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Cardiff Ladies Football
Football in Cardiff has always been just as popular as any other major city in the British Isles. Though Wales is typically much more closely associated with rugby, football is all as well loved in the Welsh capital as it is in the most steadfast football town in England.
The Cardiff Ladies squad, too, are a really fantastic team to see play, and have been pulling in large crowds in the city for many years. Today, they are a club in the English FA Women’s National League South, and play against many other teams across fixtures.
Today, we’re going to look at the Cardiff Ladies Football scene—where it started, how it developed, where it is today, and where it might be going.
Read on to find out more.
Origins
Women’s football hasn’t always been as popular as it is today, for a huge variety of reasons. That’s part of why many Welsh people, particularly those from Cardiff, take huge pride in the way their Ladies Football team developed.
As far back as 1975, women’s clubs were playing unofficial, locally funded charity matches. The club that would eventually become Cardiff City Ladies F.C. established itself under the name Llanedeyrn L.F.C., after victory in a local charity match. Llandeyrn is a former village, today a district and community around 3 and a half miles from Cardiff.
Indeed, at this time, the very idea of women playing football might have been too much for some people—but the Cardiff Ladies played anyway.
There were no official rules about preventing ladies from playing football, but it was still very much a traditionally male game in 1975. The Cardiff Ladies, alongside many other enterprising women’s teams, changed all that over the years.
Development
They continued to play local games and draw crowds throughout the following years, eventually changing their name to Cardiff L.F.C. in 1981. It meant a lot at the time to have a ladies’ football club with Cardiff in the official name. So much so, in fact, that they linked up with the then named Inter Cardiff F.C. in 1993.
That connection was severed in 1997, and the club again changed its name to Cardiff County L.F.C. By 2001, the club had formed an official affiliation with Cardiff City, the men’s team of the city.
This, too, was ended only 2 years later, and they kept the name and kit colours of Cardiff City but had to use a very different team crest.
By 2006 they had taken on the name they still use today, Cardiff City Ladies, and were promoted to the National Division after victory at the southern division of the FA Women’s Premier League. Things were a little turbulent from here: the ladies suffered relegation in 2007-8 season, though being again promoted only a couple of years later in 2010-11.
So, where does all this leave Cardiff football today?
Cardiff football today
Today, football in Cardiff is just as popular as it ever was, and this is thanks in no small part to the Ladies Club, too. The men’s team, Cardiff City F.C., play in the Championship, and have been there for 17 seasons, with around 33,000 fans today. Cardiff City Stadium has a similar capacity of around 33,000, which it regularly fills.
Cardiff City Ladies have also won the Welsh Women’s Cup, and went on to represent Wales in the UEFA Women’s Cup.
Today, the Cardiff City Ladies have their home ground at the CCB Centre for Sporting Excellence, established in 2014. The ground features multiple pitches, conference rooms and grandstands, with capacity for around 500 spectators.
Other women’s teams have cropped up in Cardiff, too, since the biggest successes of the Cardiff City Ladies. Cardiff City F.C. Women is another women’s football club and today the official women’s side of Cardiff City F.C. They have enjoyed much popularity and success since they first joined the Premier League in 2012-13, and finished 3rd in 2019-20.
One thing is for sure, then: women’s football in Cardiff is still incredibly popular, and is only going to grow in popularity. So, let’s consider how the future might look for women’s football in Cardiff.
The future of Cardiff Ladies football
With the official Cardiff Ladies team playing in the Welsh Premier Women’s League today, it’s clear to see that the team is one of the best in the country. With Ladies’ teams from Cardiff having represented the whole country at the UEFA Championships, world class talent plainly comes from Cardiff in women’s football.
Women’s football has been exploding in popularity everywhere, not just in Cardiff. The Women’s Super League went fully professional by 2018, and women’s club games are now streamed live on BBC 1.
In Cardiff, we can only expect to see the same pattern play out. Women’s football is growing in popularity, as more young girls have the opportunity to look towards professional football as a career. This, indeed, has been one of the biggest driving factors, as bigger facilities—like the CBC Centre—mean more opportunity for a new generation of players.
Back in 1975 as the Cardiff City Ladies played charity matches just to get their voices heard, they paved the way for the modern world in which all young girls can ask themselves if what they want is to play football.
World class football is all the true fan wants to see, really—and more and more are learning they can find that in both women’s and men’s football.
Whatever your level of interest in football and ladies’ football might be, it’s clear to see that the team has had some incredible successes over the years. Their origin and development were somewhat turbulent at times, as was the case with many early women’s football clubs.
Today, though, in spite of that, they have led the way in Welsh Ladies football, bringing unbelievable successes to the nation. Not to mention a tremendous, burgeoning pride.
The future looks incredibly bright for Cardiff Ladies Football, and, by extension, all of Cardiff football in general.