91-563: The Women's Championship (formerly The FA Women's Championship) is the second-highest division of women's football in England . The division was established in 2014 as the FA Women's Super League 2 ( WSL 2 ). WSL 2 replaced the previous level 2 division, the FA Women's Premier League (WPL) National Division , which ended after the 2012–13 season. The WPL's last national division champions, Sunderland A.F.C. Women , were not promoted and also became
182-584: A novel coronavirus was the cause of a respiratory illness in a cluster of people in Wuhan City, Hubei , China, which was reported to the WHO on 31 December 2019. The case fatality ratio for COVID-19 has been much lower than SARS of 2003 , but the transmission has been significantly greater, with a significant total death toll. Scientists used statistical analysis of data from genetic sequencing, combined with epidemiological and estimated travel data, to estimate
273-636: A capacity partisan crowd in Vancouver. Following a devastating loss in the semis against defending champions, Japan, after a Laura Bassett own goal, the team rebounded to beat Germany for the first time in women's football after a 1-0 extra-time win in the third-place game. It meant that England had finished as the top European team at the World Cup and had recorded the second-best World Cup showing by any England senior team (behind Sir Alf Ramsey , Bobby Charlton and Bobby Moore 's England men's squad who famously won
364-771: A further increase in cases that surpassed previous records, although the true number of infections was thought to be higher. It became mandatory for people to show proof of full vaccination or proof that they are not infected to enter certain indoor hospitality and entertainment venues. On 9 January 2022, the UK became the seventh country worldwide to pass 150,000 reported COVID-19 deaths. All remaining legally enforced COVID-19 related restrictions concluded in Northern Ireland and England during February 2022, with that step being taken in Scotland (partially extended into April) and Wales by
455-709: A game played in 1895 at the home of Reading and featuring the British Ladies Football Club managed to draw a crowd higher than the previous highest attendance for the men's team. Whereas the 1915 FA Cup Final marked the final organised male football match before the men's sport was suspended, the First World War in Europe saw women's football games increase in popularity and raise the equivalent of millions of pounds for charitable causes. The changing nature of women's work in wartime Britain helped to raise
546-585: A handful of teams, like Dick, Kerr's, found alternative venues, the FA's decision saw most women's teams disband and reduced spectator numbers for the few who remained. For several decades, this decision meant that professional women's football virtually ceased to exist. Women developed their own amateur leagues, such as the English Ladies' Football Association (ELFA) which incorporated 57 teams, but these leagues drew in far smaller crowds and funding remained limited. In
637-547: A hit following the 2012 Olympics after England was unable to advance from the group stages at Women's EURO 2013 in Sweden, which led to Hope Powell 's departure as manager and the appointment of Welshman Mark Sampson . The women's game did receive an unexpected boost when they finished third at the 2015 Women's World Cup in Canada. Along the way, they beat Norway for their first knockout stage win and then host nation Canada in front of
728-494: A hospital appointment, and 37% of older people felt less confident going to a GP surgery. Research by The Sunday Times reported that in 2021, the proportion of private school pupils receiving A*, a mark for exceptional achievement, was 39.5 per cent, rising from 16.1 per cent in 2019. The highest record in terms of increase came from the North London Collegiate School , where senior fees could surpass £21,000
819-462: A new organisation, named NewCo, to run the women's professional game in England, taking over from the FA. For the 2023/24 season, changes were made meaning that two clubs would be relegated from the league allowing one team each from National League North and South to be promoted to the Championship rather than having to play a season end playoff. This change resulted in two teams being relegated from
910-464: A new visual identity, dropping " The FA " from the league names as part of the long term strategy for the leagues to be under new ownership in the future. Having sponsored the first tier since the 2019–20 season , it marked the first season of Barclays as the title partner of the Women's Championship. In November 2023, all 24 Women's Super League and Women's Championship clubs had unanimously agreed to form
1001-558: A significant impact on people's mental health—with particular damage to the mental health of foreign-born men whose work hours have been reduced/eliminated. The pandemic has had far-reaching consequences in the country that go beyond the spread of the disease itself and efforts to quarantine it, including political, cultural, and social implications. Sophie Grégoire Trudeau , the wife of Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau , tested positive for COVID-19 upon her return from WE Day events in
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#17329014186901092-461: A team and play for charity. Taking the factory's name and becoming well-known as Dick, Kerr's Ladies F.C. , they played a total of 828 games between 1917 and 1965 and raised tens of thousands of pounds for charity in its first few years, a sum equivalent to tens of millions in the 2010s. One of these matches, played at Goodison Park , Liverpool on Boxing Day 1920 , attracted a crowd of 53,000, with another 10,000–15,000 reportedly turned away because
1183-678: A year and the proportion of A* grades rose from 33.8 per cent in 2019 to 90.2 per cent in the summer of 2021. At 25 schools, the number of A* grades trebled or even quadrupled. These and other findings led MPs to call for an inquiry into the "manipulation" of the exam system during the COVID-19 crisis. The pandemic was widely disruptive to the economy of the United Kingdom, with most sectors and workforces adversely affected. Some temporary shutdowns became permanent; some people who were furloughed were later made redundant. The economic disruption has had
1274-471: Is the best way to compare outcomes between countries. The study found that, compared to other countries, the UK tended to attribute more deaths to COVID-19. A Cambridge University epidemiologist, Raghib Ali, said that the study would correct "widespread misconceptions" about the way the UK had handled the pandemic, and that there was "no clear relationship between levels of excess mortality and different levels of restrictions... across western Europe or indeed
1365-418: The 1966 World Cup ). During this period, women’s football received a significant amount of largely positive media coverage in the UK. This was complemented by other developments, including the launch of the (then semi-professional) FA Women’s Super League and, from 2015, Sport England ’s This Girl Can national media campaign. The 2015 Women's FA Cup final between Chelsea Ladies and Notts County Ladies
1456-448: The 2016 season , and with the process repeated the following year, both WSL 1 and WSL 2 consisted of ten teams each for the 2017–18 season . In addition to being able to prove their financial solvency, clubs applying for entry to the WSL had to show they would attract an average of 350 spectators in 2016, increasing to at least 400 in 2017. FA WSL 2 was renamed the Women's Championship prior to
1547-468: The 2018–19 season . In May 2020 the Championship season was halted due to the COVID-19 pandemic . In 2022 the league was renamed to simply the Women's Championship, with the FA part being dropped. In November 2023, it was announced that all 24 Women's Super League and Women's Championship clubs had unanimously agreed to form a new organisation to run the women's professional game in England, taking over from
1638-513: The Football Association banned all women's teams from playing on Association-affiliated grounds, arguing that the game is "not fitted for females", citing the high costs of player expenses, and alleging financial corruption. Dick, Kerr's player Alice Barlow recounted how women players disputed these rulings, explaining that "we could only put it down to jealousy. We were more popular than the men and our bigger gates were for charity". While
1729-581: The severe economic impact . It also forwent the procurement process in contracts in response to shortages of PPE and medical equipment , major issues in the early months of the outbreak, and for developing a contact tracing app . There has been some disparity between the outbreak's severity in England , Scotland , Wales and Northern Ireland – health-care in the UK is devolved , each constituent country having its own publicly-funded healthcare system run by devolved governments. The COVID-19 pandemic led to
1820-646: The 1990s for the number of female players and spectators to increase, culminating in England hosting the Women's European Championships in 2005. It is impossible to locate the precise moment at which women started playing football, just as much of the history of the men's game is uncertain. While football in the medieval era is generally believed to have been a men's game, limited evidence suggests that women were occasionally involved. Sir Philip Sidney briefly mentioned female involvement in his 16th Century poem A Dialogue Betweene Two Shepherds ; meanwhile, Mary Queen of Scots
1911-583: The 2009–10 season, England became one of eight nations with two Champions League places, a status it has retained ever since. In the first two seasons of the new Champions League, England's two places were filled by the Premier League champion and the FA Women's Cup winner. For 2011–12, the two finalists in the 2010–11 FA Women's Cup earned the Champions League places. Starting with the 2012–13 Champions League,
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#17329014186902002-589: The 2024–25 season. Notes Women%27s football in England Women's football has been played in England for over a century, sharing a common history with the men's game in the country in which the Laws of the Game were codified. Women's football was originally very popular in the early 20th century, but after being banned by the men's Football Association , its popularity declined. It took until
2093-415: The 20th-highest death rate worldwide. Since early 2021 the UK has had one of the world's highest testing rates. In March 2022, The Lancet published a study showing that, compared to other western European countries, with 127 per 100,000 population, the UK had a lower excess deaths rate during the pandemic than the average, and lower than Italy (227), Portugal (202), Spain (187), Belgium (147), and
2184-420: The Championship at the end of the season. No changes were made to promotion from the league to the WSL with still only one promotion and one relegation respectively. For the 2024/25 season, the league was reduced to eleven teams, due to Reading ’s withdrawal from the Championship, citing financial issues. The FA confirmed two relegation spots would reduce to one. The league will return to a twelve team league at
2275-646: The English side, one for the French and one draw. The series was popular enough to result in Dick, Kerr's being invited over to France for a corresponding away tour. Going unbeaten in France, the team returned home to cheering crowds lining the streets, the equal of any accolade a men's team had received. The 1920s saw the re-emergence of unsubstantiated theories which contended that football threatened women's health and morality. In 1921,
2366-537: The FA WSL announced a two-year plan to expand WSL 1 from an eight to ten-team league. Two teams would be promoted from WSL 2, while one team would be relegated to WSL 2. Also, for the first time, a team would earn promotion to WSL 2 from the Women's Premier League (now National League) , effectively connecting the WSL to the rest of the English women's football pyramid . This left WSL 1 with nine teams and WSL 2 with ten teams for
2457-550: The FA. The organization is called NewCo, and Nikki Doucet has been named CEO. On 13 October 2024, Sunderland A.F.C. Women and Newcastle United W.F.C. set a new attendance record of 15,387 for the Women's Championship in their first meeting in the league, a Wear–Tyne derby match played at the Stadium of Light in Sunderland. The previous record had been an attendance of 11,137, set in 2022. The following eleven clubs are competing in
2548-550: The Netherlands (140), that the difference between the UK, France (124), and Germany (121) was not statistically significant, and that Ireland (13) and the Scandinavian countries had a lower rate. The UK rate is marginally more than the world average of 120. The study was of excess mortality in 191 countries over the years 2020 and 2021 during the pandemic, the method that the chief medical officer of England , Chris Whitty , said
2639-549: The Northern Division and Southern Division at level 2, and Premier Division at level 1, with annual promotion and relegation between the levels. The Football Association took over the direct operation of the women's leagues in the 1994–95 season with the same structure, but renamed the top division the FA Women's Premier League National Division ; it remained the top tier until the 2009–10 season . The Combination Women's Football Leagues , at level 3, began in 1998–99. When
2730-581: The Omicron wave continued. Economic support was given to struggling businesses, including a furlough scheme for employees. As well as the major strain on the UK's healthcare service , the pandemic has had a severe impact on the UK's economy , caused major disruptions to education and had far-reaching impacts on society and politics . On 12 January 2020, the World Health Organization (WHO) confirmed that
2821-568: The UK and were given special permission to visit a dying parent. The women had entered the country on 7 June, after first flying into Doha and Brisbane . A 2021 study suggested that the SARS-CoV-2 Alpha variant , which was first detected in Kent , spread internationally via flights originating in London in late 2020. This article presents official statistics gathered during the COVID-19 pandemic in
Women's Championship (England) - Misplaced Pages Continue
2912-496: The UK introduced advice for travellers coming from affected countries in late January and February 2020, and began contact tracing , although this was later abandoned. The government incrementally introduced further societal restrictions on the public as the virus spread across the country in the following weeks, initially resisting more stringent measures introduced elsewhere in Europe and Asia . Prime Minister Boris Johnson announced
3003-437: The UK went into a third lockdown . The second wave peaked in mid-January with over 1,000 daily deaths, before declining into the summer. The first COVID-19 vaccine was approved and began being deployed across the UK in early December, with a staggered rollout prioritising the most vulnerable and then moving to progressively younger age groups. The UK was the first country to do so, and in early 2021 its vaccination program
3094-808: The UK; on 12 March 2020 the Trudeau family entered two weeks of self-isolation. The first patient in Mauritius was a 59-year-old man who returned from the United Kingdom on 7 March 2020. When he arrived in Mauritius, the Mauritian had no symptoms. Other cases of the novel coronavirus resulting from travel to the UK were subsequently reported in India and Nigeria. On 16 June 2020, it was widely reported in British media that New Zealand's first COVID-19 cases in 24 days were diagnosed in two British women, both of whom had travelled from
3185-705: The United Kingdom The COVID-19 pandemic in the United Kingdom is a part of the worldwide pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 ( COVID-19 ) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 ( SARS-CoV-2 ). In the United Kingdom , it has resulted in 25,012,428 confirmed cases, and is associated with 232,112 deaths. The virus began circulating in the country in early 2020, arriving primarily from travel elsewhere in Europe. Various sectors responded , with more widespread public health measures incrementally introduced from March 2020. The first wave
3276-536: The United Kingdom. Reports from the Medical Research Council's Centre for Global Infectious Disease Analysis at Imperial College , London have been providing mathematically calculated estimates of cases and case fatality rates. In February 2020, the team at Imperial College, led by epidemiologist Neil Ferguson , estimated about two-thirds of cases in travellers from China were not detected and that some of these may have begun "chains of transmission within
3367-470: The WFA had already created the Women's National League, becoming the Women's Premier League in 1992, to parallel the renaming of the top level of men's competition. Most professional men's clubs chose to create, or affiliate to, a women's team and the sport gradually grew. In 2008, the women's league system was transformed following the announcement of a new top-level competition – the Women's Super League . Taking
3458-6015: The WSL divisions changed to a summer season, while other levels stayed on a winter-based season. In 2017–18, the WSL reverted to a winter league. Level League(s)/Division(s) 1 relegated 1 promoted / 1 relegated 1 promoted / 2 relegated 1 promoted / 2 relegated Level League(s)/Division(s) Level League(s)/Division(s) Feeding to North West Women's Regional Football League League Div 1: Cheshire W&YFL Premier Div (9 clubs) Greater Manchester WFL Premier Div (11 clubs) Lancashire FA WCL Premier Div (12 clubs) Liverpool W&YFL Premier Div (8 clubs) Feeding to North East Women's Regional Football League League Div 1: Durham County FAL Div 1 (12 clubs) East Riding County WFL Div 1 (7 clubs) North Riding FL Women's Premier Div (7 clubs) Northumberland FL Women's Premiership (9 clubs) Sheffield & Hallamshire W&GL Div 1 (9 clubs) West Riding County WFL Premier Div (10 clubs) Feeding to West Midlands Regional Women's Football League Div 1: Birmingham County WFL Premier Div (14 clubs) Midwest Counties FFL Div 1 (16 clubs) Staffordshire G&LL Premier Div (7 clubs) Feeding to East Midlands Regional Women's Football League Div 1: Derbyshire G&LL Div 1 (8 clubs) Leicestershire W&GFL Div 1 (10 clubs) Lincolnshire W&GCFL North Div (10 clubs) Lincolnshire W&GCFL South Div (8 clubs) Northamptonshire W&GFL Premier Div (9 clubs) Nottinghamshire G&LFL Div 1 (12 clubs) Feeding to Southern Region Women's Football League Division 1: Hampshire County WFL Div 1 (9 clubs) Thames Valley Counties WFL Div 1 (12 clubs) Feeding to South West Regional Women's Football League Div 1: Cornwall WFL Premier Div (9 clubs) Devon WFL Premier Div (8 clubs) Dorset FL Women's Div (7 clubs) Gloucestershire County WFL Div 1 (10 clubs) Somerset County WL Div 1 (12 clubs) Wiltshire SL Premier Div. (10 clubs) Feeding to Eastern Region Women's Football League Division 1: Bedfordshire and Hertfordshire WFL Premier Div (10 clubs) Cambridgeshire G&WFL Div 1 (10 clubs) Essex County WFL Premier Div (10 clubs) Norfolk W&GFL Div 1 (11 clubs) Suffolk G&WFL Premiership (8 clubs) Feeding to South East Women's Regional Football League Division 1: South East Counties WFL Premier Div (10 clubs) Sussex County WFL Premier Div (8 clubs) Greater London WFL Premier Div (10 clubs) Cheshire W&YFL Championship East (9 clubs) Cheshire W&YFL Championship West (8 clubs) Greater Manchester WFL Div 1 (12 clubs) Lancashire FA WCL Division 1 North (8 clubs) Lancashire FA WCL Division 1 North/West (9 clubs) Lancashire FA WCL Division 1 South/East (8 clubs) Liverpool W&YFL Div 1 (9 clubs) Durham County FAL Div 2 (8 clubs) East Riding County WFL Div 2 (11 clubs) North Riding FL Women's Div 1 (9 clubs) Northumberland FL Women's Div 1 (13 clubs) Sheffield & Hallamshire W&GL Div 2 (12 clubs) West Riding County WFL Div 1 (10 clubs) Birmingham County WFL Div 1 (12 clubs) Staffordshire G&LL Div 1 (10 clubs) Derbyshire G&LL Div 2 (8 clubs) Leicestershire W&GFL Div 2 (14 clubs) Northamptonshire W&GFL Div 1 (10 clubs) Nottinghamshire G&LFL Div 2 (12 clubs) Hampshire County WFL Div 2 (10 clubs) Thames Valley Counties WFL Div 2 (10 clubs) Cornwall WFL Div 1 (9 clubs) Devon WFL North & East Div (9 clubs) Devon WFL South & West Div (10 clubs) Gloucestershire County WFL Div 2 (10 clubs) Somerset County WL Div 2 (10 clubs) Wiltshire SL Development Div (9 clubs) Bedfordshire and Hertfordshire WFL Div 1 (10 clubs) Cambridgeshire G&WFL Div 2 (12 clubs) Essex County WFL Div 1 (11 clubs) Norfolk W&GFL Div 2 (9 clubs) Suffolk G&WFL Championship (12 clubs) South East Counties WFL Surrey Premier Div (8 clubs) South East Counties WFL Kent Div 1 East (9 clubs) South East Counties WFL Kent Div 1 West (9 clubs) Sussex County WFL Championship (9 clubs) Greater London WFL Div 1 North (10 clubs) Greater London WFL Div 1 South (10 clubs) Greater Manchester WFL Div 2 (11 clubs) Liverpool W&YFL Div 2 (7 clubs) Durham County FAL Div 3 (8 clubs) North Riding WFL Div 2 (11 clubs) Sheffield & Hallamshire W&GL Div 3 (12 clubs) West Riding WFL Div 2 (10 clubs) Birmingham County WFL Div 2 (13 clubs) Derbyshire G&LL Div 3 (9 clubs) Nottinghamshire G&LFL Div 3 (10 clubs) Hampshire County WFL Div 3 (9 clubs) Thames Valley Counties WFL Div 3 North (11 clubs) Thames Valley Counties WFL Div 3 South (11 clubs) Thames Valley Counties WFL Div 3 West (12 clubs) Cornwall WFL Div 2 (8 clubs) Gloucestershire County WFL Div 3 (10 clubs) Somerset County WL Div 3 North (8 clubs) Somerset County WL Div 3 South (9 clubs) Bedfordshire and Hertfordshire WFL Div 2 (11 clubs) Cambridgeshire G&WFL Div 3 (13 clubs) Essex County WFL Div 2 (8 clubs) Norfolk W&GFL Div 3 (10 clubs) South East Counties WFL Kent Div 2 East (8 clubs) South East Counties WFL Kent Div 2 Mid East (9 clubs) South East Counties WFL Kent Div 2 Mid West (9 clubs) South East Counties WFL Kent Div 2 West (9 clubs) South East Counties WFL Surrey Div 1 North (7 clubs) South East Counties WFL Surrey Div 1 South (7 clubs) Sussex County WFL Div 1 (8 clubs) Greater London WFL Div 2 North (10 clubs) Greater London WFL Div 2 South & Central (11 clubs) Greater Manchester WFL Div 3 (12 clubs) Durham County FAL Development Div (9 clubs) Sheffield & Hallamshire W&GL Div 4 (11 clubs) West Riding WFL Div 3 (10 clubs) Hampshire County WFL Div 4 (11 clubs) Gloucestershire County WFL Div 4 (10 clubs) Bedfordshire and Hertfordshire WFL Div 3 (11 clubs) Essex County WFL Div 3 (8 clubs) West Riding WFL Div 4 (10 clubs) COVID-19 pandemic in
3549-489: The WSL proved successful enough to expand to a two-division, 20-team set-up in 2014. It wasn't until 2018 that the Women's Super League become fully professional with all 11 top flight teams strictly full-time. Today, the FA directly runs the top women's competitions. The most significant national competition is the national cup, the FA Women's Cup , followed by the top national league, the FA WSL (Women's Super League). Before
3640-436: The WSL would expand by one team in 2016, and WSL 2 would also add a team in 2017. Significantly, the new WSL 2 entries will come via promotion from the Premier League, connecting the WSL to the rest of the pyramid for the first time. To promote women's football, the FA allows cup finals to be held at various men's Premier League/Football League stadiums throughout the country (as opposed to men's finals which are usually held at
3731-421: The Women's Super League started in 2011 as the level 1 division, it displaced the Women's Premier League to level 2 and displaced all other divisions by one level. The WPL National Division ended after the 2012–13 season , replaced in 2014 season by WSL 2, now named the Women's Championship. The WSL operated from 2011 to 2013 on a licence system with no promotion or relegation. The "Women's Premier League" name
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3822-418: The aim is to reduce the health impact of the epidemic but not to stop transmission completely; and suppression, where the aim is to reduce transmission rates to a point where case numbers fall. Until this point, government actions had been based on a strategy of mitigation, but the modelling predicted that while this would reduce deaths by approximately 2/3, it would still lead to approximately 250,000 deaths from
3913-671: The beginning of the 2025/26 season. For the 2014 season, the FA Women's Super League was expanded to create a second division with nine new teams added and one team being relegated from the WSL 1. WSL 1 remained as eight teams, with one new team inserted, with the WSL 2 having ten teams. The new WSL 1 licence was awarded to Manchester City in 2014. Doncaster Rovers Belles were relegated to WSL 2, with nine new licences awarded to London Bees , Durham , Aston Villa , Millwall Lionesses , Yeovil Town , Reading , Sunderland , Watford , and Oxford United . Doncaster Belles appealed against their demotion, but were unsuccessful. In December 2014,
4004-416: The best eight teams following sixteen applications and placing them into a no-relegation single division, the Women's Super League sought to draw greater exposure and funding into the game. The WSL faced several problems in its early stages, with the league having to be delayed a year until March 2011 due to the lingering financial instability in the aftermath of the 2007 global recession . Launching in 2011,
4095-416: The context of widespread popular interest in the game following England's men's 1966 World Cup triumph , the Women's Football Association was established in 1969 which oversaw the creation of a women's England and premier league team. It would take a further two years – and an order from UEFA – to force the (men's) Football Association to remove its restrictions on the playing rights of women's teams. In
4186-514: The countries they entered". They forecast that the new type of coronavirus could infect up to 60% of the UK's population, in the worst-case scenario. In a paper on 16 March 2020, the Imperial College team provided detailed forecasts of the potential impacts of the epidemic in the UK and US. It detailed the potential outcomes of an array of 'non-pharmaceutical interventions'. Two potential overall strategies outlined were: mitigation, in which
4277-460: The country's healthcare system , leading to long waiting lists for medical procedures and ambulances, also led to an indirect increase in deaths from other conditions. It also had a major mental health impact . In August 2021, a report from Age UK found that 27% of people over 60 could not walk as far and 25% were living in more physical pain earlier this year compared to the start of the pandemic. 54% of older people felt less confident attending
4368-572: The country, localised lockdowns, social distancing measures , self-isolation laws for those exposed to the virus and rules on face masks were introduced (though certain exemptions were permitted), as well as efforts to expand COVID-19 testing and tracing. In autumn and winter 2020, further nationwide lockdowns were introduced in response to a surge in COVID-19 cases and the Alpha variant . A COVID-19 vaccination programme began in December 2020. In mid-2021,
4459-410: The county leagues. As in the men's game, some Welsh women's football clubs compete in the English pyramid. The most successful are Gwalia United (formerly known as Cardiff City) and the now defunct Barry Town , both of which have played in the Women's Premiership. Including the introduction of the WSL, WSL 2 and rebrands, an overview of the top five levels since 1991 is below. From 2011 to 2016,
4550-480: The decade, a match scheduled in 1887 between Edinburgh and Grimsby also inspired claims that Grimsby was the first women's football club side. Other women's football clubs were reported to exist in 1889, in England, Scotland and Canada. Nettie Honeyball later founded a team in late 1894 called the British Ladies' Football Club (BLFC), of which Lady Florence Dixie , daughter of the 8th Marquess of Queensberry ,
4641-466: The delay in the reporting of deaths from the virus meant there was a risk of underestimating the steepness of the rising epidemic trend. In December 2021 scientists from the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine predicted that Omicron could cause from 25,000 to 75,000 deaths in England over the five months to April 2022 unless there were more stringent restrictions, and would probably become
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#17329014186904732-474: The disease and the health systems becoming overwhelmed. On 16 March, the Prime Minister announced changes to government advice, extending self-isolation to whole households, advising social distancing particularly for vulnerable groups, and indicating that further measures were likely to be required in the future. A paper on 30 March 2020 by the Imperial College group estimated that the lockdown would reduce
4823-410: The dominant variant by the end of 2021. As of 20 December 2021, there had been 11.4 million confirmed cases – the most in Europe and fourth-highest worldwide. By that date there had been 232,112 deaths among people who had recently tested positive – the world's seventh-highest death toll and 28th-highest death rate by population . This is Europe's second-highest death toll after Russia , and
4914-686: The early weeks of the pandemic, case numbers were underestimated, obscuring the extent of the outbreak. A legally-enforced Stay at Home Order, or lockdown , was introduced on 23 March, banning all non-essential travel and contact with other people, and shut schools, businesses, venues and gathering places. People were told to keep apart in public. Those with symptoms, and their households, were told to self-isolate , while those considered at highest risk were told to shield . The health services worked to raise hospital capacity and established temporary critical care hospitals , but initially faced some shortages of personal protective equipment . By mid-April it
5005-574: The end of March. Cases rose following the relaxation of restrictions but began, along with hospitalisations and deaths, to fall shortly after. The UK Health Security Agency publishes a weekly "national influenza and coronavirus (COVID-19) report", which summarises COVID-19 levels and other seasonal respiratory illnesses. In response to the COVID-19 pandemic in the United Kingdom, the UK Government introduced various public health and economic measures to mitigate its impact. Devolution meant that
5096-472: The fall of 2017. The women's football pyramid was significantly reorganised in 2014. The WSL added a second division known as WSL 2, with the original WSL becoming WSL 1. The Premier League's regional North and South Divisions became the third level of the pyramid, with the Combination Women's Football Leagues becoming the fourth level. Further changes came in 2015; the FA announced that both divisions of
5187-480: The first national lockdown on 23 March 2020 and Parliament introduced the Coronavirus Act 2020 , which granted the devolved governments emergency powers and empowered the police to enforce public health measures. As the governments began lifting the nationwide stay-at-home order, policies and approaches diverged between the four nations. The Scottish government uniquely pursued an elimination strategy . Across
5278-417: The first winners of WSL 2 in the 2014 season . In addition to Sunderland, other WPL clubs that joined WSL 2 in 2014 were Watford and Aston Villa . From 2014 to 2016, WSL 2 ran a summer-based season calendar before reverting to the winter season in 2017–18, the same as WSL 1. FA WSL 2 was renamed the FA Women's Championship prior to the 2018–19 season. Ahead of the 2022–23 season the top two tiers unveiled
5369-508: The formation of the WSL in 2011, the top flight was the FA Women's Premier League National Division , which later become the second-level league and has now been reorganised into the third and fourth levels of the pyramid. Originally, the Premier League champion was the only English representative allowed in Europe. When the UEFA Women's Cup was relaunched as the UEFA Women's Champions League for
5460-666: The four nations' administrative responses to the pandemic differed; the Scottish Government , the Welsh Government , and the Northern Ireland Executive produced different policies to those that apply in England. Numerous laws were enacted or introduced throughout the crisis. The UK government had developed a pandemic response plan in previous years. In response to the first confirmed COVID-19 cases in January 2020,
5551-536: The government lifted most restrictions during the third wave driven by the Delta variant , until the "winter plan" reintroduced some rules in response to the Omicron variant in December that year. Remaining restrictions were lifted in England from 24 February 2022 under a " living with COVID " plan announced by the government on that date. Economic support was provided to struggling businesses and to furlough employees to mitigate
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#17329014186905642-466: The ground was full. In north east England, the Munitionettes Cup contest in 1917–18 was another very popular event, featuring star goal-scorer Bella Reay . Even though the end of WWI in 1918 saw many men return to work and women return to the home, the immense popularity of women's football continued, with the Dick, Kerr's Ladies playing more games in 1920 than any professional men's team in
5733-523: The highly transmissible SARS-CoV-2 Delta variant . However, mass vaccination continued to keep deaths and hospitalisations at much lower levels than in previous waves. Infection rates remained high and hospitalisations and deaths rose into the autumn. In December, the SARS-CoV-2 Omicron variant was confirmed to have arrived and begun spreading widely in the community, particularly in London , driving
5824-409: The largest fall in life expectancy in England since records began in 1981. On average, British COVID-19 victims lost around a decade of life; the last time deaths rose so sharply in the UK was during World War II . In 2020, the disease was the leading cause of death among men, and second leading cause among women. Research in 2021 suggests over 1 million people in the UK have had Long COVID , with
5915-412: The league season. The WSL and Premier League have operated on different season structures – the WSL conducted a summer season contained entirely within a calendar year, whilst the Premier League continues to operate on the traditional winter season spanning two calendar years. Following an abbreviated spring season in 2017, women's football is moving to a parallel calendar to the premier league starting in
6006-474: The majority reporting substantial impacts on day-to-day life. Professor Danny Altmann of Imperial College London said in March 2022, "It's kind of an anathema to me that we've kind of thrown in the towel on control of Omicron wave infections and have said 'it's endemic, and we don't care any more, because it's very benign'," he said. "It just isn't. And there are new people joining the long Covid support groups all
6097-553: The national stadiums). In the 2013–14 season, the FA Cup final was held at MK Dons 's Stadium mk , the WSL Cup final at Wycombe Wanderers ' Adams Park , and the League Cup final at Burton Albion 's Pirelli Stadium . The Women's FA Cup secured its first sponsorship deal with SSE as a sign of the huge resurrection women's football has seen since London 2012 . Despite sponsorship, entering
6188-551: The new Delta variant , began in July 2021, but the rate of deaths and hospitalisations was lower than with the first two waves – this being attributed to the mass vaccination programme. By early December 2021, the Omicron variant had arrived, and caused record infection levels. The UK government and each of the three devolved governments (in Scotland, Northern Ireland and Wales) introduced public health and economic measures , including new laws , to mitigate its impact. A national lockdown
6279-523: The north-west of England, organised by two theatre entrepreneurs and played by members of the theatre community – Lily St. Clare scored the first goal in the first match, a 3–0 win for Scotland at Hibernian Park . Their games in Glasgow (with a crowd of more than 5,000) and Manchester were marred by pitch invasions and match abandonments. These matches are understood to have been the first international women's association football matches in history. Later in
6370-467: The number of dead from 510,000 to less than 20,000. This paper and others relied on data from European countries including the UK to estimate that the combined non-pharmaceutical interventions reduced the reproduction number of the virus by 67–87%, enough to stop infections from growing. However, followup work concluded that the effectiveness of interventions was lower in later waves of infections. In April 2020, biostatistician Professor Sheila Bird said
6461-712: The profile of the game both as a women's sport and more generally. Although women workers were encouraged to engage with official workplace sports teams to improve health and productivity, many played football with each other in their lunch-breaks, forming unsanctioned teams such as Bella's Team, the Blyth Spartans, and the Carlisle Munitionettes. Others were invited to join the remaining men's kick-arounds outside working hours. After observing women munitions workers playing football from his office window, Alfred Frankland suggested to worker Grace Sibbert they should establish
6552-694: The reach the last four. In July 2022, Dutch coach Sarina Wiegman led England to a 2-1 win over Germany in the final of Euro 2022 . This marked the 20th match with Wiegman at the helm, of which England had won 18 and drawn 2, including winning the Arnold Clark Cup that spring. The present national league system in women's football in England was created by the Women's Football Association . The WFA's Women's National League divisions played their first season in 1991–92 . In previous decades, there had been women's Regional Leagues, which continue today. The Women's National League (1991–1994) had three divisions:
6643-483: The same period. Women's international games emerged. In 1920, Alfred Frankland liaised with the Federation des Societies Feminine Sportives de France to send a French team to tour England and play the Dick, Kerr's Ladies. They competed at four venues - Preston, Stockport, Manchester and London - and played to crowds in the tens of thousands. The first ever international matches between women's clubs resulted in two wins for
6734-582: The same time, women were increasingly becoming involved around the sport in non-playing roles, such as Mary Raine who in February 1969 was sent to report on the Chelsea-Sunderland league game for radio’s Sports Report , becoming the first woman to report on sport for the BBC, and Patricia Gregory, who helped found the women's FA. The FA resumed direct involvement in women's football in 1993, though by this time,
6825-544: The same year, the Mitre Challenge Trophy was created as the first national cup competition for women's teams in England, a competition which would eventually morph into the FA Women's Cup . Although the Women's Football Association did much to advance the game, taking an English team to the European Championship Final in 1984, insufficient funds continued to stunt growth at a grassroots level. Around
6916-454: The source locations of the virus in the UK up to the beginning of March 2020, and following the initial importations which were likely from China or elsewhere in Asia. From this analysis they estimated that about 33% were from Spain, 29% from France, 12% from Italy and 26% from elsewhere. Notes: Though later reporting indicated that there may have been some cases dating from late 2019, COVID-19
7007-677: The sport. In 1885, seeking to curb the more boisterous behaviour of male spectators, Preston North End began offering free admission to women in the hope that their presence would restrain the men. This was successful, attracting 2,000 women to Preston's next match, and was rapidly adopted by other clubs around England. It was so successful that by the late 1890s free entry had been entirely discontinued as clubs realised how much revenue they were losing. As women's teams continued to grow in reputation, some began to stage games on grounds used by teams of their all-male, and longer-established, counterparts, often reaching respectably high attendances. Notably,
7098-560: The time with their disabilities. It's really not OK, and it's heartbreaking." The Office for National Statistics estimated that the number of people in the UK with continuing COVID symptoms like fatigue, muscle pain and breathing problems had doubled in a year from one million in May 2021 to two million in May 2022. The Guardian reported in June 2022 that treatment facilities for patients with long COVID were inadequate. The pandemic's major impact on
7189-404: The tournament actually costs clubs more than they get in prize money. In 2015, it was reported that even if Notts County had won the tournament outright the £8,600 winnings would leave them out of pocket. The winners of the men's FA Cup in the same year received £1.8 million, with teams not reaching the first round proper getting more than the women's winners. The women's game in England took
7280-413: The two berths were initially planned to go to the WSL and FA Women's Cup champions, but the FA chose instead to send the top two teams from the WSL. Women's football also has two significant secondary cup competitions. The FA WSL Cup , contested by the WSL teams, is held after the league season. The Premier League Cup , limited to the teams in the Premier League and its regional subdivisions, is held during
7371-412: The virus is thought to have originated in Kent around September 2020. Once restrictions were lifted, the novel variant rapidly spread across the UK. Its increased transmissibility contributed to a continued increase in daily infections that surpassed previous records. The healthcare system had come under severe strain by late December. Following a partial easing of restrictions for Christmas, all of
7462-694: Was at the time one of the largest worldwide. By the autumn, COVID-19 cases were again rising. This led to the introduction of social distancing measures and some localised restrictions. Larger lockdowns took place in all of Wales, England and Northern Ireland later that season. In both England and Scotland, tiered restrictions were introduced in October, and England went into a month-long lockdown during November followed by new tiered restrictions in December. Multi-week 'circuit-breaker' lockdowns were imposed in Wales and Northern Ireland . A new variant of
7553-480: Was at the time one of the world's largest outbreaks. By mid-April the peak had been passed and restrictions were gradually eased. A second wave, with a new variant that originated in the UK becoming dominant, began in the autumn and peaked in mid-January 2021, and was deadlier than the first. The UK started a COVID-19 vaccination programme in early December 2020. Generalised restrictions were gradually lifted and were mostly ended by August 2021. A third wave, fuelled by
7644-420: Was confirmed to be present in the UK by the end of January 2020 with the first confirmed deaths in March. Subsequent epidemiological analysis showed that over 1000 lineages of SARS-CoV-2 entered the UK in early 2020 from international travellers, mostly from outbreaks elsewhere in Europe , leading to numerous clusters that overwhelmed contact tracing efforts. Limited testing and surveillance meant during
7735-513: Was held at Wembley Stadium for the very first time. The largest known English women's attendances to date were recorded at Wembley in that decade, in the 2012 Summer Olympic football final, USA–Japan (80,203) and the England–Germany 2019 friendly (77,768). Euro 2017 saw the national side win their group before being knocked out in the semi-finals by the Dutch. Similarly the 2019 World Cup saw
7826-477: Was implausibly used from 2014 to 2018 only for lower-league tiers at levels 3 and 4: the FA Women's Premier League Northern Division and Southern Division , and the four rebranded regional divisions of the Combination Leagues . In 2018 the "WPL" was renamed the Women's National League, restoring the name used in the leagues' early years. At level 5 are eight regional leagues. Below the regional leagues are
7917-498: Was introduced on 23 March 2020 and lifted in May, replaced with specific regional restrictions. Further nationwide restrictions were introduced later in 2020 in response to a surge in cases. Most restrictions were lifted during the Delta-variant-driven third wave in mid-2021. The "winter plan" reintroduced some rules in response to the Omicron variant in December 2021, and all restrictions were lifted in February and March 2022 as
8008-484: Was known to have been a spectator of the sport. A ball formerly in her possession is claimed by some to be the oldest football still in existence. As football developed from a disorganised village sport into a codified game, with more spectators than players at the end of the 19th century, women's football also developed. A team represented England in a series of matches against Scotland, in 1881 in Edinburgh, Glasgow and
8099-486: Was one of the fastest in the world. By August 2021, more than 75% of adults in the UK were fully vaccinated against COVID-19. Quarantine rules for all incoming travellers were introduced for the first time in late January. Restrictions began to ease from late February onwards and almost all had ended in Great Britain by August. A third wave of daily infections began in July 2021 due to the arrival and rapid spread of
8190-576: Was president. The Lady Footballers and the British Ladies Football Club were able to tour England, playing teams across the country. However, women footballers in England were not entirely able to operate without prejudice, as evidenced in the way many elected to play under assumed names such as "Mrs Graham" , to avoid reprisals for their participation. The British Ladies Football Club experiment lasted for less than two seasons. Football clubs took advantage of women's budding interest in
8281-405: Was reported that restrictions had " flattened the curve " of the epidemic and the UK had passed its peak after 26,000 deaths. The UK's overall death toll and by population surpassed that of Italy on 3 May, making the UK the worst affected country in Europe at the time. Restrictions were steadily eased across the UK in late spring and early summer that year. The UK's epidemic in early 2020
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