Bath City W.F.C.

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Bath City Women
Bath City SVG.svg
Full nameBath City Women's Football Club
Nickname(s)The Romans
Founded2022;1 year ago (2022)
Ground Twerton Park
Capacity8,840 (restricted to 3,528 for safety reasons) [1]
OwnerBath City Supporters' Society
Chairman Nick Blofeld
ManagerMatt Abreu
LeagueSomerset County Women's league
Website Club website

Bath City Women's Football Club is a football club based in Bath, Somerset, England. The club is affiliated to the Somerset FA and currently compete in the South West Regional Women's League Division One, the sixth tier of Women's English football. Though multiple Bath City women's teams have existed in the past, the current team was founded last year, in 2022. The team play their home games at Twerton Park. Like the men’s team, the women’s squad play in black and white shirts, and are nicknamed “The Romans” which stems from Bath's ancient Roman history.

Contents

History

Previous Teams

Bath City women's team in 1952 Bath City old women's team.jpg
Bath City women's team in 1952

In June, 1920, the first record of any women's team in Bath was formed as simply; "Bath Ladies Football Club". With The Bath Chronicle at the time stating: "Enthusiastic reception of the proposed club, many ladies have shown their wish to join." Application's for squad entry were received from places as far as Gloucester, Bristol and the Isle of Wight. It was suggested by Chairman Mr Hopkins that the colours ought to be the same as the men's; black and white jerseys, with black shorts, black stockings, white rings, and black woolly caps. [2] A year later In 1921, Bath City Ladies played at Old Trafford in front of 31,000 to raise money for unemployed ex-servicemen in Manchester. [3] The fixture raised £2,000 for the fund to help returning soldiers from the World War 1. On Saturday 28 April 1921, the womens team played Southampton Women's in front of 12,000 at Bristol. [4] However, in the same year, The Football Association banned women's football because the Association felt the physicality of the game was; “unsuitable for women”. [5] Women's football suffered for decades but it was reintroduced around the mid-century and has since progressed significantly. [6]

Current Team Launch (2022–present)

The current club were founded in June 2022. [7] On 29 August 2022, for the final game of pre-season preparation, The Bath City women’s team won 9–0 against Wells City ladies. [8] However the club started the league campaign poorly. On Sunday 2 September 2022, the team competed in their first ever competitive league match, in which they lost 4–0 to Penhill ladies away. [9] Albeit a poor start did not hinder the squad, a run of winning steaks, and good performances placed the club second in the Somerset County women’s league, as of March, 2023. [10] The team achieved promotion in its first ever season, finishing 2nd in the league on 31 points in 18 games, and will go on to play in the South West Regional Football League, the sixth tier of English Football. [11]

Stadium

Somerset UK location map.svg
Red pog.svg
Twerton Park
class=notpageimage|
Twerton Park shown within Somerset and the UK

The women’s team have stated playing at Twerton since their inception. The stadium has a physical capacity of 8,840 1,006 of which are seats. [12] It has been the home of Bath City F.C. since 1932. From 1986 to 1996 Bristol Rovers played at the ground following their departure from Eastville. [13] From 2020 the ground also became the home stadium for Bristol City Women. [14]

The stadium has four stands; the Bath End, the Grandstand, The Popular Side, and the Bristol End. Though the site opened in 1909, the stadium was not constructed until 1932, with The Grandstand being the first of the four stands to be constructed. The stadium is 2.5 km (1.6 miles) from the city centre. The two bars within the stadium are named after former players: Charlies' (Charlie Fleming), and Randall's (Paul Randall). Twerton Park has undergone several expansions throughout its history, though the decades in which it saw the most development were the 1930s, [15] 1960s and 1980s - including the addition of the family stand, West of The Grandstand. Future expansion is likely to involve the complete redevelopment of The Grandstand and the surrounding car park. [16]

Players

As of 3rd February 2023 [17]

Note: Flags indicate national team as defined under FIFA eligibility rules. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.

No.Pos.NationPlayer
1 GK Flag of England.svg  ENG Sophie Campbell(Vice-captain)
7 DF Flag of England.svg  ENG Tara Taylor(Captain)
3 DF Flag of England.svg  ENG Ceris Evans
4 DF Flag of England.svg  ENG Ali Diegutis
5 DF Flag of England.svg  ENG Harleigh Curtis
6 MF Flag of England.svg  ENG Amy Hucker
7 MF Flag of England.svg  ENG Liv Davis
No.Pos.NationPlayer
8 MF Flag of England.svg  ENG Karen Jones
8 FW Flag of England.svg  ENG Jade Whale
12 MF Flag of England.svg  ENG Chelsea Giles
11 FW Flag of England.svg  ENG Ashanti Golding
14 FW Flag of England.svg  ENG Tanea Wright
13 MF Flag of England.svg  ENG Same Fensome
9 FW Flag of England.svg  ENG Bronnie Cranfield
15 MF Flag of England.svg  ENG Tazmin Dunn

Club officials

Coaching and medical staff

As of 22 June 2022 [18]
PositionName
Manager Flag of England.svg Matt Abreu [19]
Assistant Manager Flag of England.svg Adam Casserly [20]
Sports Scientist Flag of England.svg Aaron Hopkinson [21]
Goalkeeping Coach Flag of England.svg Steve Book [22]
Sports Therapist Flag of England.svg Sarah Carr [23]
Sports Masseur Flag of England.svg Omar El Bezra [24]
Scout Flag of England.svg Mike Ford [25]
Kit Manager Flag of England.svg Simon Jenkins [26]

Board of directors

As of 17 November 2022 [18]
PositionName
Chairman Flag of England.svg Nick Blofeld [27]
Football Chairman Flag of England.svg Paul Williams [28]
Community Director Flag of England.svg Joy Saunders [29]
Sales & Marketing Director Flag of England.svg Jon Bickley [30]
Commercial Director Flag of England.svg Matthew Falk [31]
Director Flag of England.svg Jane Jones [32]
Director Flag of England.svg Andrew Pierce [33]
Director Flag of England.svg John Reynolds [34]

See also

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References

  1. ↑ "Everything you need to know: Twerton Park". Bristol City F.C. 5 August 2020. Retrieved 14 November 2022.
  2. ↑ "Bath City lady footballers: Enthusiastic reception of the proposed club" . British Newspaper Archive . Bath Chronicle. 26 June 1920. p. 26. Retrieved 10 March 2023.
  3. ↑ "Bath Ladies football team" . British Newspaper Archive . Bath Chronicle. 15 January 1951. p. 2. Retrieved 10 March 2023.
  4. ↑ "Bath Ladies beat Southampton at Bristol" . British Newspaper Archive . Bath Chronicle. 23 April 1921. Retrieved 10 March 2023.
  5. ↑ "How the FA banned women's football in 1921 and tried to justify it | Women's football | The Guardian". amp.theguardian.com. Retrieved 9 March 2023.
  6. ↑ "1921: the year when football banned women". HistoryExtra. Retrieved 9 March 2023.
  7. ↑ Frith, Wilf (8 June 2022). "Bath City to start women's team". SheKicks. Retrieved 27 February 2023.
  8. ↑ bcfc (29 August 2022). "BCFC Women hit 9 in final pre-season outing". Bath City FC. Retrieved 8 March 2023.
  9. ↑ "2022-23 Women's Fixtures & Results". Bath City FC. Retrieved 9 March 2023.
  10. ↑ "Somerset County Women's League". fulltime.thefa.com. Retrieved 9 March 2023.
  11. ↑ Howe, Simon (1 June 2023). "Bath City Women promoted!". Bath City FC. Retrieved 2 June 2023.
  12. ↑ "Everything you need to know: Twerton Park". Bristol City. 5 August 2020. Retrieved 9 March 2023.
  13. ↑ "Bristol Rovers Grounds Guide - The Memorial Stadium". Two Blue Quarters. Retrieved 9 March 2023.
  14. ↑ "New home for City Women". Bristol City. 5 August 2020. Retrieved 9 March 2023.
  15. ↑ "New Stand at Twerton" . British Newspaper Archive . Bath Chronicle. 24 August 1935. p. 19. Retrieved 13 January 2023.
  16. ↑ Mills, Richard (4 June 2019). "Bath City FC and Twerton High Street development plans revealed". SomersetLive. Retrieved 8 March 2023.
  17. ↑ "Bath City women's squad". Bath City.
  18. 1 2 "Information". Bath City FC. Archived from the original on 15 October 2020. Retrieved 21 December 2020.
  19. ↑ "Matt Abreu". Bath City FC. Retrieved 11 March 2023.
  20. ↑ "Adam Casserly". Bath City FC. Retrieved 11 March 2023.
  21. ↑ "Aaron Hopkinson". Bath City FC. Retrieved 3 November 2022.
  22. ↑ "Staff Annoucement [sic]". Bath City FC. 11 August 2021. Retrieved 3 November 2022.
  23. ↑ "Sarah Carr". Bath City FC. Retrieved 3 November 2022.
  24. ↑ "Oma El Bezra, Bath City". PressReader. Retrieved 4 November 2022.
  25. ↑ Careers, Sport. "Elite Candidate – Mike Ford". sportcareersagency.com. Archived from the original on 3 November 2022. Retrieved 3 November 2022.
  26. ↑ "Simon Jenkins". Bath City FC. Retrieved 3 November 2022.
  27. ↑ "Chairman Nick Blofeld sends message of thanks to Crowdfunder supporters". Bath City FC. 29 June 2020. Retrieved 3 November 2022.
  28. ↑ "Football Chairman Paul Williams discusses Twerton Park redevelopment". Bath City FC. 22 February 2019. Retrieved 3 November 2022.
  29. ↑ "'My City, My Shirt' – Bath City FC's portraits project to celebrate diversity | Building Control Services | Bath & North East Somerset Council". newsroom.bathnes.gov.uk. Retrieved 3 November 2022.
  30. ↑ "My Publishing Life – Jon Bickley". www.inpublishing.co.uk. 12 September 2017. Retrieved 3 November 2022.
  31. ↑ "Bath City FC Commercial Director Vacancy". Bath City FC. 3 December 2021. Retrieved 3 November 2022.
  32. ↑ bcfc (28 June 2022). "Bath City welcomes new director Jane Jones". Bath City FC. Retrieved 10 March 2023.
  33. ↑ "Pitch maintenance volunteers urgently needed". Bath City FC. 24 December 2020. Retrieved 3 November 2022.
  34. ↑ Jaynes, Anita (8 May 2017). "Royds Withy King advises on Bath City Football Club takeover". The Business Exchange – Bath and Somerset. Retrieved 3 November 2022.
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