Source: Radio New Zealand
Katie Kitching has been playing for Sunderland Women since 2022. MI NEWS
Football Fern Katie Kitching is prepared for a “huge change” at her club side Sunderland Women which came to fruition while she is on international duty in New Zealand.
This week an agreement was reached with multi-club ownership organisation Bay Collective to take a majority stake in the women’s Super League 2 team. Reportedly the investment will go into improving infrastructure, the academy and building the staff and player pool at the English club.
Midfielder Kitching has been with Sunderland since 2022 and said the American owners, who have stakes in several women’s clubs, were an “exciting” development a long time in the making.
“I think it will be a huge change. I don’t know if it will be over time or if they will do it quite quickly, but I think you’ve seen other teams do it and allow changes and allow more focus on the women’s team and the facilities and infrastructure and the way they’re doing things throughout the academy and up.
“So I think it can only be good things, hopefully.”
Kitching’s club team, like many others in England, found it “harder to get the focus on the women’s team” when the men’s team were the traditional priority.
Sunderland Women struggled this season, currently sit eighth, with two games remaining in the season, but the club has just avoided relegation.
“I don’t think it’s been our best season, but we’ve done as well as we can.
“I think you learn a lot from when you lose, so I think that helps.”
Katie Kitching playing for the Football Ferns. Photosport
While the losses piled up at club level, Kitching was having success on the international stage.
Kitching captained the Football Ferns for the first time in World Cup qualifiers in the Solomon Islands a role she said was “out of my comfort zone”.
“I’ve still got a lot of growing to do in those roles, but I’m really enjoying it and it’s pushing me a lot, which is good.
“As a coach, [Michael Mayne] is trying to instill that we’re all leaders, every single one of us, and we’re all responsible for that not just a couple of people, which is good.
“I know my teammates have my back and I have theirs and it’s a great camp to be in right now. Everyone’s real responsible and has ownership of their roles and the team’s roles.”
The Football Ferns are undefeated heading into Sunday’s World Cup qualifiers semi-final against Fiji in Hamilton.
Early in the qualification process the Football Ferns scored 19 goals in three games against Pacific Island opposition. Prior to that series the New Zealanders had not scored a goal in five international friendlies.
“It gives players confidence and players that maybe haven’t scored for the Ferns before and they go and score three or four goals, it’s amazing,” she said of the qualifiers.
“It just shows that that can bring so much confidence to them individually and they can go and bring that into their club and this team as well.”
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– Published by EveningReport.nz and AsiaPacificReport.nz, see: MIL OSI in partnership with Radio New Zealand
