Facility next to Inverness Royal Academy will provide Caley Thistle's women with a unique sense of security and identity, according to manager Karen Mason following asset transfer's green light from Highland Council
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Inverness Caledonian Thistle manager Karen Mason says the new state of the art facility planned for the playing fields next to Inverness Royal Academy will give the women's team an identity they have never had before.
The proposed asset transfer was finally given the green light on Thursday evening as Highland Council signed off on the proposal, giving ICT's women, youth and para teams as well as Inverness Athletic cause for celebration.
Ironically, Mason was taking a training session for her team ahead of a SWF Championship match against Livingston when the decision was taken, but she was soon informed of the news.
Caley Thistle chief executive Scot Gardiner immediately drove to the training session to deliver the confirmation in person, and Mason is delighted that her team has been prioritised to such an extent after years of feeling like an afterthought.
"It's massive having that sense of security, a place we can call home – we will finally have an identity," Mason explained.
"We've gone from club to club, team to team and badge to badge in the hope that someone wants us, and to be a part of something.
"The work that has gone in not just to help ourselves, but to help everyone else in the community too, by securing this is something special that we've never had before.
"Sometimes teams have had us on just as an add-on, but they never had us as a priority.
"We've never known from season to season where we're going to be playing our home games, and we've had to fight for facilities like everyone else does.
"We're normally at the bottom of the pecking order, so I think now that we've been prioritised it has made us feel a lot more at home. Hopefully we will be able to settle down for at least the next 25 years."
Cause for celebration
It took less than 90 seconds for Highland Council to approve the transfer at Thursday night's meeting, a miniscule period of time compared to the length of efforts to get to this stage.
To say that this new facility has already been years in the making would be no exaggeration, and after so much hard work it is no wonder that emotions were running high both at the Caledonian Stadium – where Gardiner watched the decision alongside ICT's sporting director and prominent proponent of the plans John Robertson – and at Mason's training session when word reached her.
"I was a bit emotional when Scot came to tell us the news," Mason said.
"It kind of took me off-guard a little bit. We were just doing one of the possession drills, and I saw him out the corner of my eye – he didn't even say anything, he just gave me a massive hug and I took that to mean we had got it.
"The girls found that strange, me hugging someone was a bit weird, so they knew something was going on, but it was a nice touch that he came down to deliver the news personally. That was nice, and it was great news to have.
"The girls might not have much of a clue what's been going on, but two years of work has gone into it behind the scenes.
"They might not understand why it meant so much at the time, but it's brilliant for us as a club.
"Having somewhere we can call home is something we'll strive to use to help us attract more players, and it's going to be a hub for women's and girls' football in the Highlands which is brilliant."
More hard work to come
Even after two years and a green light, it will take some time to physically build the facility next to Inverness Royal Academy and have it ready for use.
For now, Mason's team will continue to play most of their home matches at Millburn Academy. However, there is already a glimmer of what is to come as she looks to the future.
"There's a long way to go – it's not like we're going to be moving in tomorrow," she reasoned.
"It's a work in progress, and if we get in to it over the next couple of years then that would be excellent.
"Now that it's all signed and handed over, work can begin, and we will enjoy seeing the progress of it.
"It has been two years just to get this far, so hopefully work will start more quickly than that. Fingers crossed all the funding gets through okay and it will be something we can start building towards for the future."
