One in every five players at Brooklyn Northern United is female. In 2010, the club had over 50 female players across three teams.

This page provides information on women’s football at BNU including:

• The 2011 Season
• Teams and Divisions at BNU
• Coaches
• Training
• Recent Honours
• BNU’s Commitment to Women’s Football
• Contacts for Women’s Football

The 2011 Season

Pre-season training for the Central League and Division 1 Teams begins on 26 January 2011. Trials for these teams will be held on 6 March and 9 March 2011.
Players interested in trialing should come along to training and/or make contact with coaches. 
New players interested in social leagues should email the club to register their interest and/or come along for a kick around from 27 February 2011.

Teams will be confirmed in March 2011, with training and kick arounds begining then.
BNU’s pre-season training calendar

Teams and Divisions at BNU

The club’s first and reserve teams are known as the BNU Platoon. In 2011, the Platoon will play in the Women’s Central League (Black Squad) and Women’s Division 1 (Red Squad). 
BNU’s third women’s team, the Pretenders, will play in Women’s Division 4.
BNU would like to increase the number of women’s teams it fields in 2011, so anyone wanting to give football a go should get in touch. 

Coaches

The coaching team is well qualified and has over 30 years combined experience coaching at Federation and club level.
Head Coach Sandy Aitchison holds a Level 3 (NZ Football National Academy Coaching License). The women’s coaching team includes Scott Reece  (Level 3 qualification), John Lange (Level 1 qualification), Tania Penafield, Richard Harbour, and Daniel McCarthy (Level 1 qualification).

Training

The Platoon train as a squad, breaking into teams or smaller groups to work on team or positional play as required.  Training is taken by two level 3 qualified coaches and assistants. Specialist coaches (e.g. goal keeping, fitness, etc) are also engaged as required.
The Pretenders train once per week, with a coach.
BNU’s pre-season training calendar

Recent Honours

2010 Women’s Premier League (Black Squad)
2010 Women’s Division 2 (Red Squad)
2010 Women’s Division 2 Cup (Red Squad)
2010 Runner up Kelly Cup (Black Squad)
2010 Wellington Women’s Master’s Tournament (Club Team)
2009 Wellington Women’s Master’s Tournament (Club Team)

Club Awards

In 2010, the following club awards went to players and coaches from the women’s teams: 
BNU Sportsperson of the Year – winner Jaylene Bremmer (Platoon)
BNU Top Goal Scorer – joint winners Tania Penafield (Platoon) and Julia Jones (Pretenders)
Chairperson’s Cup – winner Sandy Aitchison (Platoon Coach)

Commitment to Women’s Football

BNU is committed to women’s football. It provides the same services for its men’s and women’s teams and has had a female Chairperson, Rose Artemiev, for the last four years.
The club is part of the Women’s Regional Working Group for Capital Football. A BNU-initiated review in 2009 created a local women’s competition that was tailored to the needs of female players and encouraged development of the women’s game.
Platoon Players Tania Penafield, Sonia Fry, and Rebecca Leslie provide coaching for BNU’s junior club All Girls team and Walt Boyd, the club’s Young Sportsperson of the Year (2009, 2010), currently coaches the Queen Margaret College first eleven. Tania Penafeld is one of only two female referees in the Wellington Region.

Contacts for Women’s Football

If you have any queries or would like to join BNU you can contact any of the following:

Sandy Aitchison (for Central League / Women’s 1 League coaching queries)
027 449 9433

Bronwyn Kelly (for training queries or information on joining the Central League / Women’s 1 League teams)
021 389 311

Jenny Hodder (for training queries or information on joining the Women’s Division 4 team)
021 149 2931   This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it

Rose Artemiev (for general information about Women’s football at Brooklyn)
021 967 091  This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it

For other queries, please email This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it