Maccabi Selly Oak women’s team marks a year

When Maccabi Selly Oak women's football team was launched, they only had nine players[Missing Credit]

Recently, MSO women’s team played their first competitive inter-J-Soc match against Leeds’ Hapoel Hyde Park women’s team, comfortably winning 10-2. Having played four competitive matches, MSO remains unbeaten.

The team’s success has enabled it to secure sponsorship, including from the HerGameToo campaign, which tackles sexism in sport.

According to the organisation Women In Sport, after primary school, one million girls (43 per cent) disengage from sport, citing a fear of feeling judged, a lack of confidence, pressures of schoolwork and not feeling safe outside.

Ucko said that he aspired to roll out Jewish women’s football across UK universities, “generally shifting the attitude as a whole and sending out the message to women that they can play football on campus”.

Since October 7, as well as encouraging more women to participate in sport, the team has also been using football to fundraise. Kosky organised a charity 6-a-side tournament for Jewish students in Birmingham, which successfully raised money for families in southern Israel impacted by the war.

Asked whether antisemitism on campus had affected the team, Ucko said that while they hadn’t experienced anything directly, the area where they trained often had anti-Israel banners on display close by. “The fact we’ve been able to play through that shows the strength of the team,” he said.

When asked about their aspirations for next year, Kosky said that she hoped they would “continue the team spirit”, while remaining a springboard for female students to get into sport.

The club’s assistant manager, Eitan Brown, described the last year as “incredible…To see a large number of women consistently improving and wanting to show up week in week out is what I’m most proud of.”