9:08am Wednesday 20th January 2010
By Dave Flett
What was thought to be an impossible task in women’s football is now on as Lucy Staniforth tells DAVE FLETT.
FORMER Copmanthorpe footballer Lucy Staniforth believes Sunderland can unseat Arsenal as the country’s leading ladies team.
The Gunners have won six league titles in a row but currently lie behind table-topping Sunderland in the Premier League championship race, with 17-year-old Staniforth playing a key role in midfield.
Arsenal have games in hand but the Black Cats have already delivered a blow to the North London side’s air of invincibility with a 2-1 league victory this season.
Staniforth and her red-and-white striped team-mates went close to causing an FA Cup upset, with the once all-conquering champions requiring extra-time on their own patch to book their place in the fifth round.
The teams also met in last season’s final, when Staniforth, then a GSCE student, was the second-youngest player on show during a narrow 2-1 defeat for her side.
This season’s form continues the meteoric rise by the Wearside women, who have climbed to the top in their first Premier League campaign following their Northern Premier League title success last spring.
Sunderland closed 2009 with consecutive victories over Arsenal, Chelsea, Bristol Academy and Birmingham City and Staniforth feels that form can carry on into 2010 and beyond.
She said: “The team has done so well and we have got to see whether we can stay at the top. It’s been an amazing achievement to come up in our first season and perform as well as we have done.
“We all have confidence in our own ability and, whereas at the start of the season we set a target of finishing sixth in the table, we are looking for more than that now. We’ve shown ourselves and everybody else how good a team we can be.
“We are a young side who will only keep improving so I believe we can challenge Arsenal’s place at the top in the next few years. For clubs established in the Premier League it’s a massive thing to beat Arsenal, so for us to do it during our first season was quite special.
“We were also drawing at the end of normal time on Sunday having played them at their place earlier in the season and lost 5-1, so I think that represents a really big improvement.
“We have moved up a level and expect more from each other now to keep our run going.”
Sunderland are also well-placed to become one of eight teams accepted into a new semi-professional Women’s Super League, which will kick off in 2011 and see games screened live as all top-flight players are paid for the first time in this country.
Clubs have been asked to submit business plans to the FA for inclusion in the league, which Staniforth feels will raise standards as well as awareness of the women’s game in this country.
She said: “We have a really strong bid and are hopeful that we will be one of the eight teams chosen. Newcastle have bid as well from the north-east but we have a better pedigree and the men’s team are also heavily supporting us.
“They have contributed financially and are also lending us the team bus for away games. I think the move towards professionalism will bring more competitiveness to the league.
“With only eight teams of 20 players, it will improve the quality, with players competing for their places. The fact that it is due to be covered live by ESPN will also raise the game’s profile and lead to more advertising.”
Staniforth, currently in her first year of studying biology, maths, sport and psychology ‘A’-levels, has established herself as a regular during her first Premier League season despite admitting to pre-season reservations.
She said: “I was a bit apprehensive before the season started about how I would fit in the Premiership but I’ve coped really well. I’m not scared of anyone and have kept my place in the team, which is a really good thing.
“I had a medial knee ligament injury but got straight back into the side and it’s been great playing against the likes of Arsenal and Everton and seeing them at close quarters. It’s a massive learning curve.”
Having starred and scored for England under-17s as they marched to the semi-finals of last year’s World Championships in New Zealand, beating Brazil, Nigeria and Japan along the way, Staniforth is also hoping to further her international progress this year.
She added: “I’m on standby for an U20s camp in La Manga to build up fitness ahead of the World Cup in Germany this summer.
“I’ve also got phase two of the U19 European Championship qualifiers in Sweden and we have quite a good draw against Turkey, Sweden and Northern Ireland.
“I’ve been called up to the U20 squad before but had to pull out because I had exams so I’m hoping I can perform well for the under-19s and that will increase my chances of getting selected for Germany.”
Staniforth’s ability has not gone unnoticed on the other side of the Atlantic either, where women’s football still enjoys a high profile and the rewards for players are much greater than anywhere else in the world.
“I’ve been offered a place at North Carolina University and they have invited me to go over a year early because a lot of their players are going on to play in the pro league over there,” the former Copmanthorpe Primary School pupil said.
“They are the current American champions at university level but I think I will probably wait until I have finished my ‘A’-levels here so I am that bit more mature when I go. It would be a four-year course but the main reason for going would be football because it would put me in contention to play in the pro league, as so many scouts watch all the games.
“It’s fully professional over there and the England footballers that have gone there are provided with a house too.”
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