Billingham’s first senior women’s football team has marked its first competitive home fixture with a 4–0 Women’s FA Cup win, just four months after the side was created.
Wolviston FC Ladies beat Wigginton Grasshoppers at Metcalfe Park on Sunday 6 September, extending a remarkable start for a women’s section that did not exist at the beginning of May. The result followed a 3–2 preliminary-round win away to Whitehaven AFC on 23 August, which was Wolviston Ladies’ first competitive match.
From one new team to two
Wolviston FC announced plans for its first senior women’s side in May. The club says interest from players grew quickly enough for it to establish a second senior team, Wolviston FC United, before the competitive season began.
The Ladies side entered the Premier Division of the Durham County FA Women’s League structure, while United moved into Division One. On the same afternoon that the Ladies hosted their first home FA Cup tie, United played their first competitive fixture away to Darlington Railway Athletic and won 5–0.
For Wolviston, the expansion is about more than adding senior fixtures. The club already has girls playing within its junior setup and says the new senior sides are intended to create a visible route for younger players who want to continue playing as they get older.
A first FA Cup run
The Ladies’ first competitive game took them to Whitehaven in Cumbria for the Women’s FA Cup preliminary round. Wolviston fell behind before Lexi Simmonette scored the club’s first competitive women’s goal. Substitute Connie Robinson then scored twice as the visitors built a 3–1 lead.
In material supplied to The Tees, club secretary Helen Bigerstaff said injuries left Wolviston finishing the match with ten players after all available substitutions had been used. Whitehaven reduced the deficit, but Wolviston held on for a 3–2 win and a place in the next round.
That victory brought the competition to Metcalfe Park for the first time on 6 September. Wolviston’s own current match records now show a 4–0 win over Wigginton Grasshoppers, meaning the new side has won both of its first two competitive FA Cup fixtures.
Building a pathway in Billingham
Wolviston was founded in 1910, but senior women’s football is a new part of the club. Its women’s section has developed alongside existing girls’ football, with the club also planning further opportunities for younger girls and recreational adult players.
The aim, according to the club, is to create somewhere for girls to start, develop and eventually progress into senior football without having to leave the badge they already represent. Women are also represented in the running of the club, with three women serving on its ten-person committee when the club published its September update.
The early results are only the beginning of a full season, and the longer-term test will be whether the new section can sustain two senior teams and keep building the pathway beneath them. Four months in, however, Wolviston has already moved from having no senior women’s side to recording two FA Cup wins and two senior teams playing competitive football.