Rebecca "Becky" Bisland (née Stokes; born 20 June 1982) is an Irish footballer who plays for

Partick Thistle Partick Thistle Football Club are a professional association football, football club from Glasgow, Scotland. Despite their name, the club are based at Firhill Stadium in the Maryhill area of the city, and have not played in Partick since 1908. ...

in the

Scottish Women's Premier League The Scottish Women's Premier League (SWPL) is the highest level of league competition in women's football in Scotland. Its two divisions are SWPL 1 and SWPL 2. The league was formed when the Premier Division of the Scottish Women's Football Leag ...

(SWPL). She has previously played in the SWPL for

Celtic Celtic, Celtics or Keltic may refer to: Language and ethnicity *pertaining to Celts, a collection of Indo-European peoples in Europe and Anatolia **Celts (modern) *Celtic languages **Proto-Celtic language * Celtic music *Celtic nations Sports Fo ...

Club career

Bisland began her career at

Wimbledon Wimbledon most often refers to: * Wimbledon, London, a district of southwest London * Wimbledon Championships, the oldest tennis tournament in the world and one of the four Grand Slam championships Wimbledon may also refer to: Places London * ...

before moving on to

Tranmere Rovers Tranmere Rovers Football Club is a professional association football club based in Birkenhead, Merseyside, England. The team compete in , the fourth tier of the English football league system. Founded in 1884 as Belmont Football Club, they ado ...

. In October 2002, Bisland scored for Northern Division club

Manchester City Manchester () is a city in Greater Manchester, England. It had a population of 552,000 in 2021. It is bordered by the Cheshire Plain to the south, the Pennines to the north and east, and the neighbouring city of Salford to the west. The tw ...

against

Doncaster Belles Doncaster Rovers Belles Ladies Football Club, previously Doncaster Belles, is an English women's football club that currently plays in the , the fourth tier of women's football in England. The club's administration is based at the Eco Power St ...

in the second round of the

FA Women's Premier League Cup The Women's National League Cup is an annual English football cup competition, founded in 1991 by the Women's Football Association (WFA). It was renamed the FA Women's Premier League Cup from 1994 to 2018. The first edition of the Cup includ ...

. After spells with leading London clubs

Fulham Fulham () is an area of the London Borough of Hammersmith & Fulham in West London, England, southwest of Charing Cross. It lies on the north bank of the River Thames, bordering Hammersmith, Kensington and Chelsea. The area faces Wandsworth ...

and

Charlton Athletic Charlton Athletic Football Club is an English professional football club based in Charlton, south-east London, which compete in . Their home ground is The Valley, where the club have played since 1919. They have also played at The Mount in C ...

, Bisland moved to Scotland in summer 2005 and began playing for

F.C. Kilmarnock Ladies Kilmarnock FC Women is a women's football team based in Kilmarnock, Ayrshire that plays in the SWPL 2. Founded as Stewarton Thistle, the club is the oldest women's football team in Scotland and celebrated its 50th anniversary in July 2011. Hi ...

, where she played in their winning

Scottish Women's Premier League Cup The Scottish Women's Premier League Cup or SWPL Cup is a league cup competition in women's football in Scotland. The Cup is open only to the teams in the Scottish Women's Premier League. There are four rounds, including the final. The competition ...

side. When

formed a women's section in 2007, Bisland joined the new club and was named

captain Captain is a title, an appellative for the commanding officer of a military unit; the supreme leader of a navy ship, merchant ship, aeroplane, spacecraft, or other vessel; or the commander of a port, fire or police department, election precinct, e ...

in the first season. She narrowly missed out on lifting silverware in her debut campaign, as Celtic lost in extra–time to Hibernian in the final of the

Scottish Women's Cup The Scottish Women's Cup is the national knockout cup competition for women's football in Scotland. First held in 1970–71, the competition is owned and managed by Scottish Women's Football (SWF), an affiliated body of the Scottish Football As ...

. In May 2010 Bisland set up

Joanne Love Joanne Love (born 6 December 1985) is a Scottish international footballer who plays as a midfielder. Since 2011 she has played for Glasgow City, having previously played in Scotland for Kilmarnock and Celtic, in the English FA Women's Premier Le ...

's opening goal as Celtic defeated

Spartans Sparta (Doric Greek: Σπάρτα, ''Spártā''; Attic Greek: Σπάρτη, ''Spártē'') was a prominent city-state in Laconia, in ancient Greece. In antiquity, the city-state was known as Lacedaemon (, ), while the name Sparta referred t ...

4–1 to win the

. After the birth of her first daughter in 2011 Bisland moved to Queen's Park F.C. helping them to promotion in 2013. Bisland moved to

in 2016 after having her second daughter, and in 2018 she was voted the Partick Thistle Ladies MVP for the 2017/2018 season.

International career

Although born in England, Bisland was called up by the

Republic of Ireland Ireland ( ga, Éire ), also known as the Republic of Ireland (), is a country in north-western Europe consisting of 26 of the 32 counties of the island of Ireland. The capital and largest city is Dublin, on the eastern side of the island. A ...

in May 2006 for a World Cup qualifier against

Scotland Scotland (, ) is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Covering the northern third of the island of Great Britain, mainland Scotland has a border with England to the southeast and is otherwise surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean to the ...

Richmond Park Richmond Park, in the London Borough of Richmond upon Thames, is the largest of Royal Parks of London, London's Royal Parks, and is of national and international importance for wildlife conservation. It was created by Charles I of England, C ...

. Manager

Noel King Noel King (born 13 September 1956) is a former professional footballer and the current head coach of Women's National League club Shelbourne. For 10 years from 2000 until 2010 he was manager of the Republic of Ireland women's national team. ...

noted Bisland's pace and "good eye for goal." Bisland won a cap by replacing Stef Curtis for the last half-hour of a 2–1 friendly defeat to

Wales Wales ( cy, Cymru ) is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is bordered by England to the Wales–England border, east, the Irish Sea to the north and west, the Celtic Sea to the south west and the ...

in April 2007.

Personal life

Bisland attended Liverpool John Moores University and moved to Scotland in 2005 to work as an active schools co-ordinator. She later became a disability sport regional manager. Bisland has qualified as a teacher after studying at the

University of Strathclyde The University of Strathclyde ( gd, Oilthigh Shrath Chluaidh) is a public research university located in Glasgow, Scotland. Founded in 1796 as the Andersonian Institute, it is Glasgow's second-oldest university, having received its royal chart ...

References

External links

{{DEFAULTSORT:Bisland, Rebecca 1982 births Living people Republic of Ireland women's association footballers English people of Irish descent Republic of Ireland women's international footballers FA Women's National League players Sportspeople from Epsom Charlton Athletic W.F.C. players Fulham L.F.C. players Celtic F.C. Women players F.C. Kilmarnock Ladies players Manchester City W.F.C. players Women's association football midfielders Women's association football forwards Scottish Women's Premier League players Alumni of Liverpool John Moores University Alumni of the University of Strathclyde