The Bicester-based club started in 1968 but this season they are going through a rebuilding process, as Sarah Clutterbuck explains.
How did the club and particularly your team get started? The club was started in 1968 and has been in existence ever since for the Ladies section. The Girls club is a new addition this year through wanting to grow the sport within Bicester.
Tell us some of your top nicknames and why players have them and why some maybe don’t? I was the Manager last season and my nickname is Chunk. I have had that name since I was 9 years old, from around the time of the Goonies but I was never as fat as the kid in the film! I am 35 now! So not a football nickname but when two guys came up with it, we wer
e playing football in the school playground, I was the only girl playing football with the boys.
Do you have a fairly settled team? The Ladies team are struggling this season and have not entered a league due to a lack of players but we would love to be back playing next season. The girls are a new addition but seem to be extremely settled into their training.
How did the 2012/13 season go for you, what do you expect from 2013/14 and who are your biggest rivals? Launton Ladies struggled during 2012/13 and had to withdraw from the Southern Region Premier due to not being able to field a full squad. The local derbies were with Oxford City and Oxford United, We’ve never beaten Oxford United, and me being in goal always ended up on the floor!
Tell us a top fact about your team: Launton Ladies FC are one of the oldest women’s teams in the country, being founded way back in 1968.
What about your coach/manager – are they serious, funny, good/bad and why? The Girls’ coach has the whole package, he is great with the players, he allows them to bring their own training drills and take the first 10-15 minutes of the session, giving them confidence. All of 
the girls get along with him and there is a great level of respect throughout.
Tell us a funny moment the team shared: With the ladies there have been numerous funny moments, too many to mention but the funniest has to be while at the Newquay tournament in 2011. Our player Nim Dixon managed to split her boots across the middle and ended up playing with the toe-end of her boot sitting on top of her foot!!! Had to have been there, I am sure…but hilarious for those that were.
Who is the team’s joker? With the ladies that would have been Nim Dixon, never a dull moment
Does the team/club have an unsung hero? Shirley Johnson, the club founder. She received a McDonalds award at The Charity Shield in 2012 from Sir Geoff Hurst and recently went to Buckingham Palace and had another award presented by Prince William.
Who is always first to the bar/on the dancefloor on a team/club night out? To the bar would have been Carole ‘Roy’ Bardell, to the dance floor would probably have been Nim Dixon again but we had alot of keen dancers…
SHE KICKS – the online community for women’s football
