North West Women's Regional Football League

The former Women's Football Association (WFA) was established in 1969, independently of the FA.[1] While progress was made at the national and international levels, grassroots development was hindered by lack of funding and, by 1993, there were only 80 girls' teams nationwide, including some in Lancashire, Liverpool and Manchester. In 1993, the WFA disbanded as governance of women's football was accepted by the FA.[2] Among the FA's priorities were, as in men's football, to develop a pyramid system of leagues throughout the country and to establish regional governance by county associations. These include the Lancashire County Football Association which, in 1996, established the Lancashire FA Women's County League, originally known as the Lancashire FA Girls League.[3]

As the number of teams and local leagues grew, the women's pyramid was restructured and the North West Women's Regional Football League was formally constituted in 2003. Growth was boosted by affiliation of women's teams to professional clubs – for example, when the NWWRFL began in 2003–04, the Premier Division included teams affiliated to Bury, Bolton Wanderers and Preston North End, all members of the Football League.[4] Originally, the NWWRFL had four levels – a Premier Division and three lower levels called Divisions One, Two and Three – with promotion and relegation in between. The Premier Division had promotion into the former Northern Combination Women's Football League. The league's inaugural season was 2003–04 when the Premier Division champions were Preston North End WFC, who were unbeaten in their 17 matches.[4] There were ten founder members of the Premier Division: AFC Darwen Ladies, Bolton Wanderers Ladies, Bury FC Women, Chorley Women FC, Hopwood Ladies, Liverpool Feds, Preston North End WFC, Stretford Victoria, Warrington Town Ladies and Witton Albion Ladies.[4]

In 2005, the NWWRFL's structure was changed from four levels to two by the combination of the old Divisions One, Two and Three into Division One North and Division One South, which are both in level six of the pyramid and split geographically. During the 2000s, there was further reorganisation of women's football at county level and, in addition to the tier seven Lancashire League, others were established in Cheshire, Greater Manchester, and Merseyside. The top divisions of these four leagues have promotion into NWWRFL Divisions One North and One South. The Premier Division was unchanged in 2005 and is now a level five league with promotion into the level four FA Women's National League Division One. It is one of eight level five leagues nationally, the others being the North East, East Midlands, West Midlands, Eastern, London and South East, South West and Southern.[5]

The NWWRFL's first season as a two-level structure was 2005–06 in which the Premier Division champions were Stretford Victoria.[6] The first winners of Division One North and South were Saint Domingo's (based in Huyton, Liverpool) and AFC Urmston Meadowside (based in Davyhulme, Manchester) respectively.[7][8]

The league's 2019–20 season was cancelled due to the Covid-19 pandemic and all matches were declared null and void.[9] The 2020–21 season began but, after more Covid-related disruption, it was curtailed on 16 March 2021 with no titles, promotions or relegations.[10] For the 2021–22 season, the league has been enlarged from 30 to 34 clubs as both Division One North and South now have twelve members.[11][12]

The league began in the 2003–04 season with four divisions which were reduced to two before the 2005–06 season. Since then, the structure has been a Premier Division (tier five) and a Division One (tier six) which is itself geographically partitioned into North and South sub-divisions.[16] Some of the teams listed below were short-lived and are now defunct.

• North West Football Trust