Fiona Dainty has joined St Mirren as the club's new Football Development and Community officer. The Scotland woman's under-17s coach takes over from Ross Paterson who moved to Ralston to become assistant head of youth to Allan McManus.
stmirren.com sat down with Fiona to discuss her role, the importance of community and some of her plans for the job as she gets settled in to life at St Mirren.
Q: Fiona, firstly welcome to St Mirren. How have your first couple of weeks been?
A: It's been good. It's a job I've always wanted to do and to come into a club like this has been exciting, it's been busy and I've spent my time getting out and about in the local community to see what we're doing.
Q: How long have you had an interest in football?
A: It started when I left school and then studied sports coaching. I followed that pathway and started some sessional coaching in at clubs and for various local authorities and always kind of forged a pathway in sport with a particularly strong interest in football. It's always been something I've wanted to do and finally got the opportunity to work full time here.
Q: Tell us a little bit about what the role actually involves?
A: There's different streams of it to be honest. It's not just going out to deliver football, but it's also looking at who the community that St Mirren engages with are. Our bread and butter sessions will be working with primary school and pre-primary school kids that don't get the opportunity to play in teams and giving them a chance to come and train whether we are in their community or whether it's in the dome. But looking at different projects, there's football memories which is working with older members of the community, we're looking at football fans in training that will start which is looking to improve the health of St Mirren supporters both male and female. We're running a winter leavers programme for school leavers to show them what happens in at a club and how that can influence a wee bit more positively in their chances of moving on to work or college when they finish. So it's varied, it's not just about football but all the other stuff that goes and we can draw people in because we are a big name in the community.
Q: How important is it for a club like St Mirren is firmly entrenched in the local community?
A: You can talk in cliches but the heart of everything needs to be your community and looking at the competition that's in this area as such in relation to other clubs that play in different leagues, other sports that are emerging, we want to still be an attractive proposition for this local community. There's so much more going on than just 3 o'clock on a Saturday afternoon and the first team running out.
Q: Gordon Scott said in his latest update on the website that one of the things you'll be tasked with will be looking at the women's side of the club. Can you tell us a little more about what that actually means?
A: It's a pathway that's not really been explored if I'm being totally honest. I have a keen interest in the women's game, that's where I've worked for a long time. I have done a lot of community stuff in local authorities but looking at how we can develop players and again it's a competitive market out there. There's three performance clubs within this area that will be difficult to break into but we'll start with community sessions in local schools and our facilities, working with the local clubs that are already out there because there's quite a lot of under 9's and under 11's activities. In my joint role with the SFA we'll see how we can support that, but also looking at additional sessions we can put on with players that are already playing and then look, as we establish a community programme in here, to build in your community teams and then hopefully you'll develop players.
Q: Women's football has grown in popularity in the last couple of years, there was the Scottish Cup final recently between Hibs and Glasgow City. Have you spoken to the club about there being a St Mirren women's football team?
A: I think once you establish a programme your pathway would go that way. It's probably better to start at a younger age group and then over a period whether it's a 3 year plan or a 5 year plan then the aim would be to have a senior women's squad. It would then probably take another five years to challenge at Scottish Cup level if we are being realistic but it's about the team and the provisions you have in place. I know the club are looking to develop that side of things so if the backing is there and the support is there then there's nothing to say we won't have a successful women's team in the years to come. The framework is definitely there for us to go and look in the local community at sessions we can run.
Q: Is that something that excites you?
A: Yeah. My passion is women's football, I work with the U17s national squad, I do regional performance squads, so I definitely see a gap in the market there. This club should have a team across all pathways. We have the senior men's team, but looking at other classes that we have such as walking football, the additional support needs sessions, the women's side would be part of that pathway to complete that.
