Gwalia United general manager Trystan Bevan says he believes the club can gain promotion to the Women’s Super League (WSL) in “three to five years”.
The former Cardiff Blues and Wasps head of performance – who is credited with helping to develop some of Welsh rugby’s key talent – has switched sport as the ex-rugby union coach turns his attention to life in the third-tier of women’s football.
Gwalia United, formerly Cardiff City Ladies, are the only Welsh club playing in the English pyramid.
Though they are currently 10th in a 12 team division – the third-tier National League Southern Premier Division – Bevan says he expects Gwalia’s progress to be “organic”.
Owned by consortium including Australia-based Damien Singh and Welsh businessman Julian Jenkins, Gwalia have made no secret of their lofty ambitions to elevate the women’s game in Wales, but Bevan says the club have no intention of buying success.
“Our ambition is simple and it is two-pronged,” Bevan told Newyddion. “Number one is to reach the Women’s Super League within three to five years and the second one is to give much more limelight and exposure to women’s sport in Wales.
“Is it realistic to set the promotion to WSL target? If a layman looked at our league table they might think ‘that doesn’t sound realistic’.
“But the reality is there are only 10 teams in the WSL, there are 10 teams in the Championship, we are in the third-tier which is the same tier as Wrexham (men’s team) are in, so the reality is we are one of the best 25-30 teams in Great Britain.
“If we were in the men’s game as a top 25/30 team, we would be in the top five of the Championship.
“We need to progress over the next two to three years and then go from there. We are realistic, we understand where we are and where we want to go to.
“The ambition is clear. Within five years we will either be in the Championship, or the Women’s Super League.”
‘Change the game in Wales’
Gwalia midfielder Emily Poole has played for the club since she was 13, other than when she was at university. She says the players have brought into the ethos that progressing the club can have a bigger impact.
“As a club, the peak would be playing in the WSL. We want to do it for everyone who has ever got behind the club,” she said.
“I think having a WSL team from Wales would change the game here in Wales.
“In five years, who knows, but why not?”
Defender Casi Gregson says Gwalia’s slow-start has not diminished their immediate ambitions.
“The start of the season hasn’t gone as we hoped, the results haven’t been great but we are performing and I think the results will definitely come,” she said.
“We are very ambitious and we want to go forward and try and win the league. We’ve had a few set-backs, but we support each other very well.”
‘Everything we do, we can decide what is best for us’
Gwalia United manager Fern Burridge-Male, a former Cardiff City Ladies player, believes the set-up at the club means they are well set-up for success.
“The position we are in, with our history and our heritage and the owners we have who have come in, I think it (the aim of being a WSL side in five-years) is very realistic,” she said.
“We are a unique club, the only Welsh team in the English women’s tier. We are our own entity, not owned by a club with a men’s football team. We are first and foremost a women’s football team.
“We feel that is of real benefit to us. Everything we do, we can decide what is best for us.”
Gwalia are unbeaten in their past three league matches after a slow start to their campaign and they thrashed MK Dons 4-0 last time out at Newport Stadium, where the club play their home games.
“We have recruited heavily in the summer… we are embedding and bringing that all together and that takes time,” Burridge-Male added.
“Success and wins don’t come overnight.”
Co-owner Julian Jenkins says Gwalia’s status as the only Welsh club playing in England means they are a team the whole of Wales can support.
“We want the people of Wales to know that this club is yours,” he said.
“We want to represent the whole of Wales, that is really exciting for us.
“We see this as a legacy project. We can compete at the top level of English football against Chelsea, Tottenham or Manchester United.”