ENFIELD TOWN LADIES FOOTBALL CLUB was founded in 1985 as Merryhills Midgets, a name taken from the primary school that the founder members attended. The original idea for the club was started when some girls showed an interest in playing football and their parents decided to help them achieve their wish. Two of the founder members, Emma Meads and Melissa Van Gucci, have only just stopped playing for the club, Emma's mum Brenda Abbott is our Honoury President.
The club only competed in five-a-side tournaments in the early years, but continued to grow as more players joined. The club has always attempted to provide football for as many players as we can accommodate. This is still the aim of the club today; we are very much a community club, providing training and where possible games for as many players as possible at all levels, up to the highest level possible. The first real success for the club came inthe now sadly defunct Metropolitan Police 5-a-side tournament where we reached the finals, which ended with a memorable night at Wembley Arena, and then the semi-finals in successive seasons.
As the original players got older we decided to join the Eastern Region League in 1989/90, for our first season of eleven a-side football, we were promoted to Division 1 in our first season. After three years of travelling to Norwich and back several times a season it was decided to enter the Greater London Women's Regional Football League in 1992/93 and we were slotted straight into Division 1. In 1997/98 we
gained promotion to the newly formed FA South East Combination League, in our first season we finished 7th, this was followed with 3rd, then runners up and finally in season 2001/02 we were crowned champions and promoted to the FA Premier League, Southern Division. This completed a double as a couple of weeks earlier we had won the MIDDLESEX CUP for the first time, the cup was retained the following season. Unfortunately due to other circumstances we were unable to complete a hat trick of wins. Some of our younger sides have also won the Middlesex Cup for their age group, including the Under 11's and Under 13's.
Over the past few seasons we have fielded sides at Senior level (Firsts, Reserves & Thirds) and junior level (Under 10's, 11's, 12's, 13's, 14's & 15's) which sees the Club membership having grown from the original five to well over the hundred mark, and is still growing.
We are hopeing to continue to progress and have more success in the years ahead and to aid this, during the summer of 2003 we formed an alliance with the newly formed Enfield Town, after many happy years being affiliated to Enfield FC. This helped us to raise our profile in the home borough and to assist with the coaching of as many young girls and boys in the local community as possible, and to aid both clubs development and ambition of having a ground of our own within the borough of Men's and Women's football. The agreement sees us share the facilities at Brimsdown Sports and Social Club with the hosts own Brimsdown Rovers and Enfield Town Men's sides. To reflect this collaboration the club name was changed to Enfield Town Ladies.
Season 2004-2005 saw us finally lose the battle against relegation, ending up 11th out of twelve teams. For season 2005-2006 we returned to the South-east Combination League. After the previous season's relegation it took a period of adjustment before the team found its footing and started to compete in the league. The season ended with a Middlesex Cup final defeat against our local rivals and league champions, Barnet.
A slight change in the age range of our teams now sees us running more teams than ever, so the future really does look bright.
