A MIDFIELD maestro for the surging Camden Town WFC team has told the New Journal that she “can’t wait to see where the club ends up” after an exciting start to the season.
Jordyn Galway has been playing for the club for just over a year and has been part of the high scoring victories which have heralded the start of the new campaign.
Although Camden Town has big ambitions about rising through the league pyramid, Ms Galway, 24, said the team would need to stay calm to make it happen.
She said: “Following our wins it can be a little daunting, but the pressure is exciting and motivating.
“Having a whole club, fan base and a massive sponsor like Adobe now behind us is a pressure that motivates rather than hinders.
“We know we’re not alone and it’s a pressure that comes with ambition – and that ambition is going to push Camden Town WFC as far as we can go.” Adobe worked with the players so they had input over the design of new kits, and the team has been given help on how to use the company’s tools to make their social media feeds light up.
Here we have one of the biggest software companies in the world sponsoring Camden Town WFC, whose attendance at the moment is usually around 90 people. The hope is that this will rise and rise, and football fans can help by joining the crowd.
In a decade, they might be saying: ‘We were there at the start’.
Ms Galway said: “The team, will keep giving 100 per cent.”
Originally from Canada, she started playing football aged three and competitively at 8 in multiple regional and provincial teams but ended up taking a break from the sport at 17.
Moving to London about two years ago, it was then that she decided to lace up her boots again and give the sport another go after seeing an article about Camden Town WFC and the master plan of getting to the Women’s Super League in 10 years. If they do, they will be competing alongside teams like Arsenal, Chelsea and Manchester City.
Ms Galway said: “With football being so massive in the UK, I fell in love with it again. North American football is often about scholarships but football here felt different. I was drawn to Camden Town WFC because it was a club that immediately felt progressive.”
She said the support from Adobe had been a major boost.
“As players we have definitely noticed a change in the collective encouragement that the sponsorship from Adobe has bought,” she said. “The team is so thankful for the effort that went into gaining the partnership.”
She added: “It was really cool to be involved in the discussions involving the kit design, something that has never really been done before, collaborating with the team on what we want to wear. The kit makes us feel good as a team. Some of the training kits we’ve had in the past were all men’s fitted and with these new kits you really can feel the difference.
“Putting on a kit that fits and feels amazing gives us that extra boost and it has really set a positive tone for the season.”
Ms Galway said she was encouraged that future generations were being inspired to get involved.
She said: “We always have young girls come to the matches and personally when I was growing up I didn’t have a lot of women footballers to look up to.”
Of match days at the Maurice Rebak Stadium, she added: “There is something really special about going to a match at Camden, a smaller club and to be able to see a range of women play football and enjoy what they’re doing. It shows young girls regardless of what level they are at that if they want to play, they can play.”
But is the pressure to meet the target of going all the way to the top flight at rapid speed too much?
Ms Galway said: “If you’d asked me a year ago if I’d be doing an interview on behalf of Camden Town WFC I would have said not in a million years.
“It feels really special to be on this journey and to be on a team that cares about growing women’s football. I can’t wait to see where the club ends up, whether it’s in a couple of years or 20 years.
“Without a doubt I feel proud to play for Camden and I wouldn’t give it up for anything.”
Written by Caitlin Maskell for the CamdenNewJournal