Mum sets up women’s football team after years on sideline

A MUM-of-two who regularly championed her children from the sidelines decided to have a go herself and set up her own football team.

Not content with just spectating, Lucy Pembayun turned to social media to seek out other female football followers and discovered she wasn’t alone in wanting to play rather than just watch the game.

Lucy, who is 42 and from Bishopthorpe, organised sessions for five-a-side football for women of all abilities, which continue to meet weekly at York Sport in Heslington, and then set up the seven-a-side Bishopthorpe White Rose Women’s Recreational team.

Fast forward two years and her team has just celebrated a double win in only its second season.

Double success for the Bishopthorpe White Rose Women’s Recreational team which won the North Riding FA Women’s Recreational League and Cup in 2025. Photo: Lucy PembayunBishopthorpe White Rose beat Thirsk Falcons 1-0 in the North Riding FA Women’s Recreational League and also won the North Riding FA Women’s Recreational Cup in a tense penalty shootout against Thirsk Falcons.

The pitch action is far removed from Lucy’s day job as a qualified German to English translator – Lucy is founder and CEO of LEaF Translations which was a finalist in the Small Business of the Year category in The Press Business Awards 2024.

Looking back, she said she’d always wanted to play football as a child but her only opportunity was in a one-off school tournament when she was 17.

“I loved football, was an avid fan of Liverpool but my weekends were spent watching my brothers play rather than getting to play myself.

“My daughter has played football from the age of seven and my son has also played since he was young so I have spent many a weekend stood on the sidelines, a lot of the time wishing I could play.”

The Lionesses in the Euros 2022.Lucy was spurred on by the Euros in 2022 when the Lionesses beat Germany 2-1 and won the Women’s European Championship in front of a sold-out Wembley. It was an historic moment – it was the Lionesses’ first major trophy and the first for any English senior team since 1966.

Lucy said: “When the Lionesses won, I decided to post on the local Facebook group for mums, Mumbler, to see if there were any other mums out there who had always wanted to play but never had the opportunity.

“The post gained a lot of traction. It turned out I wasn’t alone. Together with a couple of other people who I didn’t know before posting, I set up a weekly five-a-side session for women of all abilities who wanted to play. Three years later, the five-a-side is still going strong – every Thursday at 6pm at York Sport.

“Then, in the summer of 2023, I saw an advert for a new seven-a-side recreational league for women looking to play football, organised by the North Riding FA. I enquired and found out you had to be affiliated with a club to join.

Lucy Pembayun who set up and captains the Bishopthorpe White Rose Women’s Recreational team.“I contacted the club secretary of the club my kids played for, and we set up a team. In April 2025, we won the North Riding FA Women’s Recreational League title and the cup.

“Lots of the teams have now got coaches and train weekly. We don’t have a coach and don’t train apart from our weekly five-a-side, but only some of our team members attend that and it is a different mix of people each week.

“We are just a group of women with a range of footballing experience, and we see it as an opportunity to get together for a few hours once a month and play football. It brings us a lot of joy.”

* If you have had success with your hobby, or enjoy an unusual pasttime, share your story by emailing [email protected]