FOOTBALL for Lithgow's female players continues to grow with Lithgow Workmen's and Lithgow City Rangers launching teams in the 2021 Bathurst District Football (BDF) season.
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Rangers has nominated a team for the women's third grade competition, while Workmen's will contest second grade.
Lithgow City Rangers secretary Paul Goodwin said the club has longed to establish a women's team to provide a pathway for ladies looking to progress in football beyond the junior levels.
"In recent years the oldest age group offered in Lithgow has been under 15s and there has not been a full-scale women's competition," he said.
He said the club wanted to ensure there were options for women to play once they were too old for the junior competition.
"We want to foster a culture where all our girls know that we can support them in the sport beyond."
Workmen's players Jade Cameron and Tiah Gibbs-Minner said they looked forward to representing Lithgow in the BDF competition.
"I think the Lithgow community needs to maintain sporting opportunities, it's starting to non-exist especially after COVID-19," Cameron said.
Gibbs-Minner said previously she had to travel out of town to find a team to play for.
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"I've got to thank the men from Workies for putting this together and giving us an opportunity support our local area and do something we enjoy," she said.
Workmen's president Mark Fordham hoped in the years to come there would be an opportunity for a women's Western Premier League (WPL) to run alongside the existing men's WPL.
"I think a women's WPL comp would really promote competitive women's football and representing your local area," he said.
"There's a lot of healthy rivalry between us, Bathurst and Dubbo to name a few, which makes for a good competition," Fordham said.
Lithgow City Rangers' women's team will kick-off its season on April 18 against Oberon United Wolves at the Oberon Rec Ground, before playing its first home game at Rangers Park on May 2.
For Lithgow Workmen's, its maiden game as a women's team will come on April 18 too, on home soil at Marjorie Jackson Oval against Panorama FC.
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