St Helens Women's Football Club was a leading women's football club in England. They reached four WFA Cup finals in the 1980's and were victorious in 1980 when they defeated Preston North End 1-0. They dissolved in 2006.

History

The club was founded in 1976 by Chris Slater and Liz Deighan, who had met at trials for the

England women's national football team The England women's national football team, nicknamed the Lionesses, has been governed by the Football Association (FA) since 1993, having been previously administered by the Women's Football Association (WFA). England played its first interna ...

. They joined the Merseyside League, winning it three years running from 1978 to 1980, also winning the Merseyside Cup twice. In 1979/80, they won the

Women's FA Cup The Women's FA Challenge Cup is the top annual cup tournament for women's clubs in English football. Founded in 1970, it has been named the WFA Cup, FA Women's Cup, and now Women's FA Cup (currently known as the Adobe Women's FA Cup for sponso ...

, defeating

Preston North End Preston North End Football Club, commonly referred to as Preston, North End or PNE, is a professional association football club in Preston, Lancashire, England. They currently play in the EFL Championship, the second level of the English footbal ...

1–0 in the

final Final, Finals or The Final may refer to: *Final examination or finals, a test given at the end of a course of study or training *Final (competition), the last or championship round of a sporting competition, match, game, or other contest which d ...

. Sue Holland scored the only goal of the game held at Southbury Road, Enfield, with Chris Slater becoming the first female manager to win the competition. This took them into the European Clubs Cup, and the team lost in the 1980/81 final. The team then switched to the North West Women's League, winning the championship twice. They reached the final of the Women's FA Cup again in 1980/81, 1982/83, and 1986/87, but lost on each occasion. Twin sisters Judith and Janet Turner played in all four WFA Cup finals and England international

Alison Leatherbarrow Alison Leatherbarrow is a former England women's international footballer. She represented the England women's national football team at senior international level and spent most of her career at Fodens Ladies F.C. and St Helens, where she wo ...

scored in both the 1981 and 1983 finals. Another notable player was Ann Harkins who played as a

goalkeeper In many team sports that involve scoring goal (sport), goals, the goalkeeper (sometimes termed goaltender, netminder, GK, goalie, or keeper) is a designated player charged with directly preventing the opposing team from scoring by blocking or i ...

in the first three finals but captained the team as a defender in 1987.

Sheila Parker Sheila Parker (née Porter; born 1947) is an English former international football defender. In November 1972 she captained the England women's national football team in their first official match, a 3–2 win over Scotland in Greenock. Pa ...

, who is now an inductee in the

English Football Hall of Fame The English Football Hall of Fame is housed at the National Football Museum in Manchester, England. The Hall aims to celebrate and highlight the achievements of the all-time top English footballing talents, as well as non-English players and man ...

played for St Helens in the 1983 final. Parker is famous for captaining

England England is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is located on the island of Great Britain, of which it covers about 62%, and List of islands of England, more than 100 smaller adjacent islands. It ...

in their first ever international in 1972 vs

Scotland Scotland is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It contains nearly one-third of the United Kingdom's land area, consisting of the northern part of the island of Great Britain and more than 790 adjac ...

. In later years, the club played in the Women's Premier League Northern Division, and the

Midland Combination Women's Football League The Midland Combination Women's Football League, also known simply as the Midland Combination, was a women's football league in England from 1998 to 2014. Until the creation of the FA Women's Super League in 2011, that sat at the third level of ...

. They were renamed as the Garswood Saints, and under that name won the

North West Women's Regional Football League The North West Women's Regional Football League (NWWRFL) is one of the eight English regional leagues comprising the fifth and sixth tiers of the English women's football pyramid. The other seven leagues are the North East, East Midlands, West ...

in 2004/05. In 2006, there was a fire at the team's clubhouse, in

Garswood Garswood is a village in the Metropolitan Borough of St. Helens, Merseyside, England. The village is within the civil parish of Seneley Green. The parish was part of Ashton-in-Makerfield until the 1974 boundary changes. History In the historic ...

, and this led the club to disband at the end of the 2005/06 season.

References

{{reflist 1976 establishments in England 2006 disestablishments in England Defunct women's football clubs in England Association football clubs established in 1976 Association football clubs disestablished in 2006 Defunct football clubs in Merseyside Sport in St Helens, Merseyside