In response to a recent article in The Guardian, we are sharing the full response we provided to their reporter before the article was published. We requested a fact check and presented our rebuttal, but despite proving most of the article’s claims misleading or false, The Guardian chose to not to include our response and proceed with the publishing.
That way, for the sake of transparency and to ensure our fans are fully informed, we are directly sharing the complete response below, offering our perspective on the matters addressed.
We 100% stand by our decision and will not be providing further comments.
Tuesday – July 16, 2024
Dear Hannah,I hope this message finds you well. My name is Emma Ayrton, and I’m the Wakefield AFC Secretary and COO.
It is unexpected and a bit unsettling to receive this message and find ourselves having to defend ourselves in such a public manner. I do appreciate the opportunity to tell our side of the story. My first urge is to write you a long response detailing the history of our Women’s team. But, given my uncertainty on how to best address this, I will instead directly respond to the points raised and rely on your guidance if there are any more points that you believe can be addressed.
1) The general claim of lack of support from the club:
Our women’s team was a new team that was created in 2021. When starting this team our idea was to be different from most other non-league teams on our level who charge players to play. Unfortunately, despite our efforts, we never managed to get revenues from ticket sales and sponsorships. We had zero revenue from those two sources since the beginning of the team. That means that since 2021 the team was supported directly by us to pay for playing kits, training kits, coaching staff, facilities, and even transportation on a few games where we believed the travel time was too long, which is absolutely uncommon at our level.
2) Not receiving kits:
All players received full home and away kits, as well as training tops and sweatshirts each season, identical to what the men’s team received. Last season, a supplier delay affected both our men’s and women’s teams, which affected a few games. This season, again we have paid for and received all kits with their appropriate sizing and numbers and have all kits with us.
3) One floodlight switched on for training:
As we do not have our own facilities, we have to train at third-party venues. The incident involving only one floodlight was due to a technical issue with the facility’s timer not being updated for daylight savings. Thus, some of the lights turned off mid-session during a few sessions. This was addressed by the club promptly with the facility provider.
4) Having to play for fuel costs to travel:
In 2023 the club provided coaches to most away games, covering thousands of pounds in travel costs. Last season, we also provided minibuses for long-distance travel, which is uncommon at our level and not something we did for our men’s or junior teams.
5) Manager resignation:
We held numerous meetings with the manager to try to find a good solution for our team. Through those discussions we looked at ways to raise revenue and to find suitable facilities after we got kicked from our previous planned facility. Despite sourcing training venues and matchday pitches within Wakefield for the upcoming season, the manager did not find them suitable. We also didn’t want to charge players to play, which is a common practice at our level of football. During this negotiation process, the manager informed us that he was resigning along with all players except for three. With no management team, no revenue streams, and only three players, we decided to fold the team rather than risk withdrawing from the league mid-season, which would have negatively impacted the league.
6) Posts being deleted:
We maintain separate accounts for our men’s and women’s teams. As a policy, we hide—not delete—posts that are toxic, inappropriate, aggressive, or libelous. This policy applies across all our accounts to maintain a welcoming environment for new fans.
It’s worth noting that some former players have changed the passwords of our Women’s media accounts, removing our access from our accounts. Despite this bad faith action, we have asked directly and politely for these accounts to be handed back, however as of now they have not responded to our communications.
We face significant challenges as a new non-league club aiming to make Wakefield AFC a sustainable project. Our primary issue is the lack of our own facilities for playing and training. We had planned and had an agreement for the women’s team to play at the same stadium as our men’s team, owned by Wakefield Trinity. Unfortunately, after a change in ownership, the new management did not allow our women’s team to play there. At the same time, we have been trying to work with the local council for years to source a suitable location where we can host women’s, men’s and junior football as one club playing out of Wakefield, with no success so far. This is the only way we can have a sustainable project going forward.
As the club secretary and COO, I dedicate countless hours and days each week to this club between my family duties, I’m distraught to receive correspondences such as this. I can say the club fully supports women in football, as well as our female staff and volunteers.
We have records for all the claims above and I am also available to provide additional information if there are any other claims. Our official club statement can also be found here, which could provide you with more context: https://wakefieldafc.com/2024/07/13/a-message-regarding-our-womens-team/
Our goal is to protect Wakefield AFC, and that it is not unjustly harmed. We are a small team of people trying to build this club from the ground up. While there are many areas where we can keep on improving, we strive to do things with integrity and professionalism.
We are disappointed that after years of labor with no financial compensation we are being treated like this by a small group of our former players who are acting in bad faith.
Best regards,
Emma Ayrton – Wakefield AFC COO & Club Secretary