Whitedale Women aim to ‘have fun and enjoy’ football after starting new team
Anya Arcus and India Reynolds started the club after being inspired by Delting Women
A DESIRE to give female footballers a space to enjoy the game has spawned Shetland’s second women’s football team.
Whitedale Women’s FC has been started by Shetland players Anya Arcus and India Reynolds as a joyful antidote to years of ultra-competitive action with the blues.
“The Shetland team is quite a select team, so maybe people were scared to join because it was so competitive,” Anya told Shetland News.
“I was always having people coming up saying, ‘I want to join in but I don’t want to play for Shetland’.”
After the pair took part in last year’s Island Games in Orkney with the Shetland women’s team, they said they wanted to enjoy football in a less competitive environment themselves.
That chance presented itself when Delting started their women’s team last year – the first club of its kind in Shetland – who Anya and India both trained with.
“Delting came first and we had been to a couple of training sessions, saw how positive it was,” India said.
“Coming from town to Brae, it was a lot for us, and there were some quite late nights. So we wondered if we could do the same thing and offer something closer.”
“I think we were definitely inspired by Delting women,” Anya agreed.
Though both living in Lerwick, Anya was brought up in Tingwall and her brother Alex has played for Whitedale since the age of five.
That club connection led to them wondering whether they could form a Whitedale women’s team as well.
“They were really keen to have a women’s team as part of the club,” India said.
“We’ve had a lot of good help from the Whitedale senior men,” Anya agreed. “They said that they wanted to keep it as one big club.”
“We want them to have fun and enjoy it” – India Reynolds
What the pair did not expect, though, was the huge response to their initial call for interest. A big turnout at their first session in mid-May left the pair speechless.
“We had so many lasses that turned up and we didn’t know what to do with them,” India laughed.
“It was really daunting,” Anya said. “I went from a class of bairns during the day to a room full of adults at night, and I had no idea what to say to them.”
With several players there to try football for the very first time, the pair stressed that they wanted to ensure training was fun first and foremost.
“It’s a sport you have to enjoy, so we want them to have fun and enjoy it,” India said.
“We didn’t want to put anyone off, didn’t want to scare anybody, but we’re slowly bringing in more technical stuff.”
Whitedale has already ballooned to 40 members – ranging in age from 16 to mid-30s – with 25 players turning up to one Strom training session alone.
“We have had quite a lot of interest, a lot of new faces and people coming every week, which is good,” Anya said.
“There’s a lot of committed players that come back. We’ve had a mam that had not long had a baby, who said it was great to have something like this just around the corner.
“We’ve just had our first night out together in the town, which is the best way to make new friends!
“We’ve had some pretty poor nights for training, but they keep coming back and having fun.”
The increasing strength of the women’s football scene in Shetland has been documented repeatedly in recent years, and both Anya and India say that it is only getting stronger still.
But the pair admit they wish they had the same opportunities that young girls in the isles have now.
“For us growing up, not knowing that this was something that we could play, being able to tell lasses that there is this would be huge,” India said.
“I had two younger cousins that were football obsessed, and I was always quite keen to play, but it was just never something my mam thought would be an option for me to do.
“I remember saying that I wanted to play for the school team and I was so embarrassed that everybody laughed – I just had to say I was joking.”
For Anya, her footballing education started in the garden with brother Alex – where she “always had to be the goalkeeper” – and through watching Celtic play.
The pair finally found the opportunity to experience football with the Shetland women’s team, but India said she wished she could have started sooner.
“The lasses can start at about five now, and I almost feel a bit jealous that they can play so early.
“But then it wouldn’t have happened if we didn’t show that interest when the Shetland team started.”
Whitedale Women have secured Tulloch’s sponsorship and are waiting to get their own kits, before turning their attention soon to a first ever match.
“We’re hoping to get in touch with teams away south, once we get funding,” Anya said.
“I think the players are hoping to get some games and have some fun afterwards.”
And India hopes that Whitedale Women’s success will encourage more clubs to launch women’s teams.
“Hopefully other teams will see us as some sort of inspiration too,” she said.
The pair thanked Debbie Young at Delting Women’s team for her help, along with Mark Watt and Michael Duncan at Shetland Women’s FC.
They gave special thanks to Whitedale for letting them join their club, as well as Strom for giving them four free training sessions.
Anyone interested in joining Whitedale Women can contact them through their Facebook page, Instagram account or through info@whitedalewfc.co.uk
The club trains at Strom on Friday nights, between 6-7.30pm.
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