Birmingham City Ladies FC was formed by a group of dedicated Birmingham City fans in 1968. This was a time when women’s football was on the rise, thanks in part to the England World Cup win in 1966, but mainly due to the dedicated women’s teams that had continued to play despite all the obstacles the football Association had put in their way. Banned in 1921 from playing on any FA affiliated pitch (a ban that wasn’t lifted until 1971) because they felt it was unbecoming of a lady to be involved in such a physical sport.
The Blues played friendly’s against other local women’s teams from 1968 until the creation of the Heart of England league in 1970. They stayed in this league till 1973 when the restructuring of the leagues meant their league was changed to West Midland Regional League; this change was officially implemented in 1974. From this time through to the late eighties the Blues won many league titles and cups. They remain the only West Midland team to have reached a WFA Cup semi final, which they did in the 73/74 and 87/88 seasons.
The early nineties proved a difficult era for the Blues, confidence was low throughout the team and management so go give the team a boost an Academy was introduced that would help feed younger players into the senior team, and a new senior team manager Marcus Bignot was appointed.
It worked! In the 1998/99 season the Blues won promotion to a newly formed combination league and at their 1st attempt they won the league and were promoted to the National Northern Division. After only two seasons in the National Northern Division they were promoted to the National League.
In 2003 Birmingham City Ladies boasted 9 of the U19 England team players, more than any other squad at the time. Marcus Bignot developed many of the young player’s games during the early to mid 2000s: players such as Rachel Yankey, Karen Carney, Eniola Aluko, Alex Scott and Laura Bassett. All except Bassett, now play for Arsenal and are 1st choice England Senior Squad members.
The 2004/2005 season saw the Blues finish 4th in the league. But at the end of that season Birmingham City disaffiliated themselves with the women’s team seeing them lose a huge amount of funding and therefore all their top players, except Bassett. Since then the team has been fighting to get funding and keep their place in the premier Division. They finished 10th in the league this season and are confident they will keep getting better and better.