Bath City Women's Football Club is a football club based in Bath, Somerset, England. The club is affiliated to the Somerset FA and currently compete in the South West Regional Women's League Division One, the sixth tier of Women's English football. Though multiple Bath City women's teams have existed in the past, the current team was founded last year, in 2022. The team play their home games at Twerton Park. Like the men's team, the women's squad play in black and white shirts, and are nicknamed “The Romans” which stems from Bath's ancient Roman history.
History
Previous Teams
Bath City women's team in 1952
In June, 1920, the first record of any women's team in Bath was formed as simply; "Bath Ladies Football Club". With The Bath Chronicle at the time stating: "Enthusiastic reception of the proposed club, many ladies have shown their wish to join." Application's for squad entry were received from places as far as Gloucester, Bristol and the Isle of Wight. It was suggested by Chairman Mr Hopkins that the colours ought to be the same as the men's; black and white jerseys, with black shorts, black stockings, white rings, and black woolly caps.[2] A year later In 1921, Bath City Ladies played at Old Trafford in front of 31,000 to raise money for unemployed ex-servicemen in Manchester.[3] The fixture raised £2,000 for the fund to help returning soldiers from the World War 1. On Saturday 28 April 1921, the women's team played Southampton Women's in front of 12,000 at Bristol.[4] However, in the same year, The Football Association banned women's football because the Association felt the physicality of the game was; “unsuitable for women”.[5] Women's football suffered for decades but it was reintroduced around the mid-century and has since progressed significantly.[6]
Current team launch (2022–present)
The current club were founded in June 2022.[7] On 29 August 2022, for the final game of pre-season preparation, The Bath City women’s team won 9–0 against Wells City ladies.[8] However the club started the league campaign poorly. On Sunday 2 September 2022, the team competed in their first ever competitive league match, in which they lost 4–0 to Penhill ladies away.[9] Albeit a poor start did not hinder the squad, a run of winning steaks, and good performances placed the club second in the Somerset County women’s league, as of March, 2023.[10] The team achieved promotion in its first ever season, finishing 2nd in the league on 31 points in 18 games, and will go on to play in the South West Regional Football League, the sixth tier of English football.[11]
The women’s team have stated playing at Twerton since their inception. The stadium has a physical capacity of 8,840 1,006 of which are seats.[12] It has been the home of Bath City F.C. since 1932. From 1986 to 1996 Bristol Rovers played at the ground following their departure from Eastville.[13] From 2020 the ground also became the home stadium for Bristol City Women.[14]
The stadium has four stands; the Bath End, the Grandstand, The Popular Side, and the Bristol End. Though the site opened in 1909, the stadium was not constructed until 1932, with The Grandstand being the first of the four stands to be constructed. The stadium is 2.5 km (1.6 miles) from the city centre. The two bars within the stadium are named after former players: Charlies' (Charlie Fleming), and Randall's (Paul Randall). Twerton Park has undergone several expansions throughout its history, though the decades in which it saw the most development were the 1930s,[15] 1960s and 1980s - including the addition of the family stand, West of The Grandstand. Future expansion is likely to involve the complete redevelopment of The Grandstand and the surrounding car park.[16]
Note: Flags indicate national team as defined under FIFA eligibility rules; some limited exceptions apply. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.
