FA Cup Glory

[Claireffcw]

As Fulham Women look forward to their FA Cup game against Enfield this weekend  i thought id have a delve into our earliest history in the FA cup.
I've started researching & documenting womens football at fulham and this is the earliest i've found so far .

With lots of different versions of our team i thought id start right at the beginning.

While the FA ban implemented in 1921 stopped the majority of women playing there were teams that continued through the years just not on FA approved grounds.

Between 67 & 72 a large annual summer tournament took place in Deal ,Kent.

Dec 1969 it was recommended to lift the ban & in January it was voted to rescind its 1921 resolution. AND so the Womens fa was founded in june 1970 with official rule changes in 71.
Around this time Harry Batt took the 'lost lionesses ' to an unofficial world cup in Mexico.
After seeing this success in 72 Bobby Moore & Geoff Hurst came forward with investment with the aim of putting on an official world cup in England but the FA turned it down flat.

The birth of the womens fa cup began in late 1971 with 71 teams competing although they were still not allowed to play at football league grounds for another 10 years .Mitre sponsored the first 6 competitions and Southampton were the inaugural winners .

In the 1971/72 Fa cup  the teams were divided into 8 regional groups who each  played a 1st,2nd & 3rd round with each of the regional  winners going through to quater  finals . Records at this time were fairly sparce and theres no offical count of exact scores .

So on sunday 11th november 1971  a Fulham team took on spurs who had entered the previous year . The result was 4-2 to spurs and ive struggled to find anymore information about the game.

The next season we would get our first fa cup win when in group 7 we beat Bosom Buddies Utd 5-3 in the 1st round .we came back down to earth in the 2nd round losing 9-0 to Crystal Palace. The furthest we would get would be the following season when we exited aet to Amersham Angels in the 3rd round but this got a small highlight on World of Sport .

The final season for this particular team in the fa cup would be 1980/81 when we lost 23-0 against Luton Town ladies. This left our early run in the fa cup as 8 loses,2 draws and 5 wins .

Ive also stuggled to find out if this incarnation of fulham women played in any league during this period .After a visit to the london archives i found that the Fulham ladies team was organised by a Mrs C.Baxter who lived in the fulham rd. .im hoping to get to the British Library soon for more research
.
Friends of Fulham ,a team of supporters, were founded in 1974 by Bob Hubbard   & played their first cup game in the 76/77 season .they would go on to lift the trophy at craven cottage in 1985 & reach 2 other finals .in 1991 they would become Wimbledon women .
Fulham Ladies fc were founded in 1993 & would go on to be our most successful incarnation to date . Reaching the final in 2001 before winning it twice in succession the following seasons .more to follow on this great period as next year is the 25th anniversary of that first cup win.

[bill taylors apprentice]

I remember my best mate's girlfriend playing for QPR ladies around mid 70's who were a top team at the time. 

I watched them play in the Womans FA Cup Final at Selhurst Park I think around that time?

[Claireffcw]

I remember my best mate's girlfriend playing for QPR ladies around mid 70's who were a top team at the time. 

I watched them play in the Womans FA Cup Final at Selhurst Park I think around that time?

qpr beat Southampton 1-0 in the 76 77 season at Dulwich hamlet.
Qpr team that day
QPR: 1 Pat NAPIER (formerly CAVANAGH), 2 Cora FRANCIS, 3 Pauline GARDNER, 4 Margaret McGROARTY (c), 5 Jackie GREEN, 6 Maggie FLANAGAN, 7 Sandra CHOAT, 8 Ann RICHARDSON, 9 Carrie STALEY, 10 Josie LEE (later CLIFFORD), 11 Hazel ROSS

Subs: 12 Pauline DICKIE, 13 Jean CANTRELL