The story behind the rise of Lisburn Rangers from the bottom to the Women’s Premiership

Lisburn Rangers Ladies are probably the most successful team that you’ve never heard of – until now.

In 2019, they set out with a very specific target; to reach the top-flight of Northern Ireland football.

Now, after not just achieving five successive promotions but going through all five seasons unbeaten in League football as they won every division on their way through the NIWFA system, the excitement is building ahead of their step up into the Sports Direct Women’s Premiership.

It is not only that amazing playing record that makes the Lisburn Rangers tale impressive; the fact that 12 of their squad that started out in the NIWFA Fourth Division will be involved when they travel to Larne Women for their League opener makes it all the more remarkable.

“Our togetherness is one of the strongest attributes in the team,” said Erin McGreevy, who is one of the originals.

“That’s what has got us here today. When you are going through the Leagues over five years, people are going to leave, but the majority have stayed together.

“It’s a very proud moment for myself and for a lot of the other girls who have been there from the start. It’s like one big family, and it’s amazing to be where we are now.”

The on-pitch success has only been the tip of the iceberg for the club based at Stanley Park in Lisburn, the ground that they developed on land secured through an agreement with the Council 15 years previously.

Until a group of young female players crossed the town from Lisburn Ladies, who are now looking forward to their third season in the Premiership, Lisburn Rangers had solely been a male club, with roots going back to the 1960s.

“I had been coaching at a boys’ club and had nothing to do with Lisburn Rangers when my own daughter joined the club,” said Alastair Dickson, who now doubles as the senior women’s team manager and club vice-chairman.

“The aim from the very start was to get to the Premiership. The committee were on board from day one, attending games, and they were fully behind us.

“It means everything, and you feel part of the club.

“At no stage did we feel that there was a men’s side of the club and a women and girls’ side and that we were miles apart. The girls who were there from the start would all say the same.

“When you can pick up the phone to the chairman, who knows all the players by name, it means a lot. If that wasn’t the case, I don’t think it would have worked.”

Various challenges were thrown in front of them.

The club had mapped out their route to the top only for the goalposts to move, and when others saw the success on the pitch, envious eyes were cast in their direction, which might have led them down a different path only for the club, its players and families trusting in the plan.

“At the beginning, the divisions were North 2, South 2, North 1, South 1 and Championship, and we thought we could get through the NIWFA Leagues in three to four years,” said Dickson.

“Then it was changed to five divisions and we had to start at the bottom. We did that and we worked our way through the Leagues.

“At one stage along the way, there were Premiership clubs looking at us to come and move, we looked at that and what was best for the girls’ development at that time.

“They met with the clubs, and it was their decision to keep going, and we would continue to play friendly games in the south and enter all the Cups.

“That’s how we kept things competitive for them, for their growth and development, as we worked our way through the Leagues.”

Ella Haughey has moved on to Nottingham Forest, while Linfield Ladies have coaxed Eve Reilly away, but otherwise, the squad is much the same. Former international goalkeeper Emma Higgins has been signed to add experience.

The team’s only defeats in the previous two seasons have come against Cliftonville Ladies and Glentoran Women in County Antrim and Irish Cup games – only losing to the Glens by a single goal in a pulsating encounter in August 2022.

Rangers have already sent out a statement in the 2024 season with a 9-0 win over Mid Ulster Ladies in the Quarter-Finals of the Premiership League Cup.

Off the pitch, developments haven’t been so swift.

Plans to increase the size of the pitch, floodlights, training facilities and a community hub, including enhanced changing facilities, were passed six months previously, but no date has been set for the commencement of that work, and for at least the 2024 season, the Ladies team will play at Crewe United in neighbouring Glenavy while awaiting the green light.

“You would like to think Lisburn and Castlereagh Council would like at our plans and be thinking that they’ve got to make it happen,” said Dickson.

“The perfect ending is to ensure that when the new ground is finished, it will be hosting Women’s Premiership football.

“It’s a case of now that we have got to where we want to be, we want to enjoy it.

“This has been five years in the making and, first and foremost for the girls, it’s about going out and enjoying playing where they deserve to be playing after everything that they have done.

“There are no targets this season.

“Obviously, we want to stay in the League, but there is no aim to finish in a certain position.”

*On Friday night Lisburn Rangers reached the Women’s Premiership League Cup Final after beating Crusaders 3-2.

They will meet Cliftonville in the final after the Reds overcame Glentoran 3-2.