.
Impetus attracts several thousand readers each week from around the world, with a particularly large audience in Australia, the UK, the USA, Canada, Sweden, France, and New Zealand.
In June 2022, the British Library announced that it was adding Impetus to its online archives due to the site representing “different aspects of UK heritage as well as important global events.”
Clearinghouse, based at the world-renowned Australian Institute of Sport, regularly includes links to Impetus articles on its daily bulletins which signpost the best articles on Australian sport, as recognition of the quality of our coverage of Australian women’s football.
In addition, the site is an associate member of The Football Supporters Association, the national democratic representative body for football supporters in England and Wales.
As well as regular content including match reports from all levels of the game, the site runs features on grassroots clubs once a week. The huge growth of Impetus’ audience has allowed us to sponsor 14 players – Lauren Coleman at third-tier Scottish Championship side Rossvale, Leah Embley at FAWNL Northern Premier Burnley, Nicole Kemp at Brighouse Town in the same division, Lisa Topping at FAWNL Division One North side Chorley Women, Ashley Cheatley and Sophie Shults at FAWNL Division One London & SE outfit Ashford Town (Middlesex), Mia Lockett of AFC Wimbledon in the same league, Kayleigh Tonks at FAWNL Division One South-West Moneyfields, Evie Nebbitt and Mia Hyland at London & SE Premier side Saltdean United, Poppy Payne from Millwall Lionesses in the same division, Harriet Meers of East Bergholt United in the sixth tier Eastern Region Women’s Football League Division One, and Ella Kew of tier seven Derbyshire Ladies League Division One side Pride Park.
The side additionally has content partnerships with AFC Wimbledon, Ashford Town (Middlesex), Millwall Lionesses, Pride Park, Bure Valley Youth, and Euxton Girls.
Impetus has a Charity partner, Moriarty Foundation, which work with Indigenous children in Australia through football to improve education and healthcare. One of their earliest scholars is Shadeene Evans, a young Matilda who has signed a contract with A-League Women side Adelaide United. As part of our relationship with Moriarty Foundation, Impetus sponsors two of their young female scholarship holders from rural Australia to help fund their top-level life-changing educational and footballing opportunities in Sydney.
Impetus has 28 UK-based writers and photographers, 12 contributors based in Australia, one in France, two in Canada, one in the Republic of Ireland, one in New Zealand, one in Sweden, one in Mexico, one in Ghana, one in Nigeria, and one in Kenya.
The site is recognized by the FA, Welsh FA, Irish FA, Scottish Women’s Football, and Football Australia who provide us with regular accreditation. Our French editor Jean-Pierre Thiesset holds accreditation to report for us from Olympique Lyonnais Feminin home games. The site are also asked to contribute to the selection of the NPLW WA team of the week.
Impetus’ founder and chief editor Ben Gilby is a UEFA-recognised women’s football writer. Ben won the Women’s Sports Alliance’s inaugural media contributor award for women’s sport in April 2020. He is additionally on the Squared Ball Analytics judging panel that pick the NPLW WA team of the week during the season.
impetusfootball.org 