Contributors
Stuart Barker (Founder)
My introduction into women’s football came when coaching the Hampshire Constabulary Ladies football team. Since then I have been fortunate enough to spend some time working as a coach of Winchester Flyers Reserves and also assisting with the women’s team.
In 2018 I was part of a duo who established Havant & Waterlooville girls. Around the same time, the concept of Since 71 was born. The aim being to promote girls and women’s football at all levels from international to grassroots on the website, social media via our podcast.
When I launched Since 71 I had the aspiration that we would be taken seriously enough to take part in England press conference and attain media accreditation for matches. In 2019 I was fortunate enough to take part in the Sarina Weigman’s press conference. While in 2021 I was able to attend the England vs Canada international friendly as an accredited journalist. Something which I have been very proud of.
The website wouldn’t be where it is today if it wasn’t for my team of volunteer contributors who give up their free time to push the women’s game further and promote the great stories from match reports, to interviews and discussion pieces.
Since 2021 we re-launched the podcast and with every episode I have been growing in confidence and believe that the product gets stronger and stronger. I look forward to seeing it develop and grow.
It has also been a pleasure to have been invited on various YouTube fan channels to share my views on women’s football topics and news.
Ben Gilby (Contributor)
The draw of women’s football for me is its skill, fair play, and the fantastic connection and accessibility between players and supporters.
Having spent a lot of time in Australia, I was introduced to the superstar that is East Fremantle’s very own Sam Kerr when she was just 15. Sam’s family home is around 20 minutes away from where the Western Australian branch of my family lives. Following her career develop since she was a teenager has been incredibly exciting.
Having devised a media campaign with Norwich City Women FC that tied in with the 2019 Women’s World Cup, I was drawn towards helping to promote the women’s game more widely. This was the prime motivation to developing Impetus, a women’s football site which has writers based in five different countries, a charity partner, four partner clubs, and eight sponsored players. The beginning of 2022 has seen me take the role of Western Australian women’s football correspondent for The Women’s Game Australia’s award-winning women’s sports publication in print and online. This role includes producing weekly content with Perth Glory A-League Women’s team as well as covering the wider women’s game around the state. Additionally, I provide coverage of the Australian international players in the FAWSL for that organization.
Holding full accreditation with the Australian national team and having been able to interview many of the country’s top players and coaches, I have become a regular contributor to UK-based podcasts and YouTube channels where I can be heard talking about Australian women’s football. I am a member of the Women’s Sports Alliance, and was the winner of their Inaugural (Media) Contributor Award in April 2021.
Charlotte Stacey (Contributor)
My interest in football has been there since childhood, when I spent many an evening in the garden kicking the ball around with a kit on. However, as I got older, this began to dwindle and football took a bit of a back seat. However, the 2019 World Cup helped me to rediscover my love of the game and I have been hooked ever since.
I began following the Lionesses closely and watching/attending WSL games towards the end of the year. I then wrote my first piece in January 2020, really on a bit of a whim! But I enjoyed it so much that I have continued to write ever since. I have tried my hand at covering matches, players and tournaments, but hope to grow as both a writer and a supporter, and look to widen my knowledge of leagues, clubs and the fan base. For me, the women’s game is special, and I am proud to be a part of it as it grows.
Louise Golby (Contributor)
I became really interested in women’s football around the time of the 2015 World Cup. This is where I first watched England’s Lionesses properly, and began to recognise the players playing for their club teams.
Since then I’ve tried to keep up to date with as many leagues and International teams as possible, and have watched the Lionesses play a number of times. Included in this is my trip to France for their opening game of the 2019 Women’s World Cup against Scotland.
I’ve been watching my local team, Yeovil Town Women, since their title winning season in 2016, and continue to watch and follow their progress now in the National League. I’m also lucky enough to travel around the country watching a range of teams across the English leagues in both league and cup fixtures.
Veronica Smeltzer (Contributor)
I first started playing football at the age of four and transitioned to the club level at eleven, playing for Legends FC in Southern California. I had stopped playing football my junior year of high school to focus on field hockey and track and field, where I earned a scholarship to pursue filed hockey at the collegiate level attending Limestone College in South Carolina. It wasn’t until the end of my sophomore season that I switched back to football and earned the starting position as a goalkeeper. Having rediscovered my love for the game, I decided to pursue playing football at the professional level.
I graduated in the spring of 2019 with a Bachelor’s degree in Athletic Training and a minor in Biology and have since then signed to play with Grindavik UMFG, a team that is a part of the second league in Iceland.
As a goalkeeper it has been a challenge adjusting to a different style of play as well as a new language, but has so far been a great learning opportunity playing in a different country. I look forward to sharing not only my insight on football as a member of Since 71’s team, but as well as detailing my own journey and where it takes me as a current player.
Daisy Passmore (Contributor)
I first started watching men’s football when I was very young with my dad. In 2014 I went and watched a Yeovil Town Ladies match and ever since then I have just fell in love with the club. As soon as you are there you just feel welcome and it is a great atmosphere.
Being young it is a great feeling knowing that at the weekend you can go and see your favourite player (Hannah Short) and team. It’s great to be able to watch a team grow and I love supporting such a great team!
David Quick (Contributor)
I’m a footballer lover of all levels. I coach my Sons youth side, Woodside Rovers in the Milton Keynes Border Counties League. I watch Premier League football, following Watford, I also try to watch Under 23 matches too and am a Season Ticket Holder at my local club Leighton Town FC who play in The Spartan South Midlands Premier Division.
I started watching Ladies football in the pre season of the 2018/19 season, my daughter Lindsay didn’t believe that Watford had a girls team, so I took her.
We loved it, a few months in and we are both volunteers. I have many jobs, including meeting the opposition and officials and showing them where to go. I look after mascots on the day, getting them on the pitch, for half time penalties and autographs at full time. I also founded the Watford Ladies Fan Group, which is growing all the time, with the aim of getting more and more people into attending the Watford Ladies games and getting youngsters into playing, with the help of a great team of volunteers.
Tom Hussey (Contributor)
I started watching Women’s football just before the 2015 World Cup. Bristol Academy (now Bristol City WFC) had put up a kickstarter to help raise some interest and I signed up for a season ticket. I was immediately impressed with the connection from the players to the fans and the family atmosphere that the games had. I since moved to Madrid and found the same situation with the teams here. I watch Atlético de Madrid’s Women’s team for with the season ticket I have for the club.
Angelo Tirotto (Graphic Design & Branding)
Based in the seaside town of Southsea, I specialise in brand, identity and graphic design as well as website creation.
Having enjoyed a career in graphic design for 30 years, I’ve been fortunate enough to have worked with a diverse range of clients including a number of household names in global banking, magazines, an airline and even a Grand Prix racing team, right down to local businesses spanning many differing industries.
Along the way I’ve owned and operated a number of comic book stores, a contemporary art gallery and became an internationally published American comic book creator. My first published comic book work was No Place Like Home through Image Comics.
You can view my work and contact me via www.angelotirotto.com.
Adam Evans (Contributor)
I have only recently got into the women’s game. It was back in September 2018 when I started my BA Sports Journalism degree at the University of South Wales, that my interest in women’s football grew. This was primarily due to me volunteering to do media work with Swansea City Ladies.
The first Swans match that I watched, I thoroughly enjoyed reporting on. This then resulted in me following other women’s football leagues as well as the Wales squad.
My first experience was thoroughly enjoyable, so I would love to enhance my interest for the women’s game in the future by potentially covering big events such as the Women’s Euro in 2021 and also the World Cup.
All of my work can be viewed on my website at evanssports.wordpress.com.
Wojciech Nowakowski (Contributor)
As a journalist since 2011, I’ve covered many Olympic sports and that passion for the Olympics brought my attention to women’s football. Then it came with quite a ‘domino effect’ and finished with me contributing to Since 71.
My out-of-football interest no. 1 is modern pentathlon – you can hear me during the live coverages from the competitions in Poland as a commentator. From the winter sports curling is my biggest passion – I think I’ve been everything in that sport, including playing, teaching others, of course, being a journalist and photo reporter… even preparing the ice. I’ve also finished the Umpire Level 1 WCF course.
Above that, my out-of-sport passions are languages – I’ve finished an MA in Hungarian and speak English and German fluently and have a basic knowledge of Russian and Italian, still trying to improve my skills to help me in my journalistic career.
Hannah Lichtenstein (Contributor)
I guess I fell in love in the summer of 1999. 5 years old is a young time to fall in love, but hey, this object of my affinity — women’s soccer — is a special thing. The USWNT had just won the Women’s World Cup. I was living only a handful of miles away in Los Angeles. My parents, fearful about the socialization skills of their only child and excited about the prospect of a daughter in sports, signed me up for the local youth soccer team.
Since then, soccer has helped pull out the most important parts of my identity, connected with an incredible community, led me to my first love (Ok, like a real human this time), allowed me to go to college and travel abroad and much more. My career as a player ended a couple of years ago, petering out with senior year in college and then a year playing in Sweden. Transitioning out of sport was incredibly hard for me, however, I found that my passion for this game didn’t need to be tucked away on a shelf somewhere like an old pair of cleats so that I could pivot to a 9-5 desk job.
So, here I am today. Now, my mission is to help share inspiring, educational, and entertaining women’s soccer stories that will continue to grow the attention that this sport deserves.