Now Selsey is home sweet home for Chichester City Ladies

They kicked off their new era with an FA Cup tie against a very strong Ipswich Ladies, who triumphed 6-0.

The move to Selsey comes after the ladies decided to move out of Oaklands Park, which they said didn’t feel like home any longer and where they were unable to get all their ladies and girls’ teams playing and training in one place.

Chairwoman Caz Evans said “It has been a very hard and stressful few months of continuous meetings, emails, phone calls with everyone involved with this move but we know it’s the best move for our club.

“The players (both youth and senior) are our main concern, we want every girl who joins our club to be included, accepted, valued, listened to, but most of all have a place they can call home when playing the game they love.

“Our time at Oaklands has come to an end – we have tried and failed to keep the club going there and we were left with three options that we put to it committee, the majority voted for one and that was time to leave Oaklands Park.”

With a couple of successful seasons under their belt and an expansion of youth teams, Chi City were unable to keep up the finances that it costs to have eight teams train and play at different venues across West Sussex and Hampshire each week.

To make sure all teams were able to play high quality football and had access to facilities, Selsey FC made the club an offer they couldn’t refuse.

The whole club are accommodated with enough pitches for all youth teams to play in the same place each weekend and a high quality first-team pitch for the senior teams to enjoy. There is also the opportunity for the club to make a profit on matchdays from various outlets to invest back into the women’s game.

The club will still be called Chichester City Ladies and Girls FC, keep their places in their current leagues and play in green and white.

The first weekend at Selsey FC was a roaring success despite the first-team being knocked out the FA Cup. The committee say they are looking forward to creating a one-club feel in their new home.

If any backers of the ladies’ club still have a board at Oaklands Park and wish to have it moved to Bunn Leisure Stadium, please contact [email protected]

The committee said they would like to thank all the fans, sponsors and residents for their continued support of the ladies and girls.They added: “Let’s hope for a successful second half of the season and the bright future of women’s and girls football in Chichester."