For around a quarter-of-a-century Hibernian Women have been at the forefront of women’s football in Scotland.
Our origins can be traced back to U16 football with Arniston Rangers before entering the senior game in 1997 as Preston Athletic.
In 1999 managers Paul and Iain Johnston approached Hibernian Football Club and spoke with the then Managing Director, Rod Petrie, about moving under the auspices of the Easter Road side. A deal was quickly concluded, and Hibernian Ladies were born.
On the field, our reputation quickly grew, and we attracted some of the best young players in Midlothian with the likes of Debbie McWhinnie, Julia Ralph, Kirsty McBride and Laura Kennedy joining in our maiden years.
Our first cup final and the first piece of silverware proved to be a landmark moment for women’s football in Scotland as we defeated Kilmarnock in the 2003 Scottish Cup final at Almondvale Stadium.
Season 2004/05 saw Hibs win their first cup double – defeating Raith Rovers and Cove Rangers in the finals of the SWPL and Scottish Cup finals.
We won the SWPL title the following season with an unbeaten league campaign, dropping only four points all season and setting a club record victory in the Scottish Cup by defeating Shetland 21-0.
Season 2006/07 saw the squad emerge of youngsters. Kim Little was a vital part of the squad who has gone on to become one of Scotland’s greatest ever players and she owes much to her development at Easter Road. She was a key component in a Hibs side that once more went an entire league campaign without defeat – this time winning every match – before adding the Scottish Cup to complete a league and cup double.
Yet, despite the on-field success, the club’s finances were in dire straits and the very real possibility of folding was presented in the summer of 2008. Then came an agreement to merge Hibernian Ladies and Hibs Girls into the Hibernian Community Foundation and completely restructure the Club.
Unfortunately, several of the club’s top players moved to the then recently formed Celtic Women and Kerr joined Spartans so, rather than replace them with experience, we opted to change our strategy.
The emphasis turned to developing and empowering promising young players, mostly through our academy, and it began the start of a conveyor belt producing real talent.
Those initial seasons following the restructure were often difficult with Jimmy Burns doing his best to guide his young starlets through challenging times as we finished fourth in the Scottish Women’s Premier League for three season’s-in-a-row.
The appointment of Willie Kirk as manager signalled a return to better times for the club as we flourished under his stewardship. We defeated Rangers in the Scottish Cup final before thrashing Spartans in the SWPL Cup final, both at Recreation Park in Alloa.
We developed a strong rivalry with Glasgow City over the years and it was around this time that our rivals really began to dominate the Scottish scene. We lost five cup finals to City between 2011 and 2015, whilst finishing runner-up to them in the league on several occasions also.
Despite this, Kirk had worked wonders and we were once more challenging for honours at the top of the Scottish game, so it was little surprise when he was approached and moved south to take on a full-time role with Bristol City.
His assistant at Hibs – Chris Roberts – took over the reins and it proved to be a seamless transition as we won several cup competitions as well as finishing runners-up in the league during each season.
It was through our league position that we qualified for the 2016 UEFA Women’s Champions League and were drawn against the mighty Bayern Munich in the last 16, drawing a then-record attendance for a Scottish game (2,551) to Easter Road.
Roberts would enjoy another shot at Europe the following season before joining Kirk at Bristol City. Again, we appointed from within, as assistant coach Kevin Milne was named his successor. During Milne’s tenure, he did add to our growing trophy haul when we defeated Glasgow City 3-0 in the 2017 Scottish Cup final.
We appointed Grant Scott as our new manager in May 2018 and within weeks he delivered yet more silverware when we defeated Celtic 9-0 in the final of the SWPL Cup at Falkirk.
Scott added the Scottish Cup and another SWPL Cup win to our honours list during his 19 months in charge as his young side came within a whisker of a domestic treble and ending Glasgow City’s dominance of the league. Between 2016 and 2019 we won seven consecutive cup competitions before losing 4-3 against our old rivals, Glasgow City, in the Scottish Cup at Tynecastle before yet another record crowd (3,123).
Our success came at a cost and we lost many of our top players to professional football in England during that short time period. We also lost manager Grant Scott over the summer of 2019.
Dean Gibson was appointed as the first-ever manager of a professional women's team at Hibernian.
A highly successful youth coach within the Hibs Girls Academy with cup and league successes behind him as coach of the Hibernian Under 21 team. Gibson was well placed to deliver this vision and succeeded in retaining a number of the squad.
Recognising the need for Scottish football to be progressive and close the gap on other European nations, we took our first steps towards being full-time when semi-pro contracts were offered to the squad ahead of the 2020 season.
Captain and club legend, Joelle Murray, was the first player to put pen to paper on the historic contract and it was at this time that we rebranded from Hibernian Ladies to Hibernian Women.
The global coronavirus pandemic hindered Gibson’s attempts to rebuild our squad and after a trying couple of seasons in Scottish football, we are now getting back to our feet.
In September 2021 we hosted our first Edinburgh derby at Easter Road Stadium against city rivals Heart of Midlothian and defeated them 3-0 before a record-breaking crowd of 5,512.
Ending the 2021/22 season sitting in fourth place Hibs Women have recruited well over the course of the summer, Manager Dean Gibson, alongside a number of players have put pen to paper on full-time professional contracts.
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Written by Richard Payne.
