Ground Capacity 18,128 2012 12th (relegated) Manager Stewart Hall Grounds Rugby Park, Rugby Road | Chairman David Howie Website Club home page Founded 1961 | |
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Full name Football Club Kilmarnock Ladies League Scottish Women's Premier League | ||
F c kilmarnock ladies
Football Club Kilmarnock Ladies is a women's football team based in Kilmarnock, Ayrshire that plays in the SWFL 1st Division West/South West. Founded as Stewarton Thistle, the club is the oldest women's football team in Scotland and celebrated its 50th anniversary in July 2011.
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Stewarton Thistle
Local historian Alastair Barclay wrote in 1973 that a girls' soccer team was founded in Stewarton 12 years previously "more or less for laughs" but had quickly eclipsed the modest achievements of the town's male teams.
Sue Lopez recorded in her Women on the Ball book (1997) that the club was formed in 1961 at the Lord Provost's request, to raise money for the Freedom from Hunger campaign. The club enjoyed local success and, with star player Rose Reilly, reached the final of the first ever Women's FA Cup in 1971. Played under the auspices of the English Women's Football Association, 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.
In 1972 they reached the 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.
Kilmarnock
In 1999 the club became known as Kilmarnock. The early part of the 2000s saw manager Jim Chapman assemble a strong squad with several Scotland women's national football team players. The club won the league championship twice and was Scotland's representative in the UEFA Women's Cup 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.
Former players
For details of former players, see Category:F.C. Kilmarnock Ladies players.