Inverness Caley Thistle step in to save threatened Thistle Girls FC in "potential game-changer" for girls' and women's football in the Highlands
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Caley Thistle tonight stepped in to save a trophy-winning Inverness girls’ football club after its future was placed in doubt.
The Scottish Championship club will officially bring Thistle Girls FC under its control, doubling its youth academy in size from 105 boys to 250 boys and girls.
The move will create a Caley Thistle girls player development pathway all the way from the age of five to women’s first team level.
Caley Thistle women’s team manager Karen Mason called the development “a potential game-changer” for the girls and women’s sport in the Highlands.
It comes after Thistle suspended operations a fortnight ago when police launched an investigation into one individual connected to the club.
The club itself is not under investigation, but some of Thistle’s 12 volunteer coaches initially stepped down after training ceased.
The majority have now committed to working under the Caley Thistle banner after a meeting with ICTFC staff yesterday evening.
The club was set up in 2017 as an offshoot of the Thistle Colts boys’ club in Inverness, growing from six members to current levels. It agreed to become an unofficial feeder club to ICTWFC in 2020.
Caley Thistle chief executive Scot Gardiner felt it was important to act quickly given the scale of the club’s success and importance to girls and women’s football in the Highlands.
Mr Gardiner said: “Recent reports had suggested that due to circumstances beyond the control of the girls, Thistle Girls FC was about to become dormant and a thriving club which started in 2017 with only 9 girls was about to disappear.
“We could not countenance this blow to the girls and to the Inverness footballing community, and acted very quickly to try and resolve the situation.
“I immediately met with Karen Mason who heads up our own ICTWFC and the general manager of our ICT Community Trust Craig Masterton to explore the possibility of stepping up to save the club by taking them into our organisation.
“Further discussions were then held with Kenny Grant, of Thistle Colts, and Ruth McGeogh of the SWF and both were immensely helpful and sympathetic to the situation.
“To be honest, without their help, we would not have been able to make this happen and I am extremely grateful to both.
“I hosted a meeting at Caledonian Stadium last night with many of the Thistle coaches and it was clear that everyone in the room wanted to preserve the girls football club - and that this was the best way forward.”
Mr Gardiner plans to meet with parents in the next fortnight to discuss developments and what it means for the future of girls’ football in the city.
He added: “From an ICT position, I am proud that we are able to help the club in what was a very difficult situation and I am looking forward to seeing how we can continue to grow women and girls football in Inverness and the Highlands”.
Karen Mason, the manager of Caley Thistle Women, said: “I think this is potentially a game-changer for women and girls football in Inverness and the Highlands.
“To be able to step in and help the club, therefore creating a pathway for girls from primary school age through to senior women’s football, gives us a lift as well.”
Thistle Colts Secretary Kenny Grant said: “Thistle FC are absolutely delighted that such a positive solution has been found and to ensure the girls get this amazing opportunity to continue with their football education.
“For an agreement to be reached so quickly, and with a footballing partner we already had a pathway in place with, seemed unthinkable as recently as last week.
“I would like to thank everyone who has developed this side of our club immensely from inception and wish them all the best for the future.
“I cannot thank ICTFC enough for their assistance and the accommodating nature everyone at the club have shown to me during these negotiations at a very fraught time for Thistle FC.
“Finally the advice and help I received from Ruth McGeoch of SWF was invaluable in the decision making process we have been through.
“I would also like to make clear that this decision has no impact on our boys section which continues to thrive in its own right.”
The Scottish Women’s Football governing body is understood to have already given the green light for player registrations to be transferred to the new operation.
The club’s “elite” under 16s and 14s sides will compete, as previously planned, in the Aberdeenshire leagues this year following a number of league title successes in the Highlands and Islands leagues.
