Cheltenham Town Ladies are looking to switch their name as they look to align themselves within the women’s football pyramid.
The club currently inhabit the name ‘Ladies’ but are looking to officially make the change to ‘Women’ in the near future with the side already soft launching the switch through their newly branded merchandise.
Manager Tom Davies believes the swap is necessary: “We’re looking at the evolution of the game, so if you look at the league, it’s Women’s Super League, Women’s Championship, Women’s National League, Women’s FA Cup etc.
“If you look at all the teams within those leagues and competitions, they’re all moving to be within that banner, so I think it just keeps it standardised and I think it is an important move so that we also fall under that banner.
“It just looks and feels that bit more professional which is why the FA and everybody else are going down that route, it just makes sense to fall in line with the governing bodies.”
Cheltenham will become the eighth team within the 12-team FA Women’s National League to represent the name ‘Women’, with London Bees the only side not to occupy either ‘Women’ or ‘Ladies’.
The name switch comes four months into the season, but Davies insists “there isn’t any perfect time” to make the change.
“I think it’s just a situation where we discussed it, and we were looking at our new merchandise and what we wanted to get out. We didn’t want to start selling merchandise that then goes out of date a year later.
“Now we have an increased rise in fans, we didn’t want to be selling them the wrong things, so it was something that came up in discussions that way and we felt it was the right time to ask those questions.
“We asked the question to everybody, and it seemed like everyone was aligned with the same thing, so it made a lot of sense.”
The potential transition was carefully considered by all at the club as the side occupied the name ‘Ladies’ since their formation in 1989.
Through polls, discussions and suggestions, Davies looked for multiple opinions to ensure there was full transparency.
“The main thing is we asked everyone; my job is to be the voice when I’m having conversations for the players, the club is the exact same.
“We work for the players in an inside out model so players make the decisions, and we action them as a management and as a committee team, so the decision is around what the players need and what we feel is then right for the club.
“We wanted to check it because our fans are important to us and then we asked the players and even though it wasn’t something they brought up directly, it was something that they voted on very strongly and had strong opinions on it when we did bring it to the fold.
“Our job is to respect that and provide it for them.”
