Sunderland A.F.C. Ladies
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| Full name | Sunderland Association Football Club Ladies |
|---|---|
| Nickname(s) | "Lady Black Cats" |
| Founded | 1989 (as The Kestrels) |
| Ground | The Hetton Centre, Hetton-le-Hole |
| Capacity | 2,500 |
| Chairman | Per Magnus Andersson |
| Manager | Carlton Fairweather |
| Coach | Melanie Reay |
| League | FA WSL 1 |
| 2015 | 4th, FA WSL 1 |
| Website | Club home page |
Sunderland Association Football Club Ladies, previously Sunderland Association Football Club Women, is an English women's football club that plays in the FA WSL, the highest division of women's football in England. They play their home games at The Hetton Centre in Hetton-le-Hole, Tyne and Wear, North East England.
Sunderland won the FA Women's Premier League Northern Division in 2004–05 to reach the top tier National Division. After relegation in 2007, they returned to the National Division in 2009 and also lost that season's FA Women's Cup final, 2–1 to holders Arsenal at Pride Park Stadium.
The club's bid to join the FA WSL for the initial 2011 season was controversially rejected in favour of the relatively newly formed, but big spending, Manchester City. This decision led to the departure of many star players (3 of whom represented England in the 2015 World Cup) and is thought to have damaged the development of the women's game in the North East for years to come. Despite this they responded by winning the Premier League National Division, which had become the second tier, on three consecutive occasions and also collected the 2011–12 FA Women's Premier League Cup. In 2014 Sunderland were accepted into the second division of a newly expanded FA WSL. They won the league on the final day of the season and were promoted into FA WSL 1 for 2015.
The club began in 1989 as a five-a-side team called The Kestrels and won the Women's Football Association (WFA) Yorkshire and Humberside League in 1990. Over the next decade they competed in the Northern Premier as Cowgate Kestrels, RTM Newcastle Kestrels and Blyth Spartans Kestrels. In 2000 the club merged with an independent Sunderland Ladies club, to become Sunderland Women's FC, after winning promotion to the top tier FA Women's Premier League National Division for the first time. The new club was originally financed as part of the established professional Sunderland A.F.C. men's club, but following financial troubles in 2004, the women's side was forced to become financially independent. Sunderland A.F.C. only provided some kit and the home ground.
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