History
Early History
The history of Portsmouth Ladies commences in 1914 although they did not initially form until 1916. They were one of many women’s football teams active during the First World War.
On 19 March 1914 two charity games were held for the Royal Navy Disaster fund. One of which was a women’s game between Lady Artistes at the King’s Theatre and a “Local Ladies” team organised by Mr, Le Lellett of the Royal Yacht Alexandria.
The game was popular attracting a crowd of over 5000. The Local Ladies team won 5-1 with Miss Anscombe scoring four goals. She would emerge as one of the star performers for Portsmouth Ladies FC.
Several other games were played and their popular reception lead to the official formation of the team.
On 14 December 1916 the Portsmouth Evening news announced the formation of Portsmouth Ladies FC. The new team were the first Women’s football team in Hampshire.
Opponents were hard to come by for the newly formed team but they did beat Basingstoke Ladies 11-0 in front of over 3000 at Fratton Park.
Female opponents were so hard to come by they were forced to play against male teams. They played at least 14 games against male opponents between May and December 1917. These games took place under rules designed to emphasize women as “weaker”. For example male outfield players had their hands tied behind their backs and male goalkeepers had to keep one arm in their jersey. The Portsmouth Ladies team won 13 and drew 1 of these 14 games.
On 12 October 1918 Portsmouth Ladies took park in a Cup Competition called the Southern Championship. The deciding game played at a neutral venue in Guildford. Portsmouth Ladies won 3-2.
Very few records of Portsmouth Ladies games taking place exist during the period the FA banned Women’s teams playing on affiliated pitches. This ban was in place between 1921 and 1971.
Regular games continued to take place however. In 1968, John Phelps, then the head of PR at the men’s club had recruited a team of hostesses. Clad in the Portsmouth blue team colours so they stood out, they walked around the ground selling programmes and looking after fans on match days.
Given the growing interest in Women’s football the hostesses decided they wanted to start a team. Encouraged and supported by Mick Williams, at the time a volunteer for the Pompey Action Group which was a supporter group which helped the club in numerous ways.
Mick Williams would prove a pivotal figure in Portsmouth Ladies history. See notable club personnel section for more information on Williams.
The men’s club were active in helping organise fixtures in the late 1960’s with games being advertised in the programme. With the success of local rivals Southampton's ladies team the focus turned to ensuring Portsmouth had a high quality team. In the late 1980’s the idea of forming one took over.
The Portsmouth Women’s team as we know it today was formed in 1987. Dave Coyle was a pivotal figure in this club’s early history fulfilling every role short of player. See notable club personnel section for more information on Coyle.
Portsmouth Ladies retained a strong connection with the men’s club. Portsmouth Ladies started playing in the 1988/89 season in the Southern Regional League. The women’s game lacked the organisation and structure it does today. Venues and opponents varied. Driven by Dave Coyle the club continued to thrive although record from these years are sketchy at best.
The club achieved its first promotion in 1998 when they moved up to the South West Combination League. A league broadly equivalent to Tier 3 of the modern day.
Dave Coyle was manager during this time and in 1999 he guided the team to beat Reading and win the South West Combination League Cup.
The club continued it’s upward trajectory and in 2002 the club was the first in Hampshire to be awarded the FA Chartered Standard Club Award for Excellence.
In 2002 Vanessa Raynbird was appointed Director of Football. Eventually Coyle moved upstairs and Raynbird took over team affairs.
Recent history 2002-2022
In the 2002/3 season the team were Champions of the South West Combination and moved up to the Premier League Southern Division which was tier 2 of the women’s game.
The team recorded regular top half finishes but competing for the title proved difficult as Portsmouth Ladies lacked a permanent home and the financial backing needed to complete with the top teams.
2011 saw the formation of the Women’s Super League as tier 1 of the Women’s game. This made the Premier League Southern Division Portsmouth played in drop down to be the 3rd tier of the women’s game.
In the 2011/12 season Portsmouth Ladies gained promotion to the Premier League National division and tier 2.
For the 2013/14 a new league was introduced at tier 2 called the Women’s Super League 2 or WSL2. Portsmouth’s bid for a place in the new WSL2 failed and they were subsequently placed into the Southern Division tier 3.
The 2013/14 season saw live radio commentary for the first time provided by Express FM's Grassroots Football Show and later by South Coast Sports Radio.
Portsmouth Ladies FA Cup record between 1970-2000 is unknown. Their best known FA Cup run to date came in the 2013-14 season when they progressed all the way to the quarter final. They lost to WSL leaders Notts County 2-0. County took 72 mins to break down a resilient Portsmouth with England International Jess Clarke scoring County’s second goal.
In the 2014/15 season Portsmouth Ladies won the Southern Division under the management of Perry Northeast. They would agonisingly miss out on promotion to tier 2 after losing the play off game against Northern League Champions Sheff Utd 1-0 in the dying seconds of the game.
With the failing health of Dave Coyle, in the summer of 2015 Pompey President Mick Williams returned to his roots and took over running the club supported by his wife and fellow director Ann. He injected significant capital into the club to ensure its survival.
Northeast resigned at the end of the 2015-16 season being replaced by Craig Taylor. Taylors spell was brief, and he was succeeded by his assistant Jay Sadler in November 2017.
Since 2018 Portsmouth Women have been featured regularly on Express FM. Host Jake Smith covers the latest Portsmouth Women news on his Football Hour show and the station has provided live commentary of several games.
In 2019 the women’s team took another step forward to fully integrate with the men’s team by adopting its branding, social media graphics and sharing marketing and ticketing collateral. Portsmouth ladies were also rebranded to a more modern name of Portsmouth Women.
Like all team Portsmouth Women were affected heavily by the pandemic. They played their last game before lockdown on March 8, 2020. The 2019/20 season was ended early and declared null and void with no promotion or relegation.
The following 2020/21 season started with COVID restrictions but by November the second lockdown had started and by March the season was also abandoned. At the time Portsmouth had won 10 of their 13 games in all competitions and sat 3rd in the table. There was to be no promotion or relegation but the results and stats from this season were not voided.
Portsmouth Women’s returned to action on April 4 to play an FA Cup tie vs Cheltenham. Portsmouth won the game but were disqualified from the competition for fielding an ineligible player.
Portsmouth have a rich history in the Hampshire Cup. To date they have won it 17 times. The most famous recent victory being the penalties win again fierce rivals and fully professional Southampton at Westleigh Park in the 2019/20 competition. Hannah Haughton saving 2 spot kicks in the shoot out to send a packed Westleigh park wild.
First Team turning Semi-Professional - June 2023
On 5 June 2023 Portsmouth FC announced that their Women's team would be turning semi-professional. [1] Portsmouth Women had made steady progress in recent seasons under the stewardship of Jay Sadler culminating in finishing only 7 points from clinching the Southern Premier Title in 2022/23. The announcement would see the Women's team moving under the same owners as the men's team, The Tornante Group. Jane Eisner became the side’s new chair, while outgoing chair Eric Coleborn will remain as a director.
Also serving on the board are Georgia Eisner, Stacey Eisner, Terena Eisner, Eric Eisner, Andy Redman, Clare Martin MBE and Val Cohen.
Former directors Helen Chivers and Bill Griffiths have both been appointed as honorary vice-presidents, while Jay Sadler was to remain as Head Coach.
Development teams transition to an Under 23 side - June 2023
On 24 June 2023 Portsmouth FC announced their women's Development side would transition to an Under 23 team. [2]
The Development team had shown a resurgence under Molly Small in the 22/23 season and claimed the FAWNL Reserve Section South West title.
It was announced that Molly would stay in charge of the side and that they would once again be competing in the FAWNL Reserve Section South West as well as the Reserve League Cup, PDFA Cup and Women's Midweek Combined Counties Cup.
The backroom staff of the Under 23 team would be Molly Small (Head Coach), Ben Evans (Assistant Coach), Luke Barron (Technical Coach) and Teagan-Christine Brown (Therapist).
First transfer fee received for a player - January 2024
On 19 January 2024 Portsmouth announced that forward Beth Lumsden was leaving to join Fully Professional Newcastle United Women. Beth had impressed in her time at Pompey with 16 goals and 9 assists during her brief 18 game spell. [3]
The transfer of Lumsden was the first time Portsmouth Women had received a transfer fee for a player although the amount of that fee was undisclosed.
Record attendance at a game featuring Portsmouth Women - February 2024
On 25 February 2024 Portsmouth Women took on fully professional Newcastle in the Semi-Final of the League Cup at St James park in front of 22,307. It was top of the Northern Premier Division vs top of the Southern Premier Division. Backed by a vocal 200 away supporters Portsmouth took the game to Newcastle in the first half going close in the first 10 minutes.
Newcastle eventually won the game 2-1 with a last minute goal, but it was a proud day for all involved with both teams. It was a fantastic advert for Women's tier 3 football and a sign of how much women's football had grown in recent years.
On 14th April 2024 Portsmouth Women secured promotion to the Women's Championship by winning the Southern Premier Division title. Portsmouth won the title without kicking a ball that day. Portsmouth had no game but 2nd place Hashtag United lost 2-0 to Ipswich Town. The players and staff had gathered in the Legends Lounge at Fratton Park to follow the Hashtag score line and the final whistle led to emotional celebrations. For full details on the 2023-24 title winning campaign see the relevant section in "Notable Seasons in Detail"
Notable Seasons in Detail
In 2012, Pompey secured the Women's Premier League Southern Division title and promotion to the National Division for the first time in their history in their penultimate match of the season, a 2–1 win over Plymouth. At kick-off Portsmouth's promotion rivals Colchester and West Ham had played all their fixtures while Portsmouth had two games left of their season. Needing a win to guarantee the league title, Portsmouth fell behind to a Plymouth goal midway through the second half. However two goals in the last 20 minutes secured the league title for Portsmouth, who were presented with the trophy at their final match in London. Portsmouth brought the curtain down on their most successful season with a 4–1 win at Queens Park Rangers. QPR welcomed the champions with a guard of honour as the Blues ran onto the pitch prior to kick-off.
2012-13: Premier League National Division
Pompey faced a tough Premiership National division debut with an away tie against the previous season's double winners Sunderland who also eventually ended up winning the 2012/2013 Premier League National Division title. Pompey's first win in the National Division came in a home tie against Aston Villa at Moneyfields, following a 3–0 win in their second game of the season. This was followed by a 3–2 win against Manchester City, with the winner coming in stoppage time.
In the cups, Pompey reached the Fourth Round of the FA Cup following a comprehensive 5–0 victory against QPR at Westleigh Park before falling to defeat away at Yeovil Town. In the League Cup, Pompey finished second in their group and faced Manchester City in the round of sixteen. Pompey won 2–1 at Westleigh Park in front of a large crowd. In the Quarter-Finals, Pompey defeated Barnet 2–1 but Pompey's league cup run came to an end at the Semi-Final stage once again, losing to eventual winners Aston Villa. Following Pompey's last home again against Leeds United, it was announced that manager Vanessa Raynbird would be stepping down as manager to take up a director of football role while Perry Northeast and Katie Poore would become joint managers. The 2012/13 seasons also saw Pompey taking part in the bidding process, alongside 29 other teams around the country, to join the expanded Women's Super League.
2014-15: Regaining the Southern Division Title
The Women's Premier League Southern Division began with an inauspicious start for Portsmouth FC Ladies as the side fell to a 7–3 defeat at home to Cardiff City, after Lucy Quinn was sent off for handling the ball, a decision that was later overturned. However, blistering form in the league which saw the Hampshire side go undefeated for several months, meant Portsmouth Ladies were challenging for the title. By March this had turned into a four-horse race between Portsmouth, Brighton, Charlton and Cardiff City but by the end of the season, the title was between Portsmouth and Brighton. With just two games left of the season, Portsmouth needed four points to secure the title though Pompey won them both, sealing the Women's Premier League Southern Division title with a victory at home in front of a large crowd. This marked Portsmouth's second league title in four seasons. However, they lost the promotion play off against the Northern League Winners, Sheffield F.C. Ladies after a goal in the 90th minute separated the teams. It was played in neutral at The DCS Stadium, home of Southern Football League Premier Division side Stratford Town F.C.
Portsmouth also retained the Hampshire Cup with a 4–1 win against local rivals Southampton Saints. With this match being the first meeting between Portsmouth and Southampton in women's or men's football since 2011, a large crowd was present to watch Portsmouth Ladies secure their ninth Hampshire Cup.
The 2014/15 season was also significant for the Blues as Ini-Abasi Umotong became the first ever Portsmouth Ladies player to be capped at international senior level when she made her debut for Nigeria in a 2–2 draw against Mali. Umotong was later called up for the Nigeria Women's World Cup squad but was an unused substitute in all three of the Super Falcons group games.
Notable Players and International Honours
This area is work in progress as we try to collate information on former players to expand this section.
Gemma Hiller
Gemma Hillier is Portsmouth Women’s all time record goal scorer and appearance maker. In 2018 she became the first Portsmouth Women player to be inducted into Portsmouth FC’s Hall of Fame. [4]
Officially Gemma made 292 appearances scoring 92 goals during her 17 years at the club. She was Captain for eight of those seasons. However FA records only start in 2003 and Gemma had already been playing for the club since 2001 meaning she made over 300 appearances and is believed to have scored 99 goals.
Born in 1987, she started playing football at primary school in Gosport but had to represent the boys’ team. After joining Gosport Borough Ladies, at the age of 12 she was offered the choice to join either the Fulham centre of excellence or Southampton – she chose Fulham.
With Portsmouth Women she played at the highest level in women’s football, featuring in the FA Women’s Premier League and the Southern Premier League, while also claiming the Hampshire County Cup on multiple occasions.
During her time with Portsmouth Ladies, Hillier was offered the chance to join most of the top-league clubs in financially rewarding deals, but she remained loyal to Pompey, where she never received payment.
Gemma also has a very successful Beach Soccer career representing England and Team GB at many international tournaments.
Danielle Rowe
Danielle Rowe played for Portsmouth Women between July 2018 and June 2023. During her 5 years at the club she made 129 appearances scoring 6 goals and Captaining the side 57 times. She won 3 Hampshire Cups and 5 PDFA Cups with the Blues.
Before joining Portsmouth Danielle spent seven years at Brighton and graduated from the under-14s right the way through to the first team.
After making 15 senior appearances for the Seagulls – 10 of which arrived during their title-winning campaign – she had a nine-month sabbatical to go travelling, prior to a brief spell with Lewes before joining Portsmouth.
In her early Portsmouth career she played as a central midfielder before moving to centre back where she formed a formidable partnership with Jazz Younger.
During the 2022/23 Danielle formed part of a formidable back line made up of mostly Jazz Younger, Nicole Barrett, Izzy Collins, Ella Wild, Evie Gane and goalkeeper Hannah Haughton. The team kept 15 clean sheets in 33 games and only conceded 31 goals all season. The team only lost 8 games during the campaign, 6 of those by a single goal.
A firm fan favourite at Portsmouth, Danielle was widely regarded as one of the best players in Tier 3 of the women's game during her time on the south coast.
Hannah Haughton
Hannah Mary Haughton joined Portsmouth Women from Southampton Saints on 30 December 2018. She made her debut at home to QPR on 6th Jan 2019.
Hannah kept clean sheets in her first 2 games for Portsmouth, something that would be a theme of her time at the club.
Whilst playing for Portsmouth Hannah represented several Beach Soccer club teams as well as representing Team GB. Portsmouth fans often heard singing "England's number 1" during matches to acknowledge her achievements.
For Team GB she won a silver medal at the 2019 Beach Games and in June 2021 her Team GB team won the Euro Beach Soccer League held in Portugal. Hannah contributed at both ends of the pitch chipping the ball up to herself and volleying the ball into the top corner from her own goal area in the 3-1 win against Russia.
Hannah's most notorious match for Portsmouth came on 19 May 2021 in the Hampshire Cup Final against rivals and fully professional Southampton FC Women. This was actually the postponed 2019/20 final. The final was hosted at Portsmouth's home ground of Westleigh Park in front of a lively south coast crowd.
The game was 1-1 after 90 mins and went to penalties. Haughton fully earned her reputation with fans as the "Penalty Queen". She saved penalties from Shannon Sievwright and Georgie Freeland to give Portsmouth a 3-2 victory.
Ahead of the 2023/24 season Portsmouth FC announced Hannah as the women's Captain having served as Vice Captain to Daniel Rowe the previous season. This same season Portsmouth went semi-professional.
Hannah was a popular choice amongst fans and was honoured to Captain the club. She commented on the clubs official website "I am completely honoured and full of pride to be named captain of this team, This is what dreams are made of, not only playing with this group, but to lead them. Hand on heart, to be captain of this team is the best thing that has ever happened to me, and I can’t wait to get the season started."
In her first season as Captain Hannah led Portsmouth to the Southern Premier Division Title. Hannah had an outstanding campaign between the sticks and won the Southern Premier Division Golden Glove award.
Hannah is the current no.1 and goalkeeper and Captain at Portsmouth Women. As of 19 April 2024 Hannah has made 133 appearances and kept 61 clean sheets.
To date she has won 1 Southern Premier Division Title, 2 Hampshire Cups and 5 PDFA Cups during her time with the Blues.
Jazmin Younger (2018 - Present Day)
116 appearances (13 goals)
Jazmin "Jazz" Younger signed for Portsmouth in July 2018 following her departure from Brighton & Hove Albion.
She made her debut coming on as a substitute in a 4-1 home win against Gillingham on 26 August 2018. By the end of February of her first season Jazz was starting regularly at centre back with Captain Amelia Southgate.
Her first goal for Portsmouth was in the 6-1 FA Cup victory at home to Leyton Orient on 20 October 2019.
Ahead of the 2020/21 season Jazz was given the number 6 shirt. This same season she scored her first brace for the club in a 12-0 PDFA cup semi final win against AFC Portchester.
During the 2022/23 Jazz formed part of a formidable back line made up of mostly Captain Dan Rowe, Nicole Barrett, Izzy Collins, Ella Wild, Evie Gane and goalkeeper Hannah Haughton. The team kept 15 clean sheets in 33 games and only conceded 31 goals all season. The team only lost 8 games during the campaign, 6 of those by a single goal. The contribution of Jazz was dually noted when she was awarded the Player of the Season award.
Jazz is known for her headed goals, the most famous of which being a last minute goal away to Billericay on 2 April 2023. The goal secured Portsmouth a 4-3 win and kept them in the title race.
During the 2023/24 campaign Jazz had featured in 20 of the 21 matches (20 starts) up to Ipswich away in the league on 2 Feb 2024. Early in that match she suffered an ACL (anterior cruciate ligament) tear and was ruled out for the rest of the season. Jazz had formed a formidable partnership with Riva Casley during the campaign that saw Pompey go on to win the title.
Jazz is the current number 6 for Portsmouth Women. As of 19 April 2024 Jazz has made 116 appearances and scored 13 goals.
To date she has won 1 Southern Premier Division Title, 3 Hampshire Cups and 5 PDFA Cups during her time with the Blues.
Players who have represented Portsmouth and have Senior International Honours
Below is a list of players who have played for Portsmouth and also represented their countries at senior level.
At this time Ini-Abasi Umotong is the only player to be capped for her senior national side whilst playing for Portsmouth. This was during the 2014/15 season.
| Player | Country |
| Ini-Abasi Umotong | Nigeria |
| Alex Lusan | Romania |
| Emma Jones | Wales |
| Samantha Quayle | Wales |
| Vicky Carleton | Northern Ireland |
| Cherelle Khassal | Republic of Ireland |
| Lucy Quinn | Republic of Ireland |
Academy and Youth System
The first Pompey Women youth teams were established in the early 1990s and these continued to operate at a variety of age groups.
In 2000, Portsmouth F.C. Women officially introduced a Youth Structure within the club, catering for U14 and U12 teams.
Since being introduced, this has continued to expand and now the club has programmes allowing girls and women of all ages to participate in football. In 2005 they became only the second women's club in Britain to establish a Football Academy for females. [5]
For the 2014/15 season, an U18 side was introduced to bridge the gap between the U16 team, which was currently the eldest youth team level, and the senior teams (including both the reserves and the first teams), allowing a clear pathway for players coming up Portsmouth FC Ladies' youth ranks. This new U18 team competed in the newly formed Hampshire U18 League along with other local sides.
At the end of the 2016-17 season the entire youth organisation was transferred to Pompey in the Community where it currently runs under the stewardship of former Portsmouth Women player Kirsty Pearce (McGee).
In July 2023 PITC announced they had been granted a 2 year Emerging Talent Centre (ETC) licence by the FA. Their ETC training squad will sit under their Youth Development Teams to further strengthen the girls player pathway.
In early 2024 the youth teams and ETC squad started training at the John Jenkins stadium complex after the two artificial pitches were completed.
Since the PITC take over of the youth system they have produced three notable first team players in Mia Adaway, Freya Jones [6] and Jess Smith [7]
Stadium
In contrast to the men’s team which has called Fratton Park home in the last 125 years, Pompey Women have played home fixtures at many grounds.
Between 2015 and 2023 alone, they have been based at Cams Alder (Fareham Town), Privett Park (Gosport Borough), Westleigh Park across two spells (Havant & Waterlooville) and the PMC Stadium (Baffins Milton Rovers). Other grounds used have included Bognor Regis Town, Petersfield Town, Fleetlands, UoP Furze Lane, Havant Front Lawn, Hayling United, Moneyfields, Littlehampton Town and Portchester.
The average home attendance broke the 100 barrier for the first time in 2016-17 season and has been increasing every season since.
In the 2018/19 season, the team secured a deal with local side Baffins Milton Rovers to ground share their PMC stadium for home games.
From the start of the 2020/21 season Portsmouth agreed a deal with local side Havant and Waterlooville to use their new artificial pitch to train and play their home games on. They still play there to the current day.
Fratton Park Matches
The modern era Women's team of Portsmouth FC have played several times at Fratton Park:
| Date | Opposition | Result | Attendance |
| 01-Dec-13 | Spurs | L 1-2 | 673 |
| 07-May-17 | QPR | W 3-2 | 367 |
| 13-May-18 | QPR | W 6-1 | 397 |
| 15-Dec-21 | Southampton FC | L 0-1 | 1,450 |
| 03-Apr-22 | MK Dons | L 0-3 | 748 |
| 25-Jul-22 | Brighton U23 | W 3-2 | 2,906 |
| 30-Apr-23 | Crawley Wasps | W 1-0 | 1,471 |
| 24-Mar-24 | Rugby Borough | W 4-0 | 2,405 |
