Bristol Rovers Community Trust CEO Adam Tutton has insisted that now is the right time for the charity to hand over Bristol Rovers Women back to club management following their promotion to the National League.
Rovers' women's team, more commonly known as the Gas Girls, was reformed back in 2019 and three promotions in five years has seen the club reach Step Four of women's football. During those five years, the Gas Girls has been run by the Community Trust with the help of volunteers an integral part of the club's success.
However, it was announced last week that the women's team would return to the management of Rovers after 18 years ahead of starting next season as a National League outfit with ambition to continue progressing up the pyramid.
Speaking to Bristol Live, Tutton, who has been Chairman of the Gas Girls for the past five years, admitted: "It was the right time now for the charity to hand over the management and financing of the Gas Girls. The plan for us when we reformed the Gas Girls back in 2019, or the hope, was that at some stage it could return back to the ownership of the club and on the back of the promotion, now was the right time.
"From the charity’s point of view, we set ourselves aims. National League was where we wanted to be and the team, the volunteers, Nathan [Hallett-Young], the players have all done an incredible job in a short space of time to get there.
"I think from our point of view, a lot of this was about community. It was about getting young girls to play sport. It was about getting more female fans to the Mem. It was about getting females onto our education programmes and I think we’ve gone on and exceeded those targets."
Led by manager and the Community Trust's Nathan Hallett-Young, it's been an outstanding season for the Gas Girls who clinched the league title last month and got the opportunity to play their final home game of the season at the Memorial Stadium in front of over 1,600 fans as well as lift the trophy.
It could be a double for Rovers' women's team as they face Marine Academy Plymouth Ladies in the League Cup final with the date still yet to be confirmed.
Discussions are still ongoing as to what exactly happens next but, as part of the announcement, it was also revealed that the Gas Girls will now be playing all of their home games at the Mem which is unheard of at this level and will undoubtedly be used as a positive recruitment pull for new players. Alongside supporting the men's team through what is undoubtedly going to be a busy summer, the club's hierarchy plan to do the same for the women's.
"The National League is a semi-professional league," Tutton said. "I think it’s very difficult at that point for a charity to be running the football club. I think the expertise that the club can bring to it is needed now so I was absolutely delighted when I had conversations with Hussain and Abdullatif and we first started talking about the potential of the Gas Girls coming back to Bristol Rovers Football Club and they embraced it fully.
"I will say when they first took over the football club, very early on back then was the mention of the Gas Girls. I remember the first time I met Abdullatif and we were walking around the stadium and he showed an interest then. This isn’t something that they’ve jumped onto, this has been a plan of theirs no doubt right from the start.
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"I think one of the incredible things that they’re offering the opportunity is for the team to now play at the Mem. That’s not really known at this level of football. There are very, very few female teams that are linked into a professional club that actually play at the home ground. So what I think that will be is an incredible driver for new players and from a recruitment point of view.
"I have no doubt that the girls are in very safe hands now and I’m delighted and it’s great to see from all of the players, the volunteers’ point of view, it was their hard work that got them here and I’m delighted Abdullatif and Hussain have agreed and, as we said, they want to be part of it, they want to help with the recruitment.
"It links into what we want here at Bristol Rovers in terms of the family club. I think if you look on a Saturday now over the last five years there’s without doubt more female fans, there’s younger fans, and that’s no doubt down to the Gas Girls and the impact of the Gas Girls. With the club continuing to grow, that’s only going to strengthen what we’ve got and fits in with the club’s plan to expand the number of fans that we can can get in so I think it’s really exciting times ahead.
"We set ourselves the ambition of National League. Did I think we would be there in five years? No is the honest answer. It has been unprecedented how we’ve gone through the leagues. A lot of that is down to the hard work of Nathan and all of the backroom staff. I think it’s really important to remember that every one of those has been a volunteer for five years. So a lot of hard work has gone into this and I’m absolutely delighted for everyone involved."
