We are very excited and proud to announce that Liz, Andy, Jade and Aimee have created a new grassroots Girls Football Club called Stour Wanderers FC.

This does mean we will be parting ways with PSG Academy Brantham.

Our priority has always been, and will continue to be, to do what we believe is in the best interest of all the wonderful girls, and parents who make up our girls section. We strongly believe that a community football club should reflect and represent local people and their values. 

Over the last two years, we have seen girls football in Brantham grow exponentially. As a coaching team, we have focused on providing positive opportunities for girls to play football in a safe and inclusive environment. This is something we are very proud of. 

In a very short space of time, we have seen the number of local girls playing football in our community grow rapidly. This season (2024/25), we saw two brand new teams enter the Suffolk Girls and Women’s Football League. Some of these girls had never played a game of football before and we have watched with pride as all our players grew in confidence with each game they played. 

Alongside our involvement with league football, we have continued to offer opportunities for girls from the ages of six through to 12 to play football. Next season (2025/26) we plan to have U9s, U10s, U11s and U13s teams competing in the league – a remarkable achievement in the space of just two years. For our U8 girls, we also plan to enter teams into the new Suffolk FA Wildcats league too. 

But for us, as a coaching team, it goes beyond just football. We work hard to create a space where young girls feel good about themselves. A place where they can make friends, learn, exercise and become confident individuals. We have seen the benefits of being involved with football in our own children and hope you have seen the same reflected in your daughters too.   

We have done our best to make sure there is minimal disruption to the girls and their parents. 

We have discussed the move with Suffolk FA, Brantham Parish Council and other local organisations, all who are willing to support us in our endeavours.

Unfortunately, despite our achievements, we have come up against some challenges. This has meant we have needed to be resilient and stand firm in what we believe in – that grassroots football should be inclusive, welcoming and affordable for all who want to take part. 

Now the current football season has ended, we have taken the opportunity to reflect on our situation as a junior girls football section. We feel that to ensure we keep to the values that, as coaches, we strongly hold, believe in and want to build upon, we need to part ways with PSG Academy Brantham. 

This decision has not been an easy one to make. We are proud to be a part of the Brantham community. Many of us live in or around Brantham. But sadly, we feel PSG Academy Brantham’s values and ethos no longer reflect our own. We want to be part of an organisation where women’s and girls football is given the same treatment, investment and respect as the men’s and boys game. 

By creating a new football club we can make sure that female football comes first. It will put us in the driving seat, particularly when it comes to finances. This is important to us as it means any money we raise through fees or fundraising, will be reinvested back into the girls and their football. It will not be used to supplement other teams at the club or areas that don’t directly benefit the girls. 

Liz, Andy, Jade and Aimee will form a committee which will oversee the running of the new football club. We will continue to be volunteers and will not have any financial gain from our involvement. We bring a wealth of skills and experience, but most importantly, are passionate about providing opportunities for local girls to play football in a safe and inclusive environment. We will continue to be transparent and provide clear and regular communication to parents and caregivers around club news, partnerships and opportunities. 

We are delighted to share that all our existing coaches, Aaron, James, Emily, Vic, Daniel, Tom, Matt, Dan, Brooke and Harry will be joining us. Plus we’ll have even more coaches joining our team over the summer. 

First and foremost Brantham is a community we are proud to be a part of. We are working with local organisations to secure training facilities and match pitches.

We do have to be realistic about our future relationship with PSG Academy Brantham, but it’s important to know that they don’t have exclusive use of the facilities and pitches at Brantham Leisure Centre. They are community facilities and we are still keen to be part of the community.

For our U11 and U13 teams, even if we’d have continued under the banner PSG Academy Brantham, we wouldn’t have been playing our home games in Brantham anyway due to pitch availability. 

We have been working hard in the background, navigating the local pitch politics, and looking at the best options available for our teams. 

We have a couple of very local options available to us and we hope to confirm details in the next few weeks.  

Monies generated through fees will go towards paying for things like pitch maintenance, kit, football equipment (cones, balls, bibs etc.), training facilities, pitch equipment (line paint, pitch lighting), league registration fees and, for our older teams, referee fees. 

2025/26 fees

• £125 per season, for league players (can be paid as a one off payment, or in two £62.50 instalments). 
• £65 per season for a second league player in a family.
• £2.50 per session for Wolf Cub players (U8s and younger) and those who train, but don’t play in a league team.

We feel it’s important that the girls feel proud to be a part of their football club and feel good in what they wear to matches and  to training. We are working hard to source sponsors to help with the purchase of matchday kits and subsidise the cost of training wear for the girls. 

We are researching funding opportunities too and will be applying for grants wherever we can. And we’ve got some great ideas around fundraising events and opportunities too – so watch this space!

We appreciate this is a lot of information to take in, and we hope you understand our reasons for our decision and also not being in a position to be able to talk about this sooner. But it was important for us to remain professional and respectful towards all those affected by our decision. Of course we’d be happy to talk and answer any questions you may have. 

But ultimately, our fundamental objective is to provide affordable football to local girls. This move means we will not have senior player wages to pay or marketing commitment to fulfill. We can keep signing on fees at a competitive, fair and realistic rate, with all funds invested back into the girls’ football. 

This decision is all about supporting our girls on their football journey and helping them grow into confident, healthy and happy young women. 

Liz, Andy, Jade & Aimee.