RADCLIFFE Olympic Ladies football club drew 2-2 against the Paralympic GB deaf women's squad in a well-attended friendly yesterday.
The Radcliffe team, which was set up in 1999 and coached since Christmas by Sam Winch, is aiming for promotion next season.
Head coach Mr Winch said women's football was now the third biggest sport in the country after men's football and men's cricket.
Speaking before the game, which was held at Bilborough College yesterday afternoon, he said: "Our season has just finished and we thought what a great way to raise awareness about our squad than to hold a high profile match against the Paralympic GB deaf team.
"Women's football is massively on the rise in this country with more and more people getting involved, both playing and watching.
"But the issue for us is that we don't have any financial backing from the FA or big sponsors at the moment because we aren't yet in the premier league.
"Our big aim is to get promoted, but in the mean time we want to raise as much awareness as possible and get as many sponsors on board as we can."
Radcliffe Olympic LFC is currently in the Midlands Combination league with the likes of Stoke City and Leicester City – but is aiming to gain promotion to the premier league for women, the division above their current one.
Sam added: "We have a great mixture of youth and experience on our team, ranging from 16-year-old growing stars to early 30s ladies.
"Our aim is ambitious. But we recently played Forest ladies who are in the league above us and we only lost 2-0, showing we aren't miles apart. And I have hopes to raise the training sessions from once to twice a week which will help us more."
The match between the Paralympic team and Radcliffe came about after one of the players, Sarah Green, who used to coach the squad, was contacted by the GB team's head coach who suggested a friendly.
Sam added: "The GB squad has no association with the FA either, so they don't get any funding from there. Any publicity for either team is great."
