The Oamaru club is looking to enter a team the South Canterbury competition in 2027.
They held a meeting last week for prospective players and attracted roughly a dozen women, committee member Wendy McGeown said.
‘‘It was a good group of people who came along to the meeting,” she told the Oamaru Mail.
"There was some people who had played before, some who hadn’t. There were some mums and daughters which was quite cool so teenage girls and some older women — it was quite a good mix.”
The last time the club had a women’s team was 2020.
"It all kind of died off just after covid, things got more difficult to get the numbers over that time.”
McGeown and the rest of the club felt now was a good opportunity to bring back a women’s team as they had relaunched their men’s team in 2026.
"That has been really successful, they’re doing well [and are] competitive in the division two men’s South Canterbury grade and they seem to be really enjoying it.”
Player numbers in the junior and high school ranks were strong but she felt there was a gap for those who had left school and still wanted to play football.
"As a club we’re very passionate the girl’s and women’s game so we’re keen to provide a bit of a pathway.
"There’s been a bit of chat from mums on the sidelines that they’d like to play so we’ve sort of acted on that as well."
Fellow committee member Rory McGeown agreed.
“If you finish school here, basically you can’t play football [but] you can now, you can play for Meadowbank.
"I think having young people sitting at home not being able to enjoy that social stuff or the fitness stuff is a shame.”
They had planned two “kick around” sessions at King George Park on June 14 and 28 and wanted to put the invite out to any and all players.
"It’s sort of the start of the recruitment.
"We’ve started a year ahead of the season because there’s obviously barriers with family and other sport this season.
"We’re just trying to get a group together, get some momentum and then we should be able to hit the ground running next year.”
Football South are also lending a helping hand and South Canterbury and Waitaki football and futsal development officer Leigh Matthews attended the meeting last week.
