The Ladies League - Taking Football Forward
‘The Ladies League’ Sports and Dining in Darlinghurst provides a unique experience for football fans, a venue to congregate and enjoy all female professional leagues from Australia, Europe, USA, and beyond.
Having started as a blog and social media label to promote the women’s game in Australia, The Ladies League has become the launch pad for some of the nation’s brightest footballing minds.
Ultra Football is a proud partner of The Ladies League, having donated jerseys for staff and events, along with a designated section of the venue to commemorate the long-standing collaboration between the two businesses.
Along the historic Oxford Street of Sydney’s inner-city, lies a hotbed of inclusivity and expression, with women’s football having now firmly planted its flag on the strip.
Rose Valente is the brainchild of The Ladies League restaurant and bar, a venue where women’s football fans can preach the universal gospel of football to all that enter its doors.
The football community has helped Adelaide-born Valente continually fall back in love with the game over the years, and she hopes this venue will spark the start of someone else’s journey.
“My brother is five years older than me; he was how I first really fell in love with the game,” she tells us.
“My house was the ‘FIFA get together’ house, all the boys would be there every single weekend playing FIFA, watching SBS, watching the Premier League, watching everything. So being the younger sister, I would watch as well.”
As Miss Valente got older and her social circle grew, it became evident how this game that surrounded her life, was not relative amongst an AFL-dominated city like Adelaide.
However, a chance meeting in the years following school would set in motion what would become her life purpose.
“My friend from Uni, she was obsessed with Adelaide United men’s and would go to every single game. She won't admit it now, but she was a full-on fan girl.”
“I started from just one game, which then became every game, Then I started going earlier to watch the women play, which made me really want to know more about the women's game.”
“Back then, it was difficult to know anything about the women’s team. I knew this team exists, but I couldn’t go anywhere to find out more. From there (The Ladies League) just kind of happened naturally.”
For six years, Valente, along with the help of fellow football fanatics Christina Trajceska and Michelle Morris built their own women’s football media community under the name ‘The Ladies League’.
Scouting the nation for passionate football writers and creators, the aim was to plug the knowledge gap between the men’s and women’s game and share the stories that the sport had overlooked.
“I'm more of a behind the scenes sort of person. I'd take videos of Chrissy and Michelle. They’d be the main people, and I'd be the one writing the tweets, organizing, managing it like a business even though it was just a fun little hobby.”
“We just kept growing, everyone wanted to support us because we never lost that authenticity. Fan first, not corporate.”
“We were doing cool things, interviewing players, advertising when games were on, had a podcast, wrote articles, just bringing culture to the game.”
The 2023 Women’s World Cup and the significant growth of the women’s football community was ultimately the catalyst to Valente’s most daring endeavour: opening her own licensed venue to broadcast games.
Despite lacking any experience in managing a bar or restaurant, the chance to take over a corner plot of Oxford Street, site of the world-famous Mardi-Gras parade, and a stones-throw from the Sydney Football Stadium, was too tempting to pass-up.
Since moving to Sydney, Miss Valente admits that Ultra Football had become an obsession for herself and her colleagues, with the layout and atmosphere of the store a key pillar as to how she wanted to model the venue.
The restaurant is lined from floor to ceiling with football kits, memorabilia and even Matildas’ branded drinks.
Hiring bar staff may have been different to hiring writers, yet Valente always maintained her ethos of authenticity.
“I am actively seeking women who are trying to break into male-dominated industries. The beers are sourced by female-owned brewers, our programs and charities that we support are for women’s issues.”
“I believe my people here are the best fit. Our bar manager is male, our head chef is male, but they are all-in on the idea.”
One of those male members of staff that Valente hired on day one was Arsenal and Mariners fan Rhys Halkidis.
Halkidis was surrounded by women’s football from a young age, regularly travelling with his family to watch A-League and Matildas matches.
Having been aware of The Ladies League before the Oxford Street venture, it was a no-brainer to work alongside those who he heavily respected within the game.
“The Ladies League was one of those pages that I had always tracked, I loved the local sports aspect of it, and then all of a sudden the job just popped up,” Rhys explains.
“To be honest, I was ready to move on from hospitality. I was in the process of looking for other jobs, then this came, and I thought it sounded perfect, I'd love to be part of this.”
“It shocks me how big it has gotten, we had our first trivia night, didn’t advertise it, yet we were full, I have never seen that.”
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