Crawley Wasps Ladies FC is an English

women's football Women's football most often refers to: * Women's association football (hannah jones ). Women's football may also refer to: * Women's gridiron football * Women's Australian rules football * Ladies' Gaelic football * Women's rugby league * Women's ...

club, that currently plays in the

FA Women's National League South The FA Women's National League Southern Premier Division is a league in the third level in the women's football pyramid in England, along with the Northern division. These two divisions are part of the FA Women's National League and below the W ...

. Wasps currently play at The Camping World Community Stadium, home of Horsham FC.

History

Founded in 1991, Crawley Wasps have been instrumental in the successful development of girls' football in the

Crawley Crawley () is a large town and borough in West Sussex, England. It is south of London, north of Brighton and Hove, and north-east of the county town of Chichester. Crawley covers an area of and had a population of 106,597 at the time of th ...

area. From the early days of playing seven-a-side in various Surrey leagues, the club have expanded to more than 100 playing members in teams at all levels from Under-11s to three Ladies sides. Wasps helped pioneer the development of ladies and girls' football in Sussex, becoming a founding member of the

Sussex Sussex (), from the Old English (), is a historic county in South East England that was formerly an independent medieval Anglo-Saxon kingdom. It is bounded to the west by Hampshire, north by Surrey, northeast by Kent, south by the English ...

County Women and Girls' Football League in 2002–03. Between May 2013 and May 2018, as they progressed from Under-11s to Under-16s, one Wasps team lost just three of 70 matches against girls teams – their dominance was such that they tested themselves in a boys' league in 2016–17. The club celebrated its 25th anniversary season, in 2016–17, in style on and off the pitch. Thales, one of Crawley's largest employers, became Wasps' first-ever main club sponsor, while the Ladies' first team reached the Sussex Cup final and also the League Cup final. In 2017–18, Wasps' first team earned a historic promotion to the

, going unbeaten as they won the London & South East Premier Division, while again reaching the Sussex Cup and League Cup finals. The 2018-19 was unquestionably the most successful in the club's history. The first team won the FA Women's National League Division 1 South East (securing back-to-back promotions), reached the League Cup final and played

Arsenal An arsenal is a place where arms and ammunition are made, maintained and repaired, stored, or issued, in any combination, whether privately or publicly owned. Arsenal and armoury (British English) or armory (American English) are mostly ...

in front of 1,550 people in the fourth round of the Women's FA Cup. The reserves and Under-18s also won their respective league titles. Wasps first team then led the

for much of the following season, which was curtailed due to the Coronavirus pandemic. They did win the Sussex Women's Challenge Cup for the first time, beating Chichester on penalties. The club's reserves performed well in their debut season in the FA Women's National League Reserve Section, and the youth sectioned swelled to over 100 players. In the summer of 2020, Paul Walker, first-team manager since 2015 and chairman since 2017, parted company with the club. Jack Ayles took over as chairman and Dave Cole as manager.

Players

First-team squad

Out on loan

Reserves & Development squad

References

Football clubs in West Sussex Sport in Crawley Association football clubs established in 1991 Women's football clubs in England 1991 establishments in England FA Women's National League teams {{England-footyclub-stub