Bullards a dead cert to start

If we borrow 11 girls from them we might be half decent!!!

Glad to hear this. It's an excellent move by the club and can only help our connection with the local community. Good work Cleggy.

£8000/year? That's less than Bullard's fine. If nobody at the club can over the bill then we can raise that with buckets around the ground.

ITLFC should have always been part of the club rather than being treated as a nuisance. At least some games should be played at Portman Road, perhaps as double events with reserve matches initially. Perhaps if some costs could be shifted to a more integrated LFC then a small amount could be made available to the club through fair play rules. If marketed correctly it could even be an asset.

Women's football in the UK is far behind out European neighbours. It would be great if it could catch up a bit and Town leads the way.

Glad this is back as part of club, a good decision by all involved. A girl at my work plays for them and she has to contribute heavily, and is always fundraising by doing little bits like pub cards etc so good for likes of her to have a bit of weight of so she can enjoy playing football again

Ipswich piss me off with these. There called the first team for the women's so why don't they play on Portman road? Because there girls? There both class players, there both first team. Bit of fairplay wouldn't go a miss.

This can surely only be good for the club as a whole. Hopefully it will get more people involved in the organisation overall and provide mutual spin-off for both the men's and women's teams. Women's football is big in Sweden, and very big on the continent. There were 50,000 to watch the Champions' League final between Lyon and Frankfurt. Two Swedish teams got to the quarter finals. One of them (Gothenburg) was knocked out by Arsenal, who in turn lost to Frankfurt in the semis. Arsenal appear to be the only English women's club that can hold their own on the international scene. It would be nice to see ITFC women there sometime as well! (They'll probably make it before we get the men's team into the PL anyway! :))

well done town , about time

perhaps they can also have a page in the first team programme.

I like the call to involve them with other games, say the reserves (u21's) games and to hold a few at Portman Road. Have some open training sessions at Portman Road with the mens team and followed by a ladies match.
It's ridiculous that the ladies only require funding of £8k a year collectively yet many of our players are earning more than that in a week.

KenbubZ -- I think the word you are looking for is 'they're'.

Well done ITFC

Women's football will always be a joke until they make the pitches and goals smaller.

Dale: You need to watch a real match. I can assure you women's football isn't a joke. Different from the men's game in some ways, but there is some serious talent around in the women's game - and I'm too old to be talking about anything other than playing ability!

Bothered!! I'm never been a fan, sorry.

However if next season goes the way of the last 5 ......

This is excellent news. I have watched some of these girls who have previously won European competitions when they were in Girls COE.

Yes, the girls game by natural physical dynamics is slower, but they are technically good. The ladies game would be ideal to be held immediately before of after a Reserve/Acadamies game either at Portman Road or at Playford road. This would raise their profile higher.

I would strongly suggest the cost would be much less than £8k annually and a cash collection at a home game or two would be a great idea to cover most/if not all of that small cost.

In previous years they have had excellent ITFC Coaches (Mark Lawrence/Steve Martin etc) ....who have faciliatated a couple of hours, once a week, training on the practice pitch to improve these players. This is not a heavy cost....and certainly not anywhere near £8k a year!

Ladies Football should be seen as 'part of Ipswich Town FC' (alongside the 1st team, U21's, Acadamy etc)- IF THE CLUB STILL REGARDS ITSELF AS A FAMILY CLUB & PART OF THE COMMUNITY = Not just a Cut throat Business operation.

It also grates that both ColchesterU & Norwich year after year financially support their Womens Team & give them a high profile in match day programmes.....We now do not.

There are some talented girls playing football out there....just give them a chance to represent their home club with pride....and bring some glory & success to the Club!