Easton Cowgirls Women’s Football Club

Always anti-fascist, always inclusive and always a shambles!

Easton Cowgirls are a women’s football club based in Easton, Bristol. We welcome female identifying and non-binary folk of all ages (18+), fitness levels and abilities.

We welcome women who have never played before as well as more experienced players, and also encourage women who have stopped playing to return to the game.

We regularly play in tournaments in the UK and abroad as well as organising our own. Recent trips have included a solidarity tour to Palestine’s West Bank, the St Pauli AntiFa tournament in Hamburg and the Anti-Racism World Cup in Belfast. As well as playing football, we also have a big social focus, and value our fun as much as our footy.

Showing off our new kit outside our home The Plough Inn

Closed to new players

Unfortunately we are closed to new players until further notice as we are once again at full capacity. We constantly review this situation and strive to welcome as many new players as possible. Please feel free to follow us on any of the social media links provided below and as soon as we are open to new players we will announce it. If you are keen to start playing club football sooner than that, see which other Bristol Womens Football Casual League teams are accepting new players here.

After a long pause in accepting new players because our training sessions were at full capacity, we’re very happy to be welcoming new people again. Please get in touch via email or social media, or just show up at 7.40pm at the lower section of Eastville Park for our weekly training session, and we’ll welcome you and show you the ropes. Please also take a couple of minutes to read our welcome leaflet (downloads a pdf) to get to know our ethos first.

For more information about us email us, check out our facebook page, follow us on twitter or instagram or just turn up to a training session (details below). If you are thinking of joining us, please take a couple of minutes to read our welcome leaflet (downloads a pdf).

We’re not just a football team!

Easton Cowgirls are part of the Easton Cowboys and Cowgirls Sports and Social Club, a socially-focused organisation, and is run entirely by volunteers. We are part of a global network of clubs who recognise all people’s right to equality, irrespective of their age, class, culture, disability, gender, race, religion, or sexuality.

Our anti-homophobic, anti-racist, anti-fascist and anti-transphobic ethos is at the core of our club and is what distinguishes us from other football teams. As such, we expect our members to share this ethos and to get involved in the wider activities of the club as much as possible. 

For more information about the Easton Cowboys & Cowgirls club ethos, please see our welcome leaflet.

If this doesn’t take your fancy, don’t worry – casual women’s football is growing in Bristol and there are a number of other friendly and inclusive local teams you could try (e.g. see here).

Easton Cowgirls and Cowboys at Sankt Pauli Antira 2014
Easton Cowgirls and Cowboys at Sankt Pauli Antira 2014

Thinking of joining us?

If you would like to register interest, please get in touch with us via the contact form.

If you would like to try us out, please get in touch with us via the contact form, or just show up at training.

We train all year round and play casual 5 or 7-a-side. There is no team selection – anyone who wants to play gets to. However, we do expect a certain level of commitment to try to attend training (as well as other events) as much as possible – this is how we fund our continued existence and how we bond as a team.

New players are allowed a 4 week trial period before deciding whether to join. Membership costs £20/10 per year (waged/unwaged), paid by bank transfer, cash or paypal. This money goes towards equipment and our emergency ethical fund. However, we believe that money should never be a barrier to participation – if you can’t pay just tell us.

Join at https://membermojo.co.uk/cowgirls. You must be a member in order to play for the Cowgirls in the league or at tournaments.

You are also welcome to join us on a social basis, without the football bit. Get in touch or join us at the Plough after training.

All members have a say in the running of the club, and we have regular meetings to make decisions on training etc at which everyone is welcome. Each year we elect a voluntary committee who have responsibility for the day to day running of the club. However, everyone is encouraged to chip in as much as possible – every member of the Easton Cowboys and Cowgirls makes it the wonderful and diverse club it is!

Easton Cowgirls with Republica IFC and United Glasgow at the ‘Our City United’ tournament, Manchester

Weekly training sessions

We train outdoors every Thursday evening on artificial grass in winter and in the park on real grass in summer. As of 25 May 2023, we’ve moved to our summer training spot, in the lower section of Eastville Park, every Thursday evening at 7.40pm .

Subs are £4 (£3 low/unwaged, or £5 if you can afford it comfortably). We play in all weathers, and will only cancel in extreme cases (i.e. we still play if it’s raining, for you non-Brits).

You will need to wear moulded football boots (no metal studs or boots with blades) suitable for artificial grass. Shin pads are also a good idea! We often have spare kit if you don’t have your own, just ask us. City Academy, where we play in winter, are very strict about the right footwear, so please try get your hands on some. If that’s difficult for you financially, get in touch – money should never be a barrier to playing with us and we have a kitty where needed.

While we have a coach, we all chip in to teach each other and expect everyone to help maintain a fun, friendly and supportive atmosphere. A lot of our players are returning from injury or have not played much football before – PLEASE NO HARD TACKLES OR AGGRO, we don’t want any injuries at training and we’re just not that kind of team! Our coach is often a member of the team volunteering their time so please try to be supportive of them.

Join us again at our home pub the Plough Inn (opposite Easton Community Centre) after training!

Bristol Women’s Football Casual League

BWFCL tournament 2018

Working with others, the Easton Cowgirls have established a casual 7-a-side football league to provide opportunities for women to play competitive football in a fun and inclusive environment on a regular basis. Since it’s formation in 2012 with just 5 teams, the league has gone from strength to strength (read more here).

We currently have 3 teams in the league. Speak to a committee member if you’d like to play.

See the results and tables on the Bristol Women’s Football Casual League website.

Team News

£111 raised for Help Refugees

Posted by on Jun 18, 2019 in Team News | 0 comments

Thanks to everyone who baked, ate and helped Tash sell ridiculously good cakes at the last Casual League. We raised £111 for Help Refugees. The money will make a real difference to small projects providing grassroots help for refugees stuck across Europe. 

read more

Womens footy training moving to Eastville Park for the summer

Posted by on May 22, 2019 in Team News | 2 comments

As of Thursday 23rd May. Same time, different place, more horse flies.

read more

Cowgirls kickabout to protest the ‘hostile environment’

Posted by on May 14, 2019 in Community News, Diary, Events News | 0 comments

COWGIRLS FOOTY TRAINING IS CANCELLED THIS WEEK. INSTEAD…We will be heading to College Green at 7pm and then Castle Park in our kits to have a kick about, wave banners and talk to people to show our opposition to the UK governments ‘hostile environment’ policy and the indefinite detention of asylum seekers.This protest was planned in unity with our our friends Mount Pleasant Park FC in Sheffield, who contacted us after one of their members, Victor Mujakachi, was detained by the Home Office in Sheffield along with several...

read more

Cowgirls raise £200 for Hebron International Resource Network

Posted by on Oct 23, 2018 in Club News | 0 comments

We managed to raise £200 for Hebron International Resource Network on Tuesday evening by screening ‘Around the Wall’, a film and q+a about our tour to Palestine with Republica Internationale FC from Leeds and Frau Dörte Becker from Hamburg. About the film: In October 2017, Easton Cowgirls (Bristol), Republica FC (Leeds) and Frau Dörte Becker (Hamburg) travelled to the occupied West Bank of Palestine on a tour or friendship, solidarity and football. This “Freedom Through Football” tour was the latest of a number of visits stretching back to...

read more

Complete the Gender Recognition Act reform consultation

Posted by on Oct 17, 2018 in Club News, Team News | 0 comments

A few of us have been talking about setting up semi-regular non pub-based cowgirls get together to chat about training, the team, the wider club, ways we can become more politically and socially involved as individuals and a club and really just about anything! So, as a way of getting started and cos the timing is right, I would like to suggest we get together this week to discuss and respond to the governments Gender Recognition Act (GRA) consultation, which closes at 11pm this Friday. The GRA, passed in 2004, relates to how trans and...

read more