It was double delight for Venus as the hotshots celebrated the end of the season with a cup win and clinching the GulfWeekly-sponsored Arsenal Soccer School Bahrain Ladies League title.
The young women have come a long way from the team regularly hammered on the Soccer City pitches in Janabiya three seasons ago to claiming champion status.
Venus’s midfielder and co-ordinator Esra Ahmed Nuruddin, 26, from A’ali, is proud of the team’s achievements. She said: “It’s such a great feeling to not only win one but two prizes! We put so much time and effort into training and it really paid off.
“It’s crazy to see how amazing each player has progressed over the years, especially how we all started and all that thanks goes to our first coach, Ahmed Burashid who made the team what it is today.
“The Arsenal Bahrain Soccer School has been great too. This was our first season training with their coaches and they have been nothing but helpful and supportive. We appreciate all the time and effort they have put in for us.”
The initial team of eight has grown over the seasons into a squad of 13 competitive and combative players and what started off as a fun day of footballing quickly became a game the girls were determined to win.
Nuruddin added: “A few years ago a friend of mine and I were complaining about how it’s hard for women to get into sports in Bahrain and how the options were limited.
“We decided to encourage women to get into sport and we started to tell our friends about playing soccer, since it involves big groups. I started organising friendly games every week and we called ourselves Venus.”
Venus is the second planet from the Sun, orbiting it every 224.7 Earth days. The planet is named after the Roman goddess of love and beauty and the team’s performances on the pitch proved at times just as heavenly, and the results this season were simply out of this world.
“It was amazing how many women were interested in joining in. After a while, I decided to take it to the next stage and pick girls who were committed and wanted to improve as well as play competitively.
“The GulfWeekly-sponsored Arsenal Soccer School Bahrain Ladies League was the perfect place to make that happen.”
From humble beginnings five years ago the league now attracts more than 100 footballing females. Its sixth season kicked off on April 15 and has proven to be one of the most successful.
Bahrain national team player and Arsenal senior coach Deena Rahman said: “It’s great to have completed Season Six of the League and it has been one of the most competitive so far.
“Although Venus completed the league and cup double, it was by a narrow margin in the league and on penalties in the Cup Final – having said that, they fully deserve their success.
“Venus joined the Arsenal coaching setup this season alongside the Yellows, Reds, Gunners and London teams. We look forward to the new league starting in September when Venus will defend their title against season five winners Eastern Flames and a combined Arsenal senior team so we expect the league to be even more exciting next season.”
At the awards ceremony, a group of Bahrain’s national team players handed out medals to winners alongside Gulf Weekly’s Editor Stan Szceowka and Ladies Football correspondent Mai Al Khatib-Camille.
Joga TFA were League Cup runners-up and Arsenal Yellow were the League runners-up. The Fair Play Award went to Arsenal Junior Gunners and Reema Alqassab of Arsenal Reds was voted Player of the Season.
Nuruddin and the rest of Venus side are anxious for the new season to start after the summer holidays on September 23. She said: “We all just want to sit back and relax for now. It has been a really exhausting season. But we will keep on playing soccer and work on our fitness before the new season kicks off.
“I am proud of all of the girls’ devotion and to our future competition; it’s always great to play with you ladies! Hopefully, there will be even more women and girls joining next season!”
For more league information, call 37709010, email deena@arsenalschoolbahrain.com or visit www.arsenalschoolbahrain.com
