Rebecca "Becky" Bisland (née Stokes; born 20 June 1982) is an Irish footballer who plays for

Partick Thistle Partick Thistle Football Club are a professional association football, football club from Glasgow, Scotland and currently plays in the . Despite their name, the club are based at Firhill Stadium in the Maryhill area of the city, and have not ...

in the

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 ...

(SWPL). She has previously played in the SWPL for

Celtic Celtic, Celtics or Keltic may refer to: Language and ethnicity *pertaining to Celts, a collection of Indo-European peoples in Europe and Anatolia **Celts (modern) *Celtic languages **Proto-Celtic language *Celtic music *Celtic nations Sports Foot ...

Club career

Bisland began her career at

Wimbledon Wimbledon most often refers to: * Wimbledon, London, a district of southwest London * Wimbledon Championships, the oldest tennis tournament in the world and one of the four Grand Slam championships Wimbledon may also refer to: Places London * W ...

before moving on to

Tranmere Rovers Tranmere Rovers Football Club are a professional association football club based in Birkenhead, Merseyside, England. The team competes in , the fourth level of the English football league system. Founded in 1884 as Belmont Football Club, they ...

. In October 2002, Bisland scored for Northern Division club

Manchester City Manchester City Football Club is a professional association football, football club based in Manchester, England, that competes in the Premier League, the English football league system, top flight of Football in England, English footbal ...

against

Doncaster Belles Doncaster Rovers Belles Ladies Football Club, previously Doncaster Belles, is an England, English women's association football, women's football club that currently plays in the , the fourth tier of women's football in England. The club's admi ...

in the second round of the

FA Women's Premier League Cup The FA Women's National League Cup is an annual England, English women's association football, football cup competition, founded in 1991 by the Women's Football Association, Women's Football Association (WFA). The 1991–92 WFA Women's National L ...

. After spells with leading London clubs

Fulham Fulham () is an area of the London Borough of Hammersmith and Fulham in West London, England, southwest of Charing Cross. It lies in a loop on the north bank of the River Thames, bordering Hammersmith, Kensington and Chelsea, London, Chelsea ...

and

Charlton Athletic Charlton Athletic Football Club is a professional association football club based in Charlton, south-east London, England. The team compete in the EFL Championship, the second level of the English football league system. Their home ground is ...

, Bisland moved to Scotland in summer 2005 and began playing for

F.C. Kilmarnock Ladies Kilmarnock Football Club Women is a women's football team based in Kilmarnock, East Ayrshire 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 ...

, where she played in their winning

Scottish Women's Premier League Cup The Scottish Women's Premier League Cup, currently known as the Sky Sports Cup due to sponsorship and commonly shortened to the SWPL Cup, is a league cup competition in women's football in Scotland. The cup is open only to the teams in the Scottis ...

side. When

formed a women's section in 2007, Bisland joined the new club and was named

captain Captain is a title, an appellative for the commanding officer of a military unit; the supreme leader or highest rank officer of a navy ship, merchant ship, aeroplane, spacecraft, or other vessel; or the commander of a port, fire or police depa ...

in the first season. She narrowly missed out on lifting silverware in her debut campaign, as Celtic lost in extra–time to Hibernian in the final 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 ...

. In May 2010 Bisland set up Joanne Love's opening goal as Celtic defeated

Spartans Sparta was a prominent city-state in Laconia in ancient Greece. In antiquity, the city-state was known as Lacedaemon (), while the name Sparta referred to its main settlement in the valley of Evrotas river in Laconia, in southeastern P ...

4–1 to win the

. After the birth of her first daughter in 2011 Bisland moved to

Queen's Park F.C. Queen's Park Football Club is a Scottish professional football club based in Glasgow, which plays in the , the second tier of the Scottish football pyramid. Queen's Park is the oldest association football club in Scotland, having been founde ...

helping them to promotion in 2013. Bisland moved to

in 2016 after having her second daughter, and in 2018 she was voted the Partick Thistle Ladies MVP for the 2017/2018 season.

International career

Although born in England, Bisland was called up by the

Republic of Ireland Ireland ( ), also known as the Republic of Ireland (), is a country in Northwestern Europe, north-western Europe consisting of 26 of the 32 Counties of Ireland, counties of the island of Ireland, with a population of about 5.4 million. ...

in May 2006 for a

World Cup qualifier The FIFA World Cup qualification is a set of competitive matches that a national association football team plays in order to qualify for one of the available berths at the final tournament of the men's FIFA World Cup. Qualifying tournaments ar ...

against

Scotland Scotland is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It contains nearly one-third of the United Kingdom's land area, consisting of the northern part of the island of Great Britain and more than 790 adjac ...

Richmond Park Richmond Park, in the London Borough of Richmond upon Thames, is the largest of Royal Parks of London, London's Royal Parks and is of national and international importance for wildlife conservation. It was created by Charles I of England, Cha ...

. Manager

Noel King Noel King (born 13 September 1956) is a former professional footballer and manager. For 10 years from 2000 until 2010 he was manager of the Republic of Ireland women's national team. He was appointed interim men's national team senior manager ...

noted Bisland's pace and "good eye for goal." Bisland won a cap by replacing Stef Curtis for the last half-hour of a 2–1 friendly defeat to

Wales Wales ( ) is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is bordered by the Irish Sea to the north and west, England to the England–Wales border, east, the Bristol Channel to the south, and the Celtic ...

in April 2007.

Personal life

Bisland attended

Liverpool John Moores University Liverpool John Moores University (abbreviated LJMU) is a public university, public research university in the city of Liverpool, England. The university can trace its origins to the Liverpool Mechanics' School of Arts, established in 1823. This ...

and moved to Scotland in 2005 to work as an active schools co-ordinator. She later became a disability sport regional manager. Bisland has qualified as a teacher after studying at the

University of Strathclyde The University of Strathclyde () is a public research university located in Glasgow, Scotland. Founded in 1796 as the Andersonian Institute, it is Glasgow's second-oldest university, having received its royal charter in 1964 as the first techn ...

References

External links

{{DEFAULTSORT:Bisland, Rebecca 1982 births Living people Republic of Ireland women's association footballers English people of Irish descent Republic of Ireland women's international footballers FA Women's National League players Footballers from Epsom Charlton Athletic W.F.C. players Fulham F.C. Women players Celtic F.C. Women players Kilmarnock F.C. Women players Manchester City W.F.C. players Women's association football midfielders Women's association football forwards Scottish Women's Premier League players Alumni of Liverpool John Moores University Alumni of the University of Strathclyde Queen's Park Women players 21st-century Irish sportswomen