Today is International Women’s Day and to celebrate this, the club held a special training session at Cobham for competition winners Kingston University Ladies, who got to train with Emma Hayes (Chelsea Ladies’ manager).
Hayes had this to say on the club website,
It’s a fantastic way to celebrate International Women’s Day, and women’s football in general.
The club also announced that a one day conference to focus on women in sport will be sponsored by CFC and held at Stamford Bridge on the 23rd May this year. Women, from the terraces to the boardroom, are very important to our club and culture.
Starting at the very top, we have Martina Granovskaia as one of our directors. She has been described by The Mirror as the most powerful woman in English football. Marina has been heavily involved in our recent successful transfer window deals – the club spending 123.3 million on bringing in players such as Costa and Fabregas and making 127.7 million on selling players such as David Luiz and Andre Schurrle.That is good business.
Our ladies team, coached by Emma Hayes and assistant Paul Green, was runner up in the Women’s Super League 1 in 2014, missing out on top spot on a dramatic last day of the season. The attendances to watch the league were up 30% last year too….with Chelsea’s game at Man City, of around 1292, being the highest gate of the campaign. Our ladies team boasts the current London Ladies Footballer Of The Year – JI So-Yun.
On the medical side ladies are well presented. From Loma Collins as ladies’ first team physio and, of course, to Eva Carneiro is the men’s first team doctor.
Dr Carneiro likes to keep largely out of the spotlight but said at a recent Swedish FA medical conference,
As a male you can aspire to having a successful professional life and a fulfilling personal life. Women are told that if you want both, at best it’s going to be difficult, and at worst it’s going to be a disaster.
Chelsea are a forward thinking and diverse club. It’s a shame that all the hard anti discriminatory work done by the club can be overshadowed by the recent mindless acts of a few.
I am proud that we, as a club, value people for who they are and their ability to do a good job, rather than the colour of their skin or their gender or sexual orientation – and we welcome everyone to our club as fans.
Keep The Blue Flag Flying High
