The St Johnstone women’s team are feeling the love of the Perth club.
Manager Kev Candy was thrilled that an offer was made to give his players the chance to play a league match on the main pitch at McDiarmid Park.
And his job is now to ensure the Saints fans who come to the SWPL 2 clash with Queen’s Park are impressed with what they see.
“Playing on the main pitch on Wednesday isn’t a throw-away gesture,” said Candy. “It actually means something.
“Over the last year to 18 months the buy-in that we’ve got from the club as a whole into the women’s programme has improved considerably.
“There is no written law that you have to back your women’s programme.
“At our level, women’s football doesn’t generate revenue. It costs revenue.
“Obviously you can offset that through fundraising, commercial sponsorship etc.
“What we’re trying to do is put women’s football on a pedestal, attract interest and financial backing and put on a product that people will want to come back and see.
“We’re only going to have one opportunity to entertain these people for the very first time.
“There is a responsibility to produce football that’s worth watching.
“We’re playing the best team in the league on Wednesday night but we’ll go into it without trepidation or fear.”
Important milestone
‘Main stadium football’ is becoming more and more common in the women’s game.
Saints used to play their matches on the McDiarmid Park synthetic surface and currently call Jeanfield Swifts’ Riverside ground ‘home’.
“It’s important symbolically for the awareness of the women’s team,” said Candy.
“The media profile of women’s football has gone up from when I started way back in 2008.
“The likes of Celtic and Rangers have professionalised their set-ups and put significant financial investment into that.
“Part and parcel of that development is games taking place in great venues – national cup semi-finals and finals are at Hampden – and McDiarmid Park is one of those.
“We want our players to get used to playing in this kind of environment.
“We’re very proud to be playing at McDiarmid.”
Perth talent pool
The Fair City has produced – and is still producing – elite level female footballers.
There were two players from Perth in Scotland’s last World Cup squad, one is the record cap holder and several are currently in SWPL academy set-ups.
Candy is keen to establish a home-based route to the top.
“Something we’ve talked about internally is players heading to the central belt,” he said.
“That’s obviously a player’s individual choice – they might think they can get better developed within a national performance centre.
“We have an excellent youth pathway with Jeanfield Girls but at the moment the sides within that pathway are playing in regional competitions which is, on paper at least, certainly a lower standard.
“We want to be able to show that a talented player can be developed from a very young age, through the youth pathway at Jeanfield and that if they are excelling we’ll develop them through the final mileage under our wings.
“We’re seeing that with a number of players in the Jeanfield 18s at the moment.
“Keeping talent in the area will serve us well in the longer-term.”
Proud captain
Hannah Clark captains the fifth-placed Saints side against Queen’s Park, who have already secured the SWPL 2 title.
The evening will be the “icing on the cake” after spending several months out with the illness, ulcerative colitis.
“This will make the journey I’ve been on personally so much more worth it,” she said.
“When I was in that place you kind of think that there’s no way out and you don’t know where you’re going to be over the next few months.
“Wednesday will be the icing on the cake.”
😃 St Johnstone WFC skipper Hannah Clark back doing what she loves after five months out.
Great to have you back, Hannah. @stjwfc | @SWPL pic.twitter.com/H6SUL7737f
— St. Johnstone FC (@StJohnstone) March 28, 2024
Hannah added: “The girls really appreciate this opportunity and are excited about hopefully putting on a good performance for the fans.
“It’s about showing St Johnstone supporters who maybe haven’t seen the women’s team what football we can play.
“I’ve been here eight or nine years now.
“Looking back, 14-year-old Hannah who signed for Jeanfield would be very proud that all these years later she’s going to be walking the St Johnstone team out at McDiarmid Park.”
- The match kicks off at 7.45pm, with turnstiles in the Main Stand opening at 7pm. It will be £5 entry for adults while concessions can enter for just £1 (cash only at the turnstiles). As is the case with all of St Johnstone WFC’s home games at Riverside, Saints season ticket holders get free entry.
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