Gill Is A Trailblazing History Maker

Gill Bowden was installed as the new President of the historic and prestigious Lancashire and Cheshire Amateur League for the coming season.

The decision was made at a recent AGM and becomes a history maker by becoming the first lady to take on this role.

Gill outlined her path in football from beginning to now: “Despite having three brothers I only became interested in football in 1998 when my then four-year-old son Daniel began to train with Signol Athletic JFC. 

“It was interesting to learn the history of the club which was founded by Anne Signol in 1980,Anne is a very prominent member of the local community owning the ’The Signol Centre’ which is one of the longest established physiotherapy and acupuncture practices in the Stockport area. “The club was born from Anne’s work at Stockport Infirmary treating asthmatic children to improve their lung capacity, treatment was only offered once a week so Anne offered daily sessions at ‘The Signol Community Centre’ for all the patients, the sessions were concluded weekly with a ‘kick about’ in the local park and Signol Athletic JFC was born.

“When Danny was seven the club took all the boys to play in a tournament in Holland, by this point my husband Gordon was assistant manager of the team and I helped with collecting subs and team organisation.

“We both wanted to give back to the community as Anne had done and add to her legacy. Lots of fundraising occurred to help fund the trip and shortly after this I was asked to lead the club’s social committee. 

“The social committee organised many social functions and raised funds to help grow the club. “Over the years we had Christmas discos, Sportsman’s Dinners, and our annual tournaments which were extremely popular with local teams and those from further afield. 

“I became the Club Treasurer between 2012– 2016.I am a Certified Accountant, so my day job helped with this role.

“The 2009/10 season saw us as an Under 16 team and historically this would be our last year with Signol as they only provided for teams up to Under 16’s, however, we didn’t want that to be the end of our journey with Signol and Gordon successfully convinced the Club Committee to allow us to continue as an Open Age team and in 2011 we entered the L&C league.  

“We chose the L&C as both of us  had watched Daniel refereeing several matches and were impressed with the standard of teams and organisation of the League.

“We played in the L&C until last season when Covid and lack of player support meant after 10 seasons we concluded our managing journey.

 “I would like to thank both Gordon and Danny for keeping the team going during the difficult Covid period -unless you have been involved in the running of an amateur football team you cannot really understand the blood, sweat and tears that it takes!

“In 2019 the League approached me and asked if I would consider joining the committee to assist with managing Fulltime player statistics, I was honoured to be the first woman to join the committee and be a part of its long history.  

“This year after thinking my amateur football life was finished I was very honoured to be asked to be the 2022/23 L&C President.

“I have been involved in football for over 20 years now and it is exciting to see progression over those years, in 1998 we didn’t have many girls football teams but today I see no barriers for any young girl wishing to playfootball especially after the success of England Ladies this year.”