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The her-story of Women’s Football in Maidstone (so far…)

After the now infamous 50-year ban, the Women’s FA Cup was founded in 1970, it began life as the Mitre Challenge Trophy. In its first year, there were 71 entrants, including teams from Scotland and Wales, a far cry from this season’s 538 entrants, the Stones having already gone further than 402 clubs! Southampton won the cup eight times in the first 23 years of the competition’s history; we will hear more about them very soon.

Moving forward a decade to April 1981, not only was there an FA Cup semi-final at Maidstone’s ground, but one of the teams competing for a place in the final was Maidstone themselves. With England internationals Debbie Bampton (95 caps 7 goals), Tracy Doe (12 caps, 5 goals) and Wendy Owen (16 caps), Maidstone United Ladies were champions of the South-East Regional League and had gone unbeaten all season. The current holders of the Women’s FA Cup, St Helen’s, were all that stood in the way of an FA Cup final that would also take place at Maidstone.

In front of just 200 spectators, the home team took the lead through an own goal; but then disaster struck. Goalkeeper Sue Mortimer was badly injured but played on, not realising that her leg was broken. St Helen’s took a 2-1 half-time lead and ran away with it in the second half, winning 7-1. Despite their obvious strength, the Lancastrians were beaten in the final by regular winners Southampton. The following year, Maidstone would lose again at the semi-final stage, this time round a narrow 1-0 defeat by Lowestoft, who themselves would beat Cleveland Spartans in the final.

Moving forward another decade to the 1991-92 season, Stones Women suffered an 11-0 home loss to Bromley Borough in the second round, Maidstone Tigresses (more on them in a future article), who were founded in 1986 as a breakaway from Maidstone Ladies, would go on to lose 10-1 to Doncaster Belles in the semi-final before they themselves would go on to defeat Red Star Southampton 4-0 in the final.

So, with Plymouth Argyle being Maidstone’s next opponents in the FA Cup, a side that have not failed to make the second round in the last twenty years, could that next Stones chapter include a huge cup upset? Well, looking back at what has happened in Maidstone before, you cannot completely rule it out, can you?

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