Four months ago, Wolviston FC had never had a senior women’s team. This Sunday, two newly formed sides begin another historic chapter – one in the Women’s FA Cup at Metcalfe Park and the other in its first ever league fixture.

There are summers that change a football club.

For Wolviston FC, summer 2026 will take some beating.

Back in May, senior women’s football at Wolviston simply didn’t exist.

There was no Ladies team. No United team. No senior pathway for the girls already wearing the Wolviston badge.

There was an idea, though.

And less than four months later, that idea has become two senior women’s teams, Billingham’s first senior women’s side, places in the top two divisions of the Durham women’s league structure, an FA Cup victory and another historic afternoon waiting at Metcalfe Park this Sunday.

Not bad for a first summer.

A new chapter begins

On 16 May 2026, Wolviston FC announced the formation of a new Ladies section.

It was a significant moment for both the club and the local area, with Wolviston becoming home to the first senior women’s football team in Billingham.

There was no intention simply to put a team together and see what happened.

From the beginning, the ambition was to create something with the potential to last – combining experienced players and coaches with the community feel that has always been at the heart of Wolviston FC.

The response was immediate.

Players wanted to be part of it.

Coaches came on board.

Businesses offered their support.

And suddenly, one team wasn’t going to be enough.

One team quickly becomes two

By early June, Wolviston FC Ladies had officially joined the Durham women’s league structure.

The quality and experience of the coaching and playing group assembled was quickly recognised, with the Ladies subsequently moved into the Durham FA Women’s League Premier Division for their inaugural season.

At the same time, the number of players wanting to join continued to grow.

Rather than turn women away, the club took another big step.

Wolviston FC United was born.

United were initially due to compete in the Development Division, providing another senior opportunity and helping establish greater depth within the new section.

Then pre-season happened.

And United certainly didn’t ease themselves into things.

Wins included 11–1 at Darlington Locomotives, 13–0 at Ferryhill Miners, 5–0 against Horden CW Ladies and 4–2 against Seaton Carew Ladies, alongside victories at Shildon and a draw with Hartlepool St Francis.

Six games.

Five wins.

One draw.

37 goals scored and just six conceded.

The performances were enough for United to be moved straight into Division One, bypassing Division Two before their first competitive league game had even been played.

Two promotions in a matter of weeks.

And the competitive season still hadn’t started.

Then came the FA Cup

On 23 August, the new Ladies side finally played its first competitive fixture.

As first matches go, this one was a little different.

It was away from home.

It involved an almost three-hour journey.

And it was in the Women’s FA Cup.

Whitehaven AFC were waiting in Cumbria for a Preliminary Round tie that would become one of those days everyone involved will remember for a long time.

The morning began at The Wellington Inn in Wolviston, which opened especially to provide breakfast and send the team and supporters on their way.

A 55-seat coach then left the village carrying players, management, coaches and supporters westwards.

Others followed from home through the club’s updates and live stream, while even members of the team who were abroad were keeping up with the action.

The occasion was huge.

Then Whitehaven scored first.

Welcome to competitive football.

Wolvo respond

The reaction was exactly what those who had watched this group develop throughout the summer had come to expect.

Just three minutes after falling behind, Lexi Simmonette drove forward and found the top corner to equalise.

It was much more than an equaliser.

It was the first competitive goal ever scored by Wolviston FC Ladies – and therefore the club’s first goal in the Women’s FA Cup.

The scores remained level at the break.

Then came Connie Robinson.

Introduced after Lexi suffered a wrist injury, Connie pressured the Whitehaven goalkeeper into an error before drilling home to give Wolviston the lead.

Not long afterwards, Georgia Dawes released her again.

Connie beat the goalkeeper and fired into the roof of the net.

1–3.

A first competitive brace.

And what would ultimately become Wolviston FC Ladies’ first competitive winning goal.

Surely that was that?

Not quite.

This is Wolvo, after all.

Ten players. One goal to protect. Seven huge minutes.

Connie was injured after putting her foot into a hole and twisting her knee, eventually leaving the field on a stretcher.

Katie Boynton was introduced as Wolviston’s final permitted substitute.

Then Erin White was brought down while racing through on goal and was unable to continue.

No substitutes remained.

Wolviston were down to ten players.

With around seven minutes left, Whitehaven pulled one back.

2–3.

The easy option would have been to retreat and simply hope the clock moved quickly.

Instead, Wolviston kept competing.

They kept trying to use the ball.

They battled for one another and managed those final moments with a composure that perhaps shouldn’t have belonged to a side playing the first competitive fixture in its history.

Then the whistle went.

Whitehaven AFC 2–3 Wolviston FC Ladies.

First competitive fixture.

Won.

First Women’s FA Cup appearance.

Won.

First competitive victory in the history of Wolviston FC Ladies.

Done.

Hannah Verrall and two-goal Connie Robinson were named joint Players of the Match, but the afternoon belonged to everyone who had played a part in getting the team to that point.

Now history comes home

The reward for that victory is another first.

This Sunday, 6 September, Wolviston FC Ladies host Wigginton Grasshoppers in Women’s FA Cup First Round Qualifying.

Women’s FA Cup – First Round Qualifying
Wolviston FC Ladies v Wigginton Grasshoppers
Sunday 6 September
KO 2pm
Metcalfe Park, TS22 5NE

It will be the first competitive senior women’s football match ever played at Metcalfe Park.

For a football club founded in 1910, there is something pretty special about still being able to create completely new history 116 years later.

And while the Ladies are at home chasing another FA Cup memory, another piece of history will be unfolding elsewhere.

United begin their own story

At the same time on Sunday, Wolviston FC United travel to Darlington Railway Athletic for their first ever competitive fixture in Durham County Women’s League Division One.

The team created because one senior side simply wasn’t enough will finally take its first competitive steps.

Two teams that didn’t exist in May.

Both playing competitive football on the same Sunday in September.

One in the FA Cup.

One beginning its first league campaign.

That perhaps says more about how far the section has come than anything else.

Building somewhere to aim for

The senior teams are only part of what Wolviston hopes to create.

The club already has an U12 Girls side, while three girls play within our mixed U15 squad.

Until this summer, those players could wear a Wolviston shirt throughout junior football but there was no senior women’s team at their own club waiting at the end of that journey.

Now there are two.

And the pathway is continuing to grow.

Dan Booty has been identified to lead the relaunch of our Wildcats sessions in September, giving younger girls an accessible way to take their first steps into football.

Meanwhile, James and Michaela Garvey have offered their help in establishing new Just Play women’s sessions, creating another opportunity for adult women – whether they are returning to football, trying it for the first time or simply looking for a more recreational way to play.

The aim is increasingly clear:

Create somewhere to start.
Create somewhere to develop.
Create somewhere to play.
Create somewhere to aim for.

Women are also increasingly represented away from the pitch, with three women currently serving on Wolviston FC’s ten-person committee.

The ambition isn’t simply to grow the number of women playing football.

It is to make women and girls an increasingly visible part of the whole club.

A community effort

None of this happens in grassroots football without people getting behind it.

The response from local businesses has been fantastic.

Support for the new women’s section has come from Clairity Solutions, Teamkits powered by DCD Teamwear, Teesside Stairlifts, Boxit Storage, Imperial Recruitment, EJM Engineered Systems, Garvey’s IT Services, Her Game Too Hartlepool and The Wellington Inn Wolviston, alongside a growing number of individual player sponsors.

Each has helped in a different way, from kit and training wear to coaching support, player sponsorship and those little touches that turn football matches into community occasions.

We have also received invaluable support and guidance from Helen Edwards, Bradley, John and the wider Durham County FA team during the initial development of the section, including help around our application to the FA’s Lionesses HERe to Play Fund.

A lot of work carried out by governing bodies happens away from public view.

At Wolviston, we can see the impact of it.

A few months ago we were asking how to get started.

Now there are two senior teams, an FA Cup victory, Wildcats returning, Just Play sessions being planned and girls at the club with a pathway ahead of them.

And we’re only getting started

Perhaps the strangest thing about looking back over the last few months is realising just how little time has actually passed.

May: no senior women’s football at Wolviston.

September: two senior sides, Premier Division and Division One football, an FA Cup victory and the first competitive senior women’s fixture about to take place at Metcalfe Park.

Players have come forward.

Coaches have committed.

Volunteers have stepped up.

Businesses have backed it.

Supporters have travelled.

And young girls wearing a Wolviston badge can now look towards the senior game and see somewhere they could one day belong.

Whatever happens against Wigginton on Sunday, something important has already happened at Wolviston FC.

An idea became a team.

A team became two.

A first competitive match became an FA Cup victory.

And what started as a new section is beginning to look like a pathway.

The next chapter?

Sunday. Metcalfe Park & Darlington RA. 2pm.

Come and be part of it.