McCaffrey on the start-up potential of Actonians
The former US Women's National Team player owns and plays for Actonians
“They’re like Google and we’re like a start-up.”
Steph McCaffrey used to represent the US Women’s National Team, the biggest brand in women’s football. So it is something of a change to be turning out for Actonians in the FA Women’s National League Division One South East in the role of David v Goliath.
The 33-year-old former US international had walked away from football for five years but a move to London has got her back playing and after spending time at Leyton Orient, she has moved across London as part of an ambitious project with Actonians.
In May it was announced that the McCaffrey Football Investment Group – owned by McCaffrey’s mother Gina – was making a significant investment into the Actonians Women’s first team with an ambition to take the team from Tier 4, where they currently reside, up through the English football pyramid.
This season, that means doing battle with clubs like QPR, Stevenage and Luton, who already have the infrastructures of their corresponding men’s clubs as a foundation.
That is not the case for Actonians, who know they can compete on the pitch, but still have some catching up to do off it.
But that is a challenge that McCaffrey relishes.
She explains: “We’ve played Stevenage and QPR in the league, who have way more money than us and better infrastructure. They have professional training grounds and physios.
“We always joke that you play a team in pre-season and they literally have 15 coaches, all of them on headsets, while we have our manager Jason (Stephens), our assistant manager Craig (Davidson) and one physio.
“They’re like Google and we’re like a start-up.
“But I give the big clubs a lot of respect and admiration for the money they’re putting into their women’s teams.
“I also think that buying players is different from building training systems. Some of these men’s clubs have incredible systems on the men’s side – not just footballing systems, but philosophies, styles of play and all these things.
“But really, it comes down to the manager. I’m so confident in Jason and our assistant manager, Craig. I have so much confidence in their style of play and their ability to build a culture that I think it mitigates the risk of these bigger clubs having more money.
“Eventually, we will hit a wall, but I don’t think that wall is going to come in the next three or four years.”
Actonians kicked off their season by going unbeaten in their first five games in the league, including wins over both QPR and Stevenage.
But where they currently have mainly friends and family turning up at Bedfont Sports Club for games, it is a completely different scenario when they head to some of the division’s heavyweights.
McCaffrey readily admits that closing the gap in that regard will take a great deal longer.
She said: “When we played at Loftus Road against QPR, they can send an email to the 25,000 people already in their database. We don’t have that.
“I think it’s harder to do that than it is to beat QPR.
“By the way, QPR are an incredible team. We could very much have had a different result on the day. What I mean by that is that I’m confident in our ability to go toe-to-toe with them, regardless of where the result sits.
“But we don’t have 25,000 people at the end of an email that we can tell to come along.”
Even if there is a disparity in terms of infrastructure, McCaffrey is confident that Actonians have what it takes to be in the promotion mix come the end of the season, and it proved so as they beat their West London rivals 5-3 in the FA Women's National League Cup on Sunday.
Bringing approximately a third of the first team over from Leyton Orient, where she and her family had previously invested at Tier 7, Actonians have added the forward power that was lacking, with McCaffrey herself currently part of a dangerous attacking front three.
It is a remarkable renaissance for a player who represented the USA a decade ago but had fallen out of love with football and hung up her boots to focus on her business career.
That all changed when she moved to London, even if her business interests take priority, with padel club Racketeer – who are based in Acton and sponsor Actonians – taking up 95 per cent of her time.
It is the remaining 5 per cent that has allowed her to rediscover her love of the round ball.
She said: “Playing soccer is the reason I started.
“From ages 10 to 14, I would say I played for enjoyment. Then, from 14 to 26, football really became a job.
“But now, turning 34, I’m really playing for no other reason than I want to have fun. I want to stay in shape. It keeps my mental and physical health in check when I’m trying to run a really intense day job.
“I never thought I’d get the chance – and no professional player typically gets the chance – to go back seven or eight years later and just play for the love of the game. So I’m really grateful for that.
“While I am on the field, I’m nowhere close to the player I used to be, but I try to use some of the experience I’ve learned around team culture and relate that to the girls.”
The fact that a former USWNT player is turning out in the FA WNL is a turn-up in itself but while McCaffrey has the pedigree, this will be a single-season contribution on the playing side if all goes to plan.
That is because she does not feel she can commit to anything beyond her current availability as a player, and if the team does get promotion, McCaffrey knows that Tier 3 football requires more time than she can offer.
She said: “We hope the team gets to WSL 2.
“As a player, tier four is the highest I’ll go, for a bunch of reasons. But what I hope to do, if the team gets promoted – which I think we’re on a good pace to do – is build a squad that’s ready to win tier three. That will involve some of the players here now, but also some new players.
“WSL 2 has always been the goal. We make no bones about that. We want to get to WSL 2 within three or four years.
“My off-field career is my priority, and Racketeer is my priority. Once we go up to tier three, there’s not a way to balance the two.
“I might go and play in tier five or something for fun, but still serve as a board member at Actonians in some way.”
For now, McCaffrey is happy in her self-described role of ‘backup centre-forward, player welfare officer and board adviser’.
Even if she knows that she will eventually have to give up the first of those responsibilities, McCaffrey has the business acumen to be in it for the long haul in the other two.
And based on the early returns, there is every reason to believe that she and Actonians are the sort of start-up that can mix it with the big dogs.
Photos courtesy of Actonians Women