Lewes F.C. Women
Association football club in Sussex, England
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Lewes Football Club Women is a women's football club affiliated with Lewes F.C. The club compete in the FA Women's National League South and play at The Dripping Pan. The team's highest ever league finish was 5th place in the second-tier FA Women's Championship in 2020–21.
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| Full name | Lewes Football Club Women | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| Nickname | The Rooks | ||
| Founded | 2002[1] | ||
| Ground | The Dripping Pan, Lewes | ||
| Capacity | 2,801 (600 seated) | ||
| Manager | Emma Byrne | ||
| League | FA Women's National League South | ||
| 2024–25 | FA Women's National League South, 6th of 12 | ||
| Website | lewesfc.com/women | ||
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History
Lewes Ladies FC was established in 2002 as the women's affiliate of Lewes FC, a not-for-profit club helping pioneer 100% fan and community ownership. The team started playing in the South East Counties football league and within a ten-year period climbed through the pyramid, winning promotion to the fourth-tier FA Women's Premier League in 2012 following an unbeaten season.[2]
In 2017, Lewes became the first professional or semi-professional football club to pay its women's team the same as its men's team as part of their Equality FC initiative.[3]
In 2018, the team was awarded a place in the FA Women's Championship.[4] In September 2019 club director Barry Collins resigned, frustrated at the board's preoccupation with equality campaigning: "I joined a football club and feel like I'm leaving a political party".[5]
Managerial history
| Name | Nationality | From | To | Ref. |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Jacquie Agnew |  England |
2002 | June 2014 | [6][7][8] |
| John Donoghue | England |
June 2014 | November 2018 | [9][10][11] |
| Fran Alonso |  Spain |
December 2018 | January 2020 | [12][13][14] |
| Simon Parker | England |
January 2020 | October 2021 | [15][16] |
| Scott Booth |  Scotland |
May 2022 | April 2024 | [17] |
| Natalie Lawrence | England |
July 2024 | June 2025 | [18][19] |
| Emma Byrne |  Ireland |
July 2025 | [20] |
Current squad
- As of March 2026
Note: Flags indicate national team as defined under FIFA eligibility rules; some limited exceptions apply. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.
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Season summary
- Key
- QF = Quarter-finals
- SF = Semi-finals
| Champions | Runners-up | Promoted | Relegated |
| Season | Division | P | W | D | L | F | A | Pts | Pos | FA Cup |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| League | ||||||||||
| 2002–03 | ||||||||||
| 2003–04 | SEC[21] | 16 | 7 | 6 | 3 | 26 | 21 | 27 | 3rd | |
| 2004–05 | SEC[22] | 18 | 10 | 5 | 3 | 35 | 14 | 35 | 3rd | R2 |
| 2005–06 | LSEWRFL[23] | 22 | 18 | 1 | 3 | 85 | 20 | 55 | 2nd | |
| 2006–07 | LSEWRFL[24] | 20 | 18 | 1 | 1 | 68 | 15 | 55 | 1st | |
| 2007–08 | ||||||||||
| 2008–09 | ||||||||||
| 2009–10 | R3 | |||||||||
| 2010–11 | R1 | |||||||||
| 2011–12 | R2 | |||||||||
| 2012–13 | WPL South[25] | 18 | 7 | 2 | 9 | 23 | 24 | 23 | 5th | R2 |
| 2013–14 | WPL South[26] | 20 | 9 | 4 | 7 | 31 | 32 | 31 | 6th | R3 |
| 2014–15 | WPL South[27] | 22 | 6 | 3 | 13 | 31 | 37 | 21 | 7th | R3 |
| 2015–16 | WPL South[28] | 22 | 8 | 1 | 13 | 30 | 42 | 25 | 7th | R3 |
| 2016–17 | WPL South[29] | 20 | 7 | 4 | 9 | 31 | 36 | 25 | 7th | R3 |
| 2017–18 | WPL South[30] | 22 | 14 | 2 | 6 | 45 | 25 | 44 | 5th | R5 |
| 2018–19 | Championship | 20 | 5 | 2 | 13 | 23 | 47 | 17 | 9th | R4 |
| 2019–20 | Championship | 12 | 2 | 3 | 7 | 10 | 18 | 9 | 8th | R5 |
| 2020–21 | Championship | 20 | 8 | 4 | 8 | 19 | 22 | 28 | 5th | R4 |
| 2021–22 | Championship | 22 | 9 | 2 | 11 | 23 | 24 | 29 | 8th | R3 |
| 2022–23 | Championship | 22 | 7 | 5 | 10 | 20 | 29 | 26 | 9th | QF |
| 2023–24 | Championship | 22 | 4 | 4 | 14 | 22 | 39 | 16 | 11th | R3 |
| 2024–25 | National League | 22 | 8 | 7 | 7 | 37 | 28 | 31 | 6th | R3 |
