EUFC Women History .
The very first Fleet women’s side had its roots in the 1990s under the banner of AEI Gravesend Ladies FC and Lashing Ladies FC.
In May 1998, a team by the name of Acacia Avenue switched their name to Gravesend & Northfleet Ladies while a further version of the club took to the field from the 2005/06 season in the South East Counties Women’s Football league, in which they gained promotion into the South East/London Alliance Premier Division.
In 2008/09, the club won the London & South East Regional Premier Division title and over the next four seasons played in what was then the third tier in the South East Combination League against the likes of Tottenham Hotspur, Ipswich Town, QPR and Norwich City.
The Fleet Ladies’ final season came in 2013/14, with the club folding a few games into the start of the following campaign.
The present-day fleet
Fast forward to the current incarnation in 2022 when Kent Football United’s women’s and girls’ section moved under the umbrella of Ebbsfleet United FC. Kent Football United, formed in 2016, had won three league titles and consecutive promotions in their first three seasons as well as reaching the First Round Proper of the FA Cup.
Playing in the Women’s National League as one of the top 96 teams in the country for three seasons, the side averaged crowds of more than 200 and increased the involvement of their playing section by 700%. Relegated to the London & South-East Regional League at the end of 2021/22, they began life as Ebbsfleet United Women with a series of friendlies in front of their new supporters at the Kuflink Stadium, including a victory of Chelsea Women’s Academy.
The 2022/23 season saw the side lead the division for much of the campaign with promotion and the title appearing to be in the bag but for a late ruling in title rivals Worthing’s favour. The Rebels were allowed to replay a game in which their opponents had fielded an ineligible player and they thereby pipped the Fleet to first place.Â
Ahead of the 2023/24 season, manager Sam MacNeill stepped down to be replaced by his assistant Ben Franks, who in turn was succeeded by Quinton Naidoo, who had previously managed the Fleet more than a decade previously. And now the Fleet are looking to compete once again for promotion in front of a legion of new and enthusiastic fans at the Kuflink Stadium.
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