Leeds Chargers American Football

Who are we?

TLDR; A group of bass-ass women wanting to play ball

Leeds Chargers are Yorkshire’s only all-female contact American Football team. We are based at Yarnbury RFC in Horsforth and welcome women of all abilities and experience to join us. Last year, despite having one of the smallest squads in the league, we were undefeated in the regular season – becoming ‘Queens of the North’ and finishing third overall in the UK Premier division.

Several of our squad also train with the GB team, and two of our players were part of the GB side that took home an outstanding silver medal in last year’s World Championships, beaten only by (you guessed it) the USA.

This year is our 10th season, and we are one of only five teams who have stepped up to 9-a-side football, a first for the women’s game at club level in the UK.

Why are we crowdfunding?

Sadly, one of the main barriers to women and girls getting into the sport is money. It’s not cheap. Simply to cover the costs of renting a pitch to train plus mandatory membership fees and insurance, each player needs to find £270 for the season. Once you add on top travelling to away games (as far away as London and Edinburgh) and buying your own kit once you graduate from your rookie year, you can easily be upwards of £1,000 – a lot of money at any time, but particularly in the current environment with such stark increases in the cost of living.

All this means that the club needs funding to be able to grow sustainably. To buy equipment for training, invest in promotion to reach potential new members, and maintain club stocks of pads and helmets so new people can safely get into the sport without committing large amounts of money. Unfortunately, major grants and funding opportunities are limited, and many are focused on specific sports such as grassroots football – ‘soccer’ that is.

So please support us to make sure Leeds Chargers continue to dominate the world of Women's British American Football for many more years to come. Help us inspire others, support the sport and grow the club which we love so much.

How we’ll spend the money raised

All money raised will go towards running costs of the club, eg pitch hire, travel, game day expenses.

Also it will go towards new safety equipment, training equipment and uniforms.

Here's an idea of the costs;

£50 would cover the cost of a new game-day jersey for a player.

£100 would pay for the platform we use to host our film and playbooks for the whole season.

£500 would cover a new set of pads and a helmet, which need to be replaced every few years.

£1,000 or more would allow us to purchase a much-needed set of jerseys for our away games.

How you can play your part

Inspiring women to take up sport is a main goal of Sport England and many other organisations. Despite efforts, there remains a gender gap, with women persistently playing less sport than men. Recent statistics from Women in Sport UK revealed that only 3% of women are taking part in team sport. It’s not too dramatic to say that sport can change peoples’ lives and has a lasting impact on mental as well as physical health.

There are four simple ways to help us reach our target, and make this project a reality.

1. Donate. Don’t delay if you’re going to support us because momentum is key to our success!

2. Spread the word. Share our project on your social media pages and tell the world to get behind us! The more people we reach, the more support we will get.

3. Buy rewards. Get involved in the Rewards (on the right of the screen). There are some fun options to choose from! And share these with friends, family and local businesses you know. We will give you a shout out!

4. Fundraise for us. If you want to run your own fundraiser – maybe a sponsored activity or similar – use the 'contact project' button at the top of our page to let us know. Setting up your own page only takes a few minutes and you won’t need any bank details. Just a fun idea!