Support Women's Football with London Seaward FC

About London Seaward FC

London Seaward FC (LSFC) is an independent women’s football club playing in the FA Women’s National League (fourth tier). We pride ourselves on being an inclusive and diverse club, with players and volunteers from a wide range of backgrounds.

While remaining independently governed and funded, as a not-for-profit association, the club had previously represented Leyton Orient Football Club (LOFC) until May 2021. As Leyton Orient Women’s Football Club, the team had established itself as a strong promotion contender in the FA WNL Division 1 SE.

Under our new identity, LSFC is committed to being an equitable club, recognising the importance of diversity and inclusion throughout. We want to encourage girls, irrespective of background or socio-economic circumstances, to play football and we want to support female players in reaching as a high a level of the game as possible.

The impact of COVID-19 and other challenges

The last two seasons have been severely disrupted by Covid-19, which has led to a significant loss in revenue. The start of the 21-22 season has been hindered by delays to the reopening of our training pitch at Stepney Green. Repairs to the floodlights at Stepney Green were delayed for over six months due to COVID-19, meaning we have had to pay higher than usual rates just to train once a week since June. In addition to the impact of COVID-19, we have also dealt with the challenge of LOFC suddenly ending our relationship, without prior notice and having just spent thousands on new kit. Whilst this was immensley dissapointing and disruptive to our 21-22 season plans, we are now proud to play under an independent identity.

Why are we crowd funding?

Following the loss in revenue due to COVID-19, unnecessary expenditure on LOFC kit and additional training venue costs, we need your support to survive and thrive as an independent women's club. Whilst we played very little football last season, we still incurred normal running costs such as affiliation etc., as well as additional costs such as additional travel costs due to social distancing requirements. LSFC is run by a voluntary committee and a skilled group of volunteers who provide high quality coaching, physiotherapy and strength and conditioning. Our club's policy is to keep player fees low to enable everyone to play football without financial barriers and to do this we operate the club on a break-even budget. We are delighted to have received our new kit at no cost and we are working tirelessly to keep all other costs to an absolute minimum.

Our aim is to: 

1) raise funds for the club so we can pay our immediate overheads for our 21-22 season such as away travel and referee fees, help bridge the gap as we establish our new identity and secure new sponsors to become a sustainable club

2) we aspire to become a leading independent women's club in the FA Women's National League - we want to lead by example around equity, diversity and inclusion - promoting opportunities for female coaches, referees and committee members

3) encourage more females to come and enjoy playing football with us, we're an ambitious club but our primary focus is to ensure all players have fun in a welcoming environment and are role models to the future generation of female footballers

4) play an active role in our local community and give back to support the development of young players, particularly those from underrepresented communities in East London

Thank You!

We are an ambitious, forward-thinking club but it is vital we reach our crowdfunding target and we hope that with your support we can get there.

If you cannot donate, please share this page, every action or donation helps our club!

A special thank you videographer Eleonora Cecchini who kindly created our amazing film, check her out her work here - www.eleonoracecchinifilms.com.

Photo credit: Touch Tight Media - thank you for your continued support!