The football club built by a dad for his daughter to play the game she loves

When people describe football clubs as being ‘family clubs’, they generally mean a place that is welcoming for families to come and watch or even join in the fun.

In the case of Plainmoor Ladies, who play their home games at Windmill Hill in Torquay, the ‘family club’ ethos has been taken to a new and extraordinary level.

When Emma Quaintance showed an interest in the sport during her Primary School years at Homelands, options for girls to join a team were limited, so dad Russell, who works in catering for the NHS, took matters into his own hands.

Russell formed Plainmoor Girls for Emma and her friends to play competitively on a weekend, and this continued into her teenage years as a student at Westlands School (now Spires).

Plainmoor Girls became a club that hosted football for youngsters across the community and, while the youth section has since fallen away, Plainmoor Ladies are going from strength to strength as a proud club in the Devon Women’s Football League.

“I grew up in Plainmoor, mum and dad still live there, and because he basically created the team for me to play football, it just made sense to call it Plainmoor Ladies,” said Emma.

“The club started around 20 years ago. When I was in Primary School, I started playing football and really enjoyed it, but there weren’t many options for girls to join a team, so dad took it upon himself to create Plainmoor Girls.

“Things developed on from there and it does show how things have changed over the past 20 years. Thankfully, there is so much more opportunity now for girls to play football, especially with the success of the England Women’s team.

“Plainmoor Girls evolved over the years, starting from one youth team and we did have a time with different age groups playing for the club. As we grew older, it naturally developed into Plainmoor Ladies.

“Unfortunately, it was not possible to sustain the girls’ teams because we are so reliant on volunteers and it also coincided with the age when girls either stay involved in football or find other interests.”

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That challenge of keeping girls interested in football, and sport in general, while they navigate the tricky teenage years is never easy, but Emma has a simple message of keeping the game as fun as possible.

“The teenage years are when it can fizzle out for some girls,” she said. “You either really love the sport and desperately want to stay involved, or you can see girls lose interest.

“We are finding now that there are girls who kept going through the years or some who used to play in their teenage years and now want to get back into the sport as young adults.

“It is hard to find an answer to keeping girls interested in those teenage years, probably just to keep football as fun and light-hearted as possible. Football is great for your fitness, mental health and ensuring they have the social connections keeps it fun.”

It is not just a father and daughter story at Plainmoor Ladies, as mum Julie also plays for a team that has the full range of ages turning out on a Sunday afternoon.

As well as players at different stages of their lives, the team has a tremendous spectrum of vocational backgrounds, including medical personnel battling in midfield alongside young students.

“We have a huge diversity of ages and backgrounds at Plainmoor Ladies,” said Emma. “We’ve got girls coming through at 16 and 17, playing alongside adults and right through to my mum Julie, who is still playing in her late fifties.

“Mum started playing football at the age of around 40, which is when Plainmoor Ladies began as an adult team. As with all of us, football is massively important to mental health and mum feels the benefits physically and mentally.

“Mum plays at left-back, next to me at centre-back, and I must confess to being a player who loves a slide tackle. I’m short and fast, and I do love a last-ditch slide tackle, as the picture probably shows.

“In terms of jobs, we have players in the team who are doctors, quite a few NHS staff, I work with children, plus accountants, students and more, which is another great element to football because you mix with people outside the normal social circle if you stuck to the daily job and life routines.

“As for myself, after a week of working with youngsters in a nursery, football is the release that keeps me going and a chance to enjoy fresh air with my team.”

The season is almost at the halfway point for Plainmoor Ladies and they sit sixth in their division, having won four and lost four of their opening eight fixtures.

After two more away trips in the league, it is a home game against Plymouth True Blues in the County Cup on January 18 and a run of games at Windmill Hill on Sunday afternoons in February, so get on down to enjoy the footy.

“We currently play in the Sportslighting Devon Women’s Football League in the South-West section, which means playing teams from the Plymouth area and Tavistock is our longest trip,” added Emma.

“We did have Shaldon and Paignton Villa in our division but they have been switched to the North-East section, same level as us, but they play more Exeter and North Devon-based teams.

“We had a great start to the season but have dropped off a little in recent games, so we’re around mid-table going into the new year. We’re obviously hoping to put a run together over the second half of the season and we are also still in the cup competitions, so silverware is still possible.

“A good season for us would be to finish in the top four or five in the league. The top two win promotion and we’ve consistently finished in the top half of the table. Promotion would be amazing but that does bring extra pressures with travel and quality of opposition.”