History Making at Railway Union

Image: under-8 girls team with 5 parent/coaches

Railway Union Football Club has registered a girls only team in the Dublin District Soccer League (DDSL) this year, for the first time in the club’s 117 year history.   Railway Union Football Club was founded in 1904 as a senior mens football club.  Junior football was added in 2003 and for eighteen years, girls played on boys teams up to the age of thirteen with most girls dropping out of squads before the age of ten.  

Railway Union’s team of under-8 girls has sixteen players and is coached by five committed parents who love to see their girls having fun playing football with their friends.  They had their first home match at Railway Union in September.  They played St Mochtas Football Club, a team who also was celebrating as it was their first girls team to be registered in twenty years. The DDSL has also seen a rapid growth in the number of girls only teams being registered in the league and this year DDSL launched a Girls Football Development Strategy for 2021-2024 to further build on this growth.
In addition to the under 8 girls team registered in DDSL, Railway Union Football Club has 18 girls registered in their junior academy for children born in 2015 and 2016.  The Junior Academy is a gentle introduction to football, where children participate in a one hour training session to learn the basics of football, led by many enthusiastic parent volunteers. For more information, please visit www.railwayunionfootballclub.com

Giving girls the opportunity to play in a girls only squad can provide a pathway for girls to stay active in football for life and Railway Union Football Club is delighted to see so much enthusiasm for girls football in Sandymount.