Bangor Ladies continue their build up towards the 2008 Divisional campaign next week, with a fixture arranged under lights at Clandeboye Park against Portaferry Ladies from the Intermediate D Division.
With preparations already well underway - the league will be meeting next Thursday evening (27th) where the Council will announce the competitors in the various divisions and all the 2008 league fixtures will be made available.
LOOKING FORWARD TO THE 2008 NIWFA CHAMPIONSHIPS
All these will be made available, along with the first round of the Cup matches, immediately after the meeting and all games, venues, times, etc., will be posted on to the internet in the new Calendar Section of the club’s official website.
Bangor Ladies continue to be light years ahead of most of the other ladies clubs in Northern Ireland - out of some 60 or so clubs - there are only a handful of ladies football club’s who actually promote the sport though this medium, and even fewer have an accurate up-to-date website - Bangor, however now boast over 33,000 users plus three quarters of a million hits.!!BR>
Featuring not only North Down’s premier ladies club - but you can access all sorts of relevant info on this site along with the international teams programme, action photographs from around the league, some fun voting polls, and in most cases - a list of ladies football clubs in your area.
Also you can keep in touch with the Seasiders twinned club Fylkir in Iceland, where Bangor’s own Ashley Hutton will be reporting back to Reykjavik, for her second season as a professional.
Ashley Hutton, playing in Iceland this Summer
The Northern Ireland international, who has a long association with the North Down Club, and who has guested on a number of occasions, went out to Iceland, for a trial last May and impressed the coaches so much that she has now secured a second season as a professional with the Premiership side.
Locally, Clandeboye Park, has undergone a significant facelift in recent weeks - as Bangor Football Club seek to apply for Premier Status next season - Chairman Trevor Best and his team have put alot of effort into updating the Clandeboye Road arena - and Bangor Ladies, through Susan Cull have secured the grounds for their home games this term.
The ground though will probably close for maintenance as usual - but after the experience’s of last year - the committee have sourced suitable alternative facilities should they need them. North Down Borough Council sadly refused facilities for ladies football last season - a situation which led to an end of season fixture pile up, although thanks to Lady Hermon, will not be a problem this term.
The membership certainly looks considerably more healthy than it has since the end of last season with the return to training of a number of Seniors, who due to a number of different reasons went AWOL at the end of August - putting a lot of pressure on the remaining squad.
Returning for 2008 are Suzanne Rea, a midfielder who has now signed this season; Petrah Armstrong, missing for most of last season, comes home from Manchester, while Jenny Boyd, who incidently notched up Young Player of the Season in her first spell with Bangor ladies, also returns; add also to this list, the welcome return to fitness of Striker Tina Sharpe and the Seasiders future starts to look a lot brighter.
Young Player of the Year Jenny Boyd - back for 2008
Tina who came to the club at the start of last season - fell foul to a unfortunate knee injury, which required surgery, and saw the young footballer sidelined for the whole season, after just 20 minutes of her debut - Tina has thankfully been given the all clear and has already resumed training with the Seasiders every Sunday afternoon.
Bangor Ladies are also delighted to announce the arrival of a daughter for 2006 Player of the Year Cathy Duncan. Baby Scarlett arrived midweek at a healthy 6lbs 8oz, and the club is delighted to report both Cathy and her daughter are doing well - naturally the management are looking forward to welcoming one of the club’s most influential players back into the squad. Christine Morrison is another player who has now committed for 2008 - the centre half who was unable to sign until just last week - has now put pen to paper and is looking forward to getting back to playing with the Seasiders.
Tina Sharpe returns after a year on the sidelines
Although the club has lost the services of two of last year’s players - the good news is the signing of no fewer than 7 new players in time for the 2008 season, which swells the membership of the club up to 23 Seniors, and 6 Juniors.
Also, rumours are circulating of the possible return of two other previous players who although not available at the beginning of the year - their circumstances have changed recently and it is hoped that these players will be able to sign in time for the league kick off at the end of April bringing the senior membership to near capacity for the first time ever.
The subscriptions for the 2008 season are now due - and are as follows: Seniors £50, Under 18s £25. A single payment is needed, and all Senior's are asked to get their subscriptions paid by Sunday April 13th.
The subscriptions have been set in line with last year, with only a slight increase to allow for the cost of the improvements at Clandeboye Park. No other money will be collected, other than that of perhaps a fundraiser sometime in the middle of the season - More details will be available shortly.
So, it’s watch out for the announcement of all Bangor’s fixture for 2008, to include the Divisional and NIWFA Cup draws which should be available next week - along with the confirmation of the return game against Abbey Villa Ladies - and two other pre-season matches which are being pencilled in.
Training will continue this Easter Sunday - although the times (Meet 1 p.m. sharp!) has been changed to allow the membership to enjoy most the televised Grand Slam football.
Bangor Ladies - getting back to full strength
Last Edited on 25-Mar-2008 12:38 PM
