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The Arsenal Soccer School Bahrain Ladies League is set to kick-off its autumn season next week and is welcoming Team Venus to the group of contenders battling for the coveted GulfWeekly Premiership Trophy.
The 10-week-long campaign to be staged at Soccer City in Janabiya every Monday evening is being organised by Bahrain international and senior coach at Arsenal Soccer School Bahrain, Deena Rahman.
Rahman said: “Last season the championship was very competitive and won by an extremely strong St Christopher’s team.
“This season looks set to be an even more exciting one with a much more level playing field.
“Contenders include a consistently strong Joga Bonito side, the ever-improving Eastern Flames, a new-look St Chris Seniors who will be missing some key players now studying at university overseas and two ambitious Arsenal squads.
“We would also like to welcome Venus to the league and wish everybody good luck.”
The seven-a-side competition, with each team featuring a squad of nine players, has attracted 80 Bahraini and expat players representing private schools, universities and sporting clubs.
Team Venus, inspired by the goddess of love and beauty, took shape after a group of Bahraini girls fell in love with the game and began to take football more seriously.
What started off as a fun weekly game between friends quickly turned into a full-fledged football club attracting around 30 girls ready to take on different teams in a tournament format.
The squad’s co-ordinator, Esra Nuruddin, 26, a student at the University College of Bahrain living in A’ali, said: “We started as a group of close friends constantly complaining that there wasn’t much to do here and all the fun athletic team sports was geared mostly to men. At first we thought about playing basketball or volleyball but then decided to hold a friendly football game once-a-week.
“We started playing every Sunday night at Kick-Off Bahrain Academy in Saar and the word began to spread like wildfire. One friend told another and then that friend told someone else and the group began to grow.
“Our fun games became more competitive and soon we turned it into a club and have chosen the top nine players to form a squad to compete in the Arsenal League.
“We are still taking in new members and if they are good enough they can compete for a place in the team or otherwise just play for fun.”
The players, who often break out into the popular Venus lady razor TV commercial song originally recorded by 1980s all-girl UK trio, Bananarama, during their training sessions, have already started to strategise and work on their game plan for the upcoming competition.
But forget about their singing abilities … they aim to let their footballing prowess speak volumes on the pitch.
