The Dublin Women's Soccer League was a

women's association football Women's association football, more commonly known as women's football or women's soccer, is the team sport of association football played by women. It is played at the professional level in multiple countries, and about 200 national teams partic ...

league featuring teams from the

Republic of Ireland Ireland ( ), also known as the Republic of Ireland (), is a country in Northwestern Europe, north-western Europe consisting of 26 of the 32 Counties of Ireland, counties of the island of Ireland, with a population of about 5.4 million. ...

. While the majority of the participating clubs were based in the

Greater Dublin Area The Greater Dublin Area (GDA; Irish: ''Mórcheantar Bhaile Átha Cliath''), or simply Greater Dublin, is an informal term that is taken to include the city of Dublin and its hinterland, with varying definitions as to its extent. At the expansive ...

, the DWSL had regularly included teams from outside this area. Whilst previously the DWSL was one of the largest women's leagues in Ireland it had been overtaken by the Wexford, MGL and Cork Leagues. In late 2019, the FAI following discussions revamped Women's Football in the Greater Dublin area and the Eastern Women's Football League (EWFL) chaired by the MGL's Tony Gains were granted the only license to run women's adult football in the Dublin area. The EWFL is run by committees of the MGL and the former DWSL. In addition to the Premier Division, there was also a Major Division and seven intermediate divisions. The DWSL operates in summer, with games played from May until September.

History

Early seasons

The Dublin Women's Soccer League was founded in 1994 following a merger of the Leinster Ladies' League and the Civil Service League. The inaugural champions were Elm Rovers. Its earliest members included several clubs which had been founded independently of men's clubs. These included Benfica, Rathfarnham United, Castle Rovers,

O'Connell Chics O'Connell may refer to: People *O'Connell (name), people with O'Connell as a last name or given name Schools * Bishop Denis J. O'Connell High School, a high school in Arlington, Virginia Places * Mount O'Connell National Park in Queenslan ...

and Welsox F.C. However the latter three subsequently became affiliated to

Shamrock Rovers Shamrock Rovers Football Club is an Irish professional Association football, football club based in Tallaght, South Dublin. The club's senior team competes in the League of Ireland Premier Division and it is List of football clubs by competit ...

St Patrick's Athletic St Patrick's Athletic Football Club, commonly known as Pat's or The Athletic, is a professional List of association football clubs in the Republic of Ireland, Irish association football club based in Inchicore, Dublin, that plays in the League ...

and Shelbourne respectively. Castle Rovers were champions in 1995 and 1996 before a St Patrick's Athletic L.F.C. team that included

Emma Byrne Emma Anne Byrne (born 14 June 1979) is an Irish former footballer who played as a goalkeeper. She played for the Republic of Ireland on a record 134 occasions and served as captain of the team. She spent almost 17 years with Arsenal before joini ...

and Ciara Grant were champions in 1997.

Shamrock Rovers era

During the late 1990s and early 2000s

emerged as the DWSL's strongest team. Between 1998 and 2002 they were league champions five times in row. They also won the DWSL Premier Cup on six successive occasions between 1997 and 2002 and the

FAI Women's Cup The Football Association of Ireland Women's Cup is the senior cup competition for women's association football in Ireland. It is commonly known as the Women's FAI Cup, the WFAI Cup, or prior to 2001, the Ladies FAI Cup or the LFAI Cup. Organised ...

on five successive occasions between 1997 and 2001. This meant that Rovers also won four successive trebles between 1998 and 2001. Rovers' leading player during this era was

Olivia O'Toole Olivia Christina O'Toole (born 25 February 1971) is an Irish former association footballer who played as a forward. She made her debut for the Republic of Ireland national team in 1991 and captained the team before retiring in 2009. O'Toole's ...

UCD era

During the mid-2000s UCD replaced

as the DWSL's strongest team. With a team that included

Sylvia Gee Sylvia Gee (born 30 November 1977) is a former Republic of Ireland women's international footballer who has spent the majority of her career playing in various women's association football leagues in the Republic of Ireland and the United State ...

and

Mary Waldron Mary Veronica Waldron (born 5 May 1984) is an Irish association football player and cricketer who has represented both the Republic of Ireland women's national football team and the Ireland women's cricket team. She has also stood as an umpire ...

, UCD were league champions four times in a row between

2003 2003 was designated by the United Nations as the International Year of Fresh water, Freshwater. In 2003, a Multi-National Force – Iraq, United States-led coalition 2003 invasion of Iraq, invaded Iraq, starting the Iraq War. Demographic ...

and

2006 2006 was designated as the International Year of Deserts and Desertification. Events January * January 1– 4 – Russia temporarily cuts shipment of natural gas to Ukraine during a price dispute. * January 12 – A stampede during t ...

. They also won the DWSL Premier Cup in 2004, 2005 and 2007, and the

three times in a row between 2002 and 2004 and achieved the treble in 2004.

DWSL teams in Europe

Between 2001 and 2010 several DWSL teams played in the

UEFA Women's Cup The UEFA Women's Champions League, previously called the UEFA Women's Cup (2001–2009), is a European women's association football competition. It involves the top club teams from countries affiliated with the European governing body UEFA. T ...

after winning the

. In 2002–03,

became the first women's team to represent the Republic of Ireland in

Europe Europe is a continent located entirely in the Northern Hemisphere and mostly in the Eastern Hemisphere. It is bordered by the Arctic Ocean to the north, the Atlantic Ocean to the west, the Mediterranean Sea to the south, and Asia to the east ...

. UCD became the second Republic of Ireland team to qualify for Europe after winning the cup. UCD played in the 2003–04, 2004–05 and

2005–06 UEFA Women's Cup The UEFA Women's Cup 2005–06 was the fifth edition of the UEFA Women's Cup football club tournament. It was won by Frankfurt in an all-German final against defending champions Turbine Potsdam for their second title in the competition. Teams ...

s. Other DWSL teams to play in Europe included St Francis, Peamount United and

Dundalk W.F.C. Dundalk Women's Football Club is an List of association football clubs in the Republic of Ireland, Irish association football club based in Dundalk, County Louth. They are the women's team of Dundalk F.C. They currently play in the Dublin Women's ...

The latter came about under bizarre circumstances. In 2005 Dundalk City won the FAI Women's Cup and as a result qualified for the

2006–07 UEFA Women's Cup The UEFA Women's Cup 2006–07 was the sixth edition of the UEFA Women's Cup football (soccer), football club tournament (since rebranded as the UEFA Women's Champions League). 43 teams from 42 football associations took part, starting with the fi ...

. However, in 2006 a split developed within Dundalk City over a plan for the club to fully merge with

Dundalk F.C. Dundalk Football Club ( ) is a professional football club that competes in the League of Ireland First Division. It was founded in 1903 as Dundalk G.N.R., the works-team of the Great Northern Railway. It is based in Dundalk, County Louth and ...

This effectively saw the emergence of two separate women's teams. Dundalk City was re-established as an independent club while

became affiliated with the

League of Ireland The League of Ireland is a national association football Sports league, league consisting of professional clubs in the Republic of Ireland and Derry, Derry City in Northern Ireland. It is governed by the Football Association of Ireland. It was ...

club. Following complications that resulted from the split, it was Dundalk W.F.C. that went on to represent the Republic of Ireland in the UEFA Women's Cup.

WNL and DWSL

When the Women's National League was formed in

2011 The year marked the start of a Arab Spring, series of protests and revolutions throughout the Arab world advocating for democracy, reform, and economic recovery, later leading to the depositions of world leaders in Tunisia, Egypt, and Yemen ...

, three of the six founding members – Peamount United,

Raheny United Raheny United Football Club is an Irish association football club based in Raheny, Dublin. Raheny United was founded in 1994 following the amalgamation of Raheny Boys and Dunseedy United. In 2017–18 their senior men's team compete in the Prem ...

and

– were members of the DWSL. All three clubs continued to enter reserve teams in the DWSL once the WNL was established. As the WNL expanded two more teams, UCD and Shelbourne, also switched from the DWSL to the WNL.

2016 teams

Premier Division

Major Division

List of winners by season

DWSL Premier Cup

The DWSL Premier Cup is the main league cup competition for DWSL clubs. The cup is also known as ''Pat Breheny Memorial Premier Cup''. The cup was first played for in 1997 and

subsequently won the competition on six successive occasions. In 2003 Dundalk City became first team apart from Rovers to win the competition.

List of DWSL Premier Cup finals

Notes

References

{{Women's association football in the Republic of Ireland Women's association football leagues in the Republic of Ireland Sports leagues established in 1994 1994 establishments in Ireland Summer association football leagues Association football leagues in Leinster Association football leagues in County Dublin Second-level women's association football leagues in Europe