Bristol City W.F.C.

Bristol City

Full name	Bristol City Women's Football Club
Nickname(s)	The Vixens
Founded	1998 as Bristol Rovers W.F.C.
Ground	Stoke Gifford Stadium South Gloucestershire and Stroud College, Filton
Ground Capacity	1,500
Chairman	Simon Arnold
Manager	Willie Kirk
League	FA WSL 1
2016	2nd in WSL 2 (promoted)
Website	Club home page
Home colours Away colours

Bristol City Women's Football Club is a women's association football team from the city of Bristol, who compete in FA WSL 2, the second division of women's football in England. Formed in 1998 as Bristol Rovers W.F.C., they were renamed Bristol Academy W.F.C. in 2005 following increased involvement of the Bristol Academy of Sport, based at Filton College (now part of South Gloucestershire and Stroud College). A second change of name, this time to Bristol City was approved by the FA Women's Football Board in time for the 2016 WSL season. They play their home games at the purpose built Stoke Gifford Stadium.

History

The team was founded in 1998, following a merger between the Bristol Rovers girls' teams and Welsh side Cable-Tel L.F.C.. This merger came about as Bristol Rovers only had girls teams up to the under 16 age group level, so when girls reached the age of 16 they were forced to leave the club. The merger with Cable-Tel meant that Bristol Rovers had a senior squad, and more importantly it gave them a place in the South West Combination league, only two levels below the top flight of women's football in England. This new merged team took the name Bristol Rovers W.F.C. and played their home games at The Beeches, the training ground and administrative offices of Bristol Rovers, located in Brislington.

Bristol Academy playing Birmingham City in 2006

The team, like their male counterparts at Bristol Rovers, were somewhat nomadic in their early days, having played home matches at The Beeches, Lodge Road (home of Yate Town), Cossham Street (Mangotsfield United), the Memorial Stadium (Bristol Rovers), Fry's Sports Ground in Keynsham, The Lawns (Cribbs F.C.),^[1] The Hand Stadium (Clevedon Town), Lakeview (Bishop Sutton),^[2] and Oaklands Park (Almondsbury Town). They finally acquired their own purpose-built home ground, Stoke Gifford Stadium, on land owned by Filton College (now South Gloucestershire and Stroud College) in time for the inaugural FA WSL season in 2011. Since then, all of their home games have been played there, with the exception of UEFA Women's Champions League matches, which have been held at Ashton Gate.^[3]

The name of the club was changed to Bristol Academy at the beginning of the 2005–06 season to reflect the increased involvement of the Bristol Academy of Sport with the club. The team continued to play in the blue and white quarters of Bristol Rovers however, and also retained the nickname The Gas Girls, an acknowledgement of Rovers' unofficial nickname of The Gas.^[4] Bristol Rovers, now in the bottom division of The Football League, found themselves unable to continue financing a women's team in 2006 and withdrew funding. Bristol Academy of Sport agreed to bankroll the team for 12 months, but there were serious doubts during the 2006–07 season that the club would survive beyond the summer.^[5]

Logo of Bristol Academy Women's Football Club

In summer 2009 the club had a funding crisis. Manager Gary Green was sacked, Corinne Yorston left for Arsenal, Stef Curtis for Chelsea and Gwennan Harries for Everton.^[6] Without their star players the team finished bottom of the table in 2009–10.

The Club were one of eight founding teams in the FA WSL in April 2011, when they moved into a brand new stadium at South Gloucestershire and Stroud College's Stoke Gifford Campus.^[7]

In 2013 the club signed a sponsorship agreement with Bristol City FC and changed their home kit from blue to red,^[8] and three years later the club was renamed Bristol City Women's Football Club.^[9]

League history

Bristol Academy at home to Arsenal Ladies, May 2013

It took just two seasons to gain promotion to the FA Women's Premier League Southern Division, when the club won the South West Combination in the 2000–01 season under the management of Dave Bell. After this Dave Bell left the club to join the academy set-up at Manchester United, and was replaced by Tony Ricketts.

Tony Ricketts also achieved league success, with the team winning the Southern Division in the 2002–03 season and earning promotion to the FA Women's Premier League National Division. The first season in the top-flight was a struggle, with the team narrowly avoiding relegation. However Bristol Academy established themselves in the National Division with two fifth-place finishes over the next two seasons.

In the 2006–2007 season, they began as top contenders for the title, having reached the top spot in November (though defending champions Arsenal L.F.C. kept postponing matches due to European Cup, League Cup and FA Cup commitments, which might have been a factor in Bristol's recent success). As Arsenal restarted its League matches, however, Bristol Academy slipped, hovering between the 4th and 8th places.

Bristol Academy has established itself as one of the few top contenders, alongside Leeds United, which has never won the League before.

Cup history

Bristol City away against London Bees, April 2016

In the short history of the team they have reached the semi-final of the FA Women's Cup five times. The first was in the 2000–01 season when they were still playing their league football in the South West Combination, playing in front of a club record crowd of over 3000 at the Memorial Stadium against Arsenal L.F.C.. The match ended in a 3–0 defeat. Three more unsuccessful semi-final matches were to follow in this competition, against Fulham L.F.C. in 2002–03, Charlton Athletic L.F.C. in the 2004–05 season and Arsenal again providing the opposition in 2006–07.

In 2011 the club reached the final of the FA Cup after a 3–0 semi-final win over Liverpool. Bristol were beaten 2–0 by Arsenal in the final, before 13,885 fans at the Ricoh Arena in Coventry.^[10] In 2013 the club reached its second FA Cup final after a 2–0 semi-final win over Lincoln Ladies. Bristol were again beaten by Arsenal 3–0 in the final at the Keepmoat Stadium in Doncaster.

The team dominated the Gloucestershire FA Women's Challenge Cup in their early days, winning the trophy eight times in their first nine seasons. The only failure to win the competition came in the 2003–04 season when they were beaten in the final by the original Bristol City W.F.C., their first ever defeat to their cross-city rivals. Following the 2006–07 win the first team stopped competing in the tournament, although their junior teams continued taking part.

UEFA competitions

Because of the new WSL, England's UEFA Women's Champions League places were allocated to the FA Cup finalists as a one time exception. Thus Bristol won a place in the 2011–12 UEFA Women's Champions League round of 32.^[11] They started in the round of 32 and were drawn against Russian side Energiya Voronezh and drew their home game 1–1 but lost the return leg in Russia 2–4 and didn't advance.^[12][13]

Season by season

^A League cup column shows results in the FA Women's Premier League Cup (2001–2010) and the FA WSL Cup (2011–present)

Stadium

Coordinates: 51°30′45″N 2°33′25″W / 51.512622°N 2.55688°W / 51.512622; -2.55688

Stoke Gifford Stadium

Stoke Gifford Stadium shown within Bristol and the UK

After having played at a number of different grounds, the team finally got their own home in 2011 when they moved into the newly built Stoke Gifford Stadium. It was the first stadium in the UK to be developed specifically for a women's football team,^[15][16] and is built on South Gloucestershire and Stroud College's WISE campus.

Team honours

• FA Women's Premier League Southern Division: 1

2002–03

• South West Combination Women's Football League: 1

2000–01

• Gloucestershire FA Women's Challenge Cup: 8

1998–99, 1999–2000, 2000–01, 2001–02, 2002–03, 2004–05, 2005–06, 2006–07

Current squad

The is a list of the players who have been confirmed as having signed to play for Bristol City ahead of the 2016 FA WSL 2 season.

As of 19 February 2016^[17]

Where a player has not declared an international allegiance, nation is determined by place of birth.

No.	Position	Player	Nation
1	Goalkeeper	Reid, HannahHannah Reid	Scotland
2	Defender	Dykes, LorenLoren Dykes	Wales
3	Midfielder	Alexander, MeganMegan Alexander	England
4	Defender	Matthews, JasmineJasmine Matthews	England
5	Defender	McCatty, GraceGrace McCatty	England
6	Defender	Yorston, CorinneCorinne Yorston	England
7	Midfielder	Arthur, ChloeChloe Arthur	Scotland
8	Midfielder	Ladd, HayleyHayley Ladd	Wales
9	Forward	Farrow, MillieMillie Farrow (on loan from Chelsea)	England
12	Defender	Allen, FloFlo Allen	England
13	Goalkeeper	Leach, CaitlinCaitlin Leach	England
14	Midfielder	Brett, JodieJodie Brett (on loan from Chelsea)	England
15	Forward	Sawyer, PaigePaige Sawyer	England
17	Midfielder	Pinto, TatianaTatiana Pinto	Portugal
18	Defender	Fantom-Brown, FrankieFrankie Fantom-Brown	Scotland
19	Defender	Wilson, EllieEllie Wilson	England
23	Midfielder	Evans, GeorgiaGeorgia Evans	Wales
26	Midfielder	Wilson, PoppyPoppy Wilson	England
—	Forward	Ayane, RosellaRosella Ayane (on loan from Chelsea)	England
—	Forward	Fergusson, OliviaOlivia Fergusson	England

Former internationals

Name Nation Bleazard, HelenHelen Bleazard  Wales Boho, JadeJade Boho  Equatorial Guinea Brown, FrankieFrankie Brown  Scotland Brummel, MarijeMarije Brummel  Netherlands Chamberlain, SiobhanSiobhan Chamberlain  England Cleverly, RhianRhian Cleverly  Wales Cottier, AlexAlex Cottier  England Curson, EllieEllie Curson  Wales Curtis, StefStef Curtis  Republic of Ireland del Rio, LauraLaura del Rio  Spain Dykes, LorenLoren Dykes  Wales Evans, AliceAlice Evans  Wales Evans, GeorgiaGeorgia Evans  Wales Fishlock, JessJess Fishlock  Wales Green, MichelleMichelle Green  Wales Harding, NatashaNatasha Harding  Wales Harries, GwennanGwennan Harries  Wales Hoogendijk, AnoukAnouk Hoogendijk  Netherlands Hurst, AlexandraAlexandra Hurst  Northern Ireland Ingle, SophieSophie Ingle  Wales James, AngharadAngharad James  Wales Jones, EmmaEmma Jones  Wales

Name Nation Kierans, GrainneGrainne Kierans  Republic of Ireland Kiesel, AnnemiekeAnnemieke Kiesel  Netherlands Ladd, HayleyHayley Ladd  Wales Lawrence, NadiaNadia Lawrence  Wales Lorton-Radburn, JustineJustine Lorton-Radburn  England Manley, KerrieKerrie Manley  Wales Murray, ChristieChristie Murray  Scotland Pablos, NataliaNatalia Pablos  Spain Passariello, SharlaSharla Passariello  Wales Pinto, TatianaTatiana Pinto  Portugal Plewa, EmmaEmma Plewa  Wales Popadinova, EvdokiyaEvdokiya Popadinova  Bulgaria Quayle, SamanthaSamantha Quayle  Wales Scanlan, ClaireClaire Scanlan  Republic of Ireland Sherwood, KatieKatie Sherwood  Wales Townsend, LaurenLauren Townsend  Wales Vega, CristinaCristina Vega  Spain Weir, CarolineCaroline Weir  Scotland Wells, LaurenLauren Wells  Wales Yorston, CorinneCorinne Yorston  England Zijlstra, HiekeHieke Zijlstra  Netherlands

For further details of former players, see Category:Bristol Academy W.F.C. players.

See also

• List of women's association football clubs in England and Wales
• Women's football in England
• List of women's association football clubs

References

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Bristol Academy WFC.

• Bristol Academy club website
• Bristol Academy page on the South Gloucestershire and Stroud College/Bristol Academy of Sport website