Tower Hamlets Council has faced a backlash after a girls’ football club were denied access to a training pitch in favour of a male team.
Vicky Park Rangers FC, which coaches over 120 girls aged 6 to 16 in east London, said it had secured a three-year deal with the council to use the 3G astro-pitch in Stepney Green every Thursday from 6pm to 8pm starting in September.
The application to use the facility followed a points-based system that considered factors such as the number of Tower Hamlets residents on the team, the club’s support for women and girls’ football and its on-field achievements over the last five years.
Regarding Our Contract with Tower Hamlets Council for Stepney Green Astro pic.twitter.com/KUfgINWqVj
— Vicky Park Rangers FC (@vickyparkrfc) September 29, 2023
However, the club claim the girls were “locked out” of the facility after arriving to train on Thursday, September 21 as the council abruptly terminated their pitch usage and assigned it to a “boys’ team” instead.
David Drewett, who coaches the Under 13s girls side, said: “As a club in Tower Hamlets we’ve always struggled from day one to find pitches for the team. We’ve been bugging the council about Stepney Green Astro because it’s the only council-run 11-a-side pitch that they have access to. All the other ones are run privately.
“…We found out in July that we were successful in getting pitch on Thursdays and entered a contract with them to start on September 7.”
He added: “We attended the first session – and even paid for the month of September upfront – but then got an email on the Friday telling us first that they wanted to move our slot to a Saturday between 1 and 3pm which obviously wasn’t viable as it clashes with the girls’ matches.
“The Monday following we then got a call from the council telling us that a complaint was made from another team that wasn’t successful at application stage, and that the council has decided to support this team and allow them to take our slot. After reviewing the complaint from the men’s team, they’ve made a decision to allow that team to have our slot instead of us.
“We then wrote to the council for further explanation. We’ve had no response at all. We’ve had no support.”
Mr Drewett says the club were told that the contractual change would come into effect from September 22. However, the players were denied access to the grounds after turning up for training on September 21.
He said: “We were notified that this contractual change would come into effect from September 22. We then turned up last Thursday we werent allowed on the pitch. I said we’ve paid for it, it’s a council-run facility and we need to be in training – he then went and locked the gates and allowed a boy’s team to enter.
“There was 20 boys on a third of the pitch. When I spoke to their coach they’re not even in a league. It’s all based on a points-scoring system and I don’t think we would have had less points than this team.”
Mr Drewett said the girls have been left without a pitch to train on as there isn’t a suitable alternative in the area.
“We have no pitches for the girls to train on at all. We’ve tried to find alternative pitches in the borough – there’s absolutely nothing,” he said.
“The only offer is 9pm at night on a 5-a-side pitch for 60 girls, which isn’t viable.”
He said the experience has been “emotionally damaging” for the girls, adding: “My team’s the under 13s – we arrived first and then were told it had been cancelled. They then saw the boys turning up .
“If I’m honest as girls they are very strong-minded…all of their talk was about ‘the council don’t want us to have a pitch’ and I think it helped motivate them to go and win their weekend game 4-0. But they’re now struggling - we’ve been temporarily training in Victoria Park but after next week we physically have nowhere to train.”
Nadine Pain, whose 12-year-old daughter Bea plays for the club, said the girls have been left “shocked” and “confused” by the situation.
She told the Standard: “Bea’s been playing for over five years, the night the training was cancelled they lost the pitch and the girls were shocked and confused. We’re right at the beginning of the new season and the girls are coming back together after the summer only to be told training is off.
“They’re frustrated and just want to play football. Their reaction is disbelief and confusion. 12 to 16 year olds are most impacted by this scheduling, they’re saying: ‘Why us? Why are they doing that to us?’
She added: “The key thing is that we had a contract with the council to use Stepney Green Astro every Thursday. For two weeks now we’ve tried to contact them but we’ve received no response. It’s bizarre.
“It’s bizarre and confusing. This pitch was funded by Sport England. Getting girls playing football is important. This club has existed for six years. It’s great to have a club that so strongly promotes and advocates for girls in football. It’s really empowering for our girls, and the club has grown astonishingly quickly.
“The demand is there – these girls really want to play football. They’re playing in the Capital Girls League and they’re absolutely smashing it, it’s a family. It’s establish and this will impact a lot of girls – if they can’t train midweek, they won’t be ready for their competitions and tournaments on the weekend and it’ll impact their performance and position in the league, which is important to the girls and they work really hard to maintain that.”
“I presume the council is hoping that we’ll roll over and go away, and that’s just not going to happen.”
A Tower Hamlets Council spokesperson said: “We fully support and encourage women’s participation in sport in Tower Hamlets, and while our offer of a different timeslot on the same pitch, and our offer of a slot at nearby council-run Leisure Centre at the same cost were both turned down by the club, we continue to try to find a solution that works for everyone.
“To help manage the high demand for astro-pitch hire, applications for its use are scored against a set criteria.
“In this case, a processing error meant that Vicky Park Rangers were originally given a slot which was intended for another group and this was corrected as soon as possible.
“We understand and apologise for the upset and disruption caused to Vicky Park Rangers and we understand that people may be concerned over the handling of this pitch hire.
“We will continue to work with Vicky Park Rangers to find a solution.”
Mayor Luftur Rahman’s office has been contacted for comment.
