History
Swindon Town Ladies were formed in 1993 and joined the Southern Region Women's Football League.
Playing in Division Four they played their first competitive fixture
on Sunday 5 September away to Southampton Reserves, winning by four
goals to one. The first home league match was played on Sunday 10
October against Reading Royals. The game, played at Wootton Bassett, was
"Kicked - Off" by Doreen Dart the Mayor of Thamesdown (as it was then)
with the Town winning by eight goals to two. Swindon finished their
first season as Division Four League Champions and also won the Southern
Region 5-a-Side Tournament.
In the next two seasons Swindon Town Ladies were Champions of Divisions Three and Two respectively.
In their first season in Division One they finished in mid-table and
supplied eight players to the newly formed Wiltshire County Ladies team
that won the South West Counties Championship.
In the 1996 / 1997 Season the Town were Runner's up in the Southern
Region Division One and were beaten finalists in the League Cup. Again
Town players formed the nucleolus of the County Women's team that
finished second in the Counties Championship.
The 1998 / 1999 Season saw Swindon Town Ladies elected to be founder
members of the F.A. South West Combination League. They finished the
inaugural season in Third place and won the "Ambassador" South West
Combination League Cup, beating Cheltenham Four - Nil in the Final. The
Town also set a record when the starting line - up of the County Women's
Team were all from the same club.
In the 1999 / 2000 Season the Town again finished third in the
League and retained the League Cup by beating League Champions Newport
One - Nil in the Final.
The 2000 / 2001 Season saw the Town finish third once again and win
the League Cup for the third consecutive season, beating Cheltenham in
the Final by Four goals to two.
A Reserve team was also formed and they played in the Southern Region
League. They finished as Champions but were denied promotion to the
Southern Premier League due to geographical restructuring of the league
set-up went on to play in the Wiltshire County League.
In 2001 / 2002 the Town finished fourth in the league, unfortunately
they were unable to maintain their hold on the League Cup losing to
Cardiff City in the semi - final.
At the start of the 2002 / 2003 Season Swindon Town Ladies merged
with Coleview Girls and ran teams at Under 10, 12 and 14 level as well
as the two senior teams.
The Senior First Team finished fifth in the League, but the League
Cup Competition was not played due to fixture congestion caused by
adverse weather conditions.
The Senior Reserve Team progressed to the South West Regional League
in 2006 following a further restructuring of the Women's Pyramid of
football. With the First Team continuing its membership of the South
West Combination League.
In the 2006 - 2007 season saw the club moved towards single aged
banding and ran teams from under 8; 9; 10; 11; 12; 13; 14; and since the
age requirement to play Senior football has been raised from 14 to 16,
under 15 and 16 teams were also added, giving the total amount of
players within the club in excess of 140 players.
Also in 2006 Swindon Town Ladies were awarded the F.A. Charter
Standard. This was in recognition of meeting the Football Association's
requirements for Qualified Coaches, First Aiders etc. and everyone
involved in running the club being C.R.B. checked. The club still holds
this Charter Standard.
During the 2006 - 2007 season Town were top of the league at the
turn of the year half way through the season, but couldn't sustain a
title challenge and finally finished fourth, also losing out to on
penalties to Chesham Utd in the Semi final of the league cup.
Inconsistency during the 2007 - 2008 season saw a seventh place
finish in the league, although the highlight to the season was winning
through to the fourth round of the Woman's FA cup and drawn at home to
the competitions most successful team Doncaster Belles, were the game
was played at the County Ground.
The reserves did find success this season winning the South West
Regional League, Division 1 North, but due to the structure of the FA
Woman's league they are unable to be promoted to a higher division.
With many changes to the playing members of the first team, the 2008
- 2009 season became a very difficult one, a young team eventually
finished 8th in the league, with no league cup due to fixture
congestion.
Swindon Town Ladies FC are the only surviving team in the South West Combination League since its start in 1998. |