women's football Women's football most often refers to:
* Women's association football
Women's football may also refer to:
* Women's gridiron football
* Women's Australian rules football
* Ladies' Gaelic football
* Women's rugby league
* Women's rugby union
...
team based in
Kilmarnock
Kilmarnock ( ; ; , ), meaning "the church of Mernóc", is a town and former burgh in East Ayrshire situated in southwest Scotland. The town has served as the administrative centre of East Ayrshire Council since 1996 and is the region's main ...
,
East Ayrshire
East Ayrshire (; ) is one of 32 unitary council areas of Scotland. It shares borders with Dumfries and Galloway, East Renfrewshire, North Ayrshire, South Ayrshire and South Lanarkshire. The headquarters of the council are located on London Roa ...
that plays in the SWPL 2. Founded as Stewarton Thistle, the club is the oldest women's football team in Scotland and celebrated its 50th anniversary in July 2011.
History
Stewarton Thistle
Local historian Alastair Barclay wrote in 1973 that a girls' soccer team was founded in
Stewarton
Stewarton (, ) is a town in East Ayrshire, Scotland. ...
12 years previously "more or less for laughs" but had quickly eclipsed the modest achievements of the town's male teams.
Sue Lopez
Susan Melody Lopez (born 1 September 1945) is an English former footballer who played as a left winger. She spent her entire club career with Southampton, except for a season in Italy's Serie A with Roma CF in 1971. A leading advocate of the ...
recorded in her ''Women on the Ball'' book (1997) that the club was formed in 1961 at the
Lord Provost
A lord provost () is the convenor of the local authority, the civic head and the lord-lieutenant of one of the principal cities of Scotland. The office is similar to that of a lord mayor. Only the cities of Aberdeen, Dundee, Edinburgh, Stirlin ...
's request, to raise money for the
Freedom from Hunger
Freedom from Hunger (established in 1946, and now part of the Grameen Foundation
Grameen Foundation, founded as Grameen Foundation USA, also known as "GFUSA", is a global 501(c)(3) non-profit organization based in Washington, DC, that uses di ...
campaign. The club enjoyed local success and, with star player
Rose Reilly
Rose Peralta (, born 2 January 1955), known as Rose Reilly, is a former footballer who played as a striker. She represented both Scotland and Italy in international football.
Club career
Rose was born in Kilmarnock and was brought up in St ...
, reached the final of the first ever
Women's FA Cup
The Women's FA Challenge Cup is the top annual cup tournament for women's clubs in English football. Founded in 1970, it has been named the WFA Cup, FA Women's Cup, and now Women's FA Cup (currently known as the Adobe Women's FA Cup for sponso ...
in
1971 *
The year 1971 had three partial solar eclipses (Solar eclipse of February 25, 1971, February 25, Solar eclipse of July 22, 1971, July 22 and Solar eclipse of August 20, 1971, August 20) and two total lunar eclipses (February 1971 lunar eclip ...
. Played under the auspices of the English
Women's Football Association
The Women's Football Association (WFA) was the governing body of women's football in England. It was formed in 1969 and was disbanded in 1993, as responsibility for overseeing all aspects of the game of women's football in England passed to t ...
, the competition admitted Scottish and Welsh teams in its early years. Stewarton Thistle lost 4–1 to Lopez's Southampton at
Crystal Palace National Sports Centre
The National Sports Centre at Crystal Palace, London, Crystal Palace in south London, England is a large sports centre and outdoor Sport of athletics, athletics stadium. It was opened in 1964 in Crystal Palace Park, close to the site of the for ...
. A few months later, however, Thistle did manage to defeat Southampton in the final of the Deal International Tournament, which featured teams from across Europe. In the same year, Stewarton Thistle won the inaugural edition of the
Scottish Women's Cup
The Women's Scottish Cup is the national knockout cup competition for women's football in Scotland.
First held in 1970–71 and known as the Scottish Women's FA Cup, the competition was owned and managed by Scottish Women's Football (SWF), an ...
, winning 4-2 over Aberdeen Prima Donnas in the final.
In
1972
Within the context of Coordinated Universal Time (UTC) it was the longest year ever, as two leap seconds were added during this 366-day year, an event which has not since been repeated. (If its start and end are defined using Solar time, ...
they reached the Women's FA Cup final again, playing under the name of Lee's Ladies due to a naming–rights sponsorship deal. Southampton beat them again, 3–2 at Eton Park in
Burton upon Trent
Burton upon Trent, also known as Burton-on-Trent or simply Burton, is a market town in the borough of East Staffordshire in the county of Staffordshire, England, close to the border with Derbyshire. At the 2021 United Kingdom census, 2021 censu ...
.
Kilmarnock
In 1999 the club became known as FC Kilmarnock Ladies. The early part of the 2000s saw manager Jim Chapman assemble a strong squad with several
Scotland women's national football team
The Scotland women's national football team represents Scotland in international women's football competitions. Since 1998, the team has been governed by the Scottish Football Association (SFA). Scotland qualified for the FIFA Women's World Cup ...
players. The club won the league championship twice and was Scotland's representative in the
UEFA Women's Cup
The UEFA Women's Champions League, previously called the UEFA Women's Cup (2001–2009), is a European women's association football competition. It involves the top club teams from countries affiliated with the European governing body UEFA.
T ...
in 2002–03 and 2003–04.
Later in the decade Kilmarnock were much less successful, with a young and inexperienced side who often suffered heavy defeats. May 2010 saw a 29–0 loss at champions Glasgow City. In 2011 they finished last in the Scottish Women's Premier League but were spared relegation because of a shortage of teams. The team's only win of the season, 2–0 against Falkirk, was changed to a 3–0 defeat when it emerged one of Kilmarnock's players was six weeks short of her 15th birthday and ineligible for senior football. However, in the 2012 season, they finished bottom again and they were relegated.
In 2017, former Kilmarnock player
Shelley Kerr
Michelle Kerr (born 15 October 1969) is a Scottish football manager and former player who is currently the English Football Association's technical lead for women's national teams. As a player Kerr was a powerful centre back, who captained and ...
Motherwell
Motherwell (, ) is a List of towns and cities in Scotland by population, town and former burgh in North Lanarkshire, Scotland, United Kingdom, south east of Glasgow. It has a population of around 32,120. Shires of Scotland, Historically in the p ...
2-1. After the match Kilmarnock complained that Motherwell had not followed correct SWF procedures. Kilmarnock were subsequently rewarded with a 3-0 win over Motherwell. The result put them top of the SWPL2.
In January 2020, FC Kilmarnock Ladies was brought in house and under full control by
Kilmarnock Football Club
Kilmarnock Football Club, commonly known as Killie, is a Scottish professional Association football, football team based in the town of Kilmarnock, East Ayrshire that currently plays in the . The club has achieved several honours since its form ...
and was re-branded as Kilmarnock FC Women with former
Rangers
A ranger is typically someone in a law enforcement or military/paramilitary role specializing in patrolling a given territory, called "ranging" or "scouting". The term most often refers to:
* Park ranger or forest ranger, a person charged with prot ...
coach Andy Gardner being appointed as the team's new head coach ahead of the 2020 season.
In July 2022, Kilmarnock Women's playing squad signed their first ever professional contracts in a landmark move for the club. Former head coach Jim Chapman also made a return for a second spell in charge ahead of the team's move into the newly formed
Scottish Women's Premier League
The Scottish Women's Premier League (SWPL) is the highest level of league competition in women's football in Scotland. Its two divisions are SWPL (previously styled as ''SWPL 1'') and SWPL 2. The league was formed when the Premier Division of th ...
Scottish League Championship
The Scottish League Championship is the domestic rugby union league system within Scotland. Operated by the Scottish Rugby Union, the championship was founded in 1973 as the first formalised national league system within any home nations country. ...
Scottish Women's Premier League 2
Scottish usually refers to something of, from, or related to Scotland, including:
*Scottish Gaelic, a Celtic Goidelic language of the Indo-European language family native to Scotland
*Scottish English
*Scottish national identity, the Scottish ide ...
FA Cup
The Football Association Challenge Cup, more commonly known as the FA Cup, is an annual Single-elimination tournament, knockout association football, football competition in domestic Football in England, English football. First played during ...
Scottish Cup
The Scottish Football Association Challenge Cup,
** Winners: 1971, 2000–01, 2001–02
** Runners-up: 2002–03
* Scottish Premier League Cup
** Winners: 2002–03, 2003–04, 2005–06
*
Scottish League Cup
The Scottish League Cup, also known as the Premier Sports Cup for sponsorship reasons, is a football competition open to all Scottish Professional Football League (SPFL) clubs. First held in 1946–47, it is the oldest national League cup in ...
''(top League Cup competition prior to Premier League Cup)''
** Winners: 2001–02
Ladies
''Lady'' is a term for a woman who behaves in a polite way. Once used to describe only women of a high social class or status, the female counterpart of lord, now it may refer to any adult woman, as gentleman can be used for men.
"Lady" is al ...