Fencibles United AFC
Womens First Team & Reserves
Message From Fencibles United
Re: Women's First Team
As you may be aware, Fencibles United have made the decision withdraw its Women's First Team from the AFF/NFF Conference League for the 2019 season.
Let us assure you that this decision has not been taken lightly and follows a lot hard work from all involved at the club and in particular our Womens Coach Paul Hutchison who has worked tirelessly in developing and championing womens football over the 4 years of his tenure in the role
The fact is that we simply do not currently have enough players to field a team in the league to compete at a competitive level.
In a wider sense, we have concerns about the sustainability of the women's game in Auckland, even at a time when internationally, the sport seems to be flourishing
There is not enough depth in the game to sustain Premier and Conference football at a high enough standard to make for viable leagues. The high performance and age group teams are diverting players away from teams such as ours and active poaching by clubs who have not put any resource into developing their own talent has effectively decimated our playing stocks in recent years. When this is combined with scheduling missteps which saw us with no games for significant periods last season, there is no wonder that we are having issues in with finding players for this season
We assure you that we are working on strategies with this top of mind to ensure that there is a place in a Fencibles shirt for any girls or women's player looking to play locally and that we remain dedicated to delivering this in the coming seasons
Regards
Wilson Hawes
Chairperson
Fencibles United AFC
