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LOUGHBOROUGH LIGHTNING FC V DONCASTER ROVER BELLES LFC
TODAYS OPPOSITION
DONCASTER ROVER BELLES LFC
1969: The club is formed as the Belle Vue Belles by a group of young, ambitious women who were selling draw tickets on the terraces at Doncaster Rovers FC. 1971: They began playing local, small-sided games but within a short period of time found themselves venturing outside of Doncaster and subsequently the Belle Vue part of the name had no meaning. This led to one of the biggest moments in the club’s history as they decided to change their name to the Doncaster Belles. 2005: The Belles formalised a partnership link with Doncaster Rovers to enable the team to play a number of games at Belle Vue stadium and also to use the training facilities at Cantley Park. The partnership also led to a name-change of Doncaster Rovers Belles.
2013: The Football Association announced in April that, as part of an FA WSL restructure and expansion, Manchester City WFC would replace the Belles in the top tier in 2014. The Belles were placed in a new 10-team FA WSL 2. 2018: After finishing runnersup several times, the Belles finally got their hands on the WSL2 trophy. Emma Coates, Kate Rowson and Neil Redfearn all had spells as manager in our title-winning season, with our league win claimed just before kick-off in our penultimate game of the season. 2018/19: The 2018/19 season would see the Belles in the third tier of women’s football, with Zoey Shaw and her development squad all making the jump up to the first team, with home fixtures also being played at Rossington Main’s Oxford
Street ground. After a tough start to the campaign, Shaw’s side picked up respectable results towards the end of the season, narrowly missing out on survival on the final day. 2019: In the club’s 50th anniversary year, the Belles join the Club Doncaster family, with Russ Green joining as chief executive. The Belles reverted to their historic colours of red and white which they wore when they formed, whilst keeping yellow and blue colours for their away kit. 2020: Doncaster-born defender and former Doncaster Rovers club captain Andy Butler is named as the new Belles’ first-team manager in January 2020, bringing in Nick Buxton as his assistant. Butler’s first league game in charge of the Belles was a 2-0 home win over Burton Albion.
