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From day one, the core of our business model was non-negotiable: we secure match tickets directly through official club channels, and package our trips around them. No shady secondary ticketing sites, no inflated reseller prices. Pure, official, dignity-first fan experiences.


But there was a slight flaw in our master plan. To know if Football TravelHER even had a chance of taking off, we needed to know if the clubs would actually entertain meeting or talking to us. And while Heather and I have followed women’s football for almost three decades, we had exactly zero industry contacts. We were completely on the outside looking in.


So, Corinne took the lead on outreach, and what would become a grueling 4 to 5-month marathon began.


Phase 1: The Spreadsheet and the Ultimate Timing Fail


Naturally, our first instinct was to build a spreadsheet...
We systematically visited the website of every major club. We harvested generic info@ emails, media contacts, and support forms. By the time we had a massive list, we were ready to launch our pitch. We proudly sent out our "Partnership Proposals."
The date? December 23rd.


Looking back now, we can only laugh at our own naivety. Who on earth is sitting at their desk two days before Christmas, actively picking up and responding to complex commercial proposals from an unknown start-up women's football travel company?
The answer was a resounding zero.


New Year’s Day passed. Mid-January arrived. The inbox remained a ghost town. No pings. No "thanks, but no thanks." Just deafening silence. The panic started to set in. Oh no. Maybe this was a terrible idea. Is the business doomed before we’ve even started?


Learning Curves and Lost in Translation


We quickly realised two things. First, nobody looks at generic info@ email inboxes. Second, words matter.


We had originally titled our document a "Partnership Proposal." But in the high-stakes world of modern football, the word "Partnership" means you are looking to sponsor the club for a cool £1 million a year and get your logo on the stadium LEDs. That was a major learning curve! We quickly renamed it a "Ticket Arrangement Proposal" so clubs knew exactly what we wanted: to buy tickets off them to help fill their stadiums.


But how were we going to get this new proposal in front of the right eyeballs?

We needed a way to network quickly, easily, and directly. The answer was staring us right in the face. Well, technically, it was glowing in our faces from a laptop screen at 11:00 PM: LinkedIn.

Enter LinkedIn: Goodbye Weekends, Hello Corporate Stalking

For the next couple of months, our evenings and weekends belonged entirely to the corporate blue-and-white monolith. We hunted down commercial managers, ticketing directors, and fan engagement leads like digital bounty hunters. We connected with and messaged over 500 people at the biggest clubs in the game. We even paid for Premium just so we could slip into people's Inboxes uninvited. To be completely honest, it felt a little stalkerish. If LinkedIn had an option to view profiles through night-vision goggles, we probably would have used it.

And then... it happened.


A notification popped up. A response! Which led to an intro call. Which led to another response. The dominoes were finally starting to fall.


From Absolute Terror to Deep Confidence


Suddenly, two fans from York found themselves pitching to international football clubs, presenting data on how Football TravelHER could help them drive attendance, boost atmosphere, and capture entirely new fan demographics.


The level of nerves in those first two or three virtual meetings? Absolute, sickness-inducing terror. We were sweating!!, praying our internet wouldn't drop out, and trying to sound like seasoned tour operators.


But a funny thing happened. As each new club meeting came and went, our confidence grew. We stopped feeling like imposters and started feeling like the experts we are. We knew our market, we knew what fans wanted, and we knew how to deliver it. We felt more and more comfortable talking about the immense mutual benefits of working with us.


The Women’s Football Community Magic
To date, we can honestly say we have spoken to 10 to 15 major clubs, chatting with incredible people across different departments and organisational levels. And the response? Nothing but positive experiences, enthusiasm, and genuine well wishes for our venture.


Even the clubs and industry media that couldn't accommodate us right away were rooting for us. And honestly, that is exactly what we love about the women’s football community. There is a shared passion for growing the game that transcends rivalries and corporate stiffness!


We went from a ignored spreadsheet on Christmas Eve to securing official ticket paths with some of the biggest names in the sport. The pilot season is officially real, and the doors are wide open!