Ballymena United Women Football Club is a women's association football club based in

Ballymena Ballymena ( ; from ga, an Baile Meánach , meaning 'the middle townland') is a town in County Antrim, Northern Ireland. It is part of the Borough of Mid and East Antrim. The town is built on land given to the Adair family by King Charles I i ...

County Antrim County Antrim (named after the town of Antrim, ) is one of six counties of Northern Ireland and one of the thirty-two counties of Ireland. Adjoined to the north-east shore of Lough Neagh, the county covers an area of and has a population o ...

Northern Ireland Northern Ireland ( ga, Tuaisceart Éireann ; sco, label= Ulster-Scots, Norlin Airlann) is a part of the United Kingdom, situated in the north-east of the island of Ireland, that is variously described as a country, province or region. Nort ...

. They were founded in 1994 as Allstars F.C. before amalgamating with

Ballymena United F.C. Ballymena United Football Club is a semi-professional association football, football club from Northern Ireland. Based in Ballymena, County Antrim, the team competes in the NIFL Premiership and plays home matches at the Ballymena Showgrounds wh ...

to become their women's team in 2003. The club currently plays in the

Women's Premiership (Northern Ireland) The Women's Premiership is the top level women's football league of Northern Ireland. The league was called the NIWFA Division League 1 until 2003 and Premier League until 2015. In 2016, it was rebranded the Women's Premiership and is run by th ...

and play their home matches at

Ballymena Showgrounds The Ballymena Showgrounds is a football stadium in Ballymena, County Antrim, Northern Ireland. It is home to Ballymena United F.C. and Ballymena United Allstars F.C. It is owned by Ballymena Borough Council. In addition to men's soccer a var ...

History

Allstars F.C. were founded in 1994 by Kelly Barr. When they were founded, they had no permanent home ground and lived a nomadic existence. They started a rivalry in

Belfast Belfast ( , ; from ga, Béal Feirste , meaning 'mouth of the sand-bank ford') is the capital and largest city of Northern Ireland, standing on the banks of the River Lagan on the east coast. It is the 12th-largest city in the United Kingdo ...

with fellow women's team Probation F.C. In 2003, Allstars joined up with Ballymena United men's team to become their official women's team. This coincided with an unbeaten start to their Women's Premier League campaign. Ballymena United Allstars in the end failed to win the league, finishing fourth behind Glentoran Belfast United L.F.C. Owing to renovations, they were unable to use Ballymena Showgrounds for a number of home matches and were only being offered a "disgraceful and embarrassing" pitch in a local park as a replacement. In the following years, Ballymena United Allstars often finished in mid-table in the Women's Premier League. In 2005, they reached the semi-finals of the

IFA Women's Challenge Cup ''For the equivalent tournament in the Republic of Ireland, see FAI Women's Cup.'' The IFA Women's Challenge Cup or Irish Women's Cup is the annual cup competition of women's football teams in Northern Ireland Northern Ireland ( ga, Tuai ...

but lost 2–0 to Northland Raiders F.C. In 2012, they made the final of the Premier League Cup however they lost 2–0 to Glentoran Belfast United. In 2014, they finished 3rd last above Shankill United Predators F.C., just avoiding the promotion/relegation playoff. In 2015, the club finished last in the Women's Premier League with only 2 draws and were relegated to the Women's Championship.

References

{{Women's Premiership (Northern Ireland) Women's association football clubs in Northern Ireland Association football clubs established in 1994 Ballymena United F.C. Association football in County Antrim Women's Premiership (Northern Ireland) teams