Recently, we organised a special walk through our home in north London alongside inclusive walking group Dykes Who Hike, celebrating the unfinished 38-year journey of Arsenal Women.
A 60-strong group of hikers, Arsenal Women Supporters and GayGooners members were led by club legend and quadruple winner Anita Asante.
Our journey took us from our team’s grassroots origins in Shoreditch Park to our main home today, Emirates Stadium.
Along the way, we explored our unbreakable community roots, and Arsenal Women’s distinctive place in local LGBTQ+ culture, stopping at the four special destinations that each mark a special place in the history of our club.
Our journey started in Shoreditch Park, where Arsenal Women played and trained at the Britania Leisure Centre when the team was established in 1987 by Vic Akers.
The connection to the Centre came through Arsenal in the Community, who already ran volleyball sessions there. One member of the community team helping to deliver those sessions, Alicia O’Grady, played football for Aylesbury Ladies at the time.
When Arsenal Ladies was established in 1987, amalgamating with Aylesbury, Vic became manager of the newly formed team, and Alicia supported him in delivering first team and reserve team sessions at the Centre, as well as tournaments for girls at U12, U14, and U16 levels.
“We always knew this season was going to be one of transition for our first team,” wrote Alan Sefton, former Head of Arsenal in the Community, in 1988 – with Arsenal Ladies having a mixed set of results amidst some progress in the cup.
However, it was the reserve team that beat all expectations, despite most of them only playing 11-a-side football for the first time, with several high-scoring wins.
Sarah Ryan and Michelle Curley were amongst the first players in the 1987-88 season, and the pair reflected on that groundbreaking era of women's football.
"It was an amazing experience to be able to play football for a women's team, when most of my younger years I had only been able to play with the boys," said Sarah. "We had a great team spirit and everyone supported each other, especially as we were only 15 when we started.
"Being part of the first-ever Arsenal ladies’ team at 15 years old was amazing," continued Michelle. "It was the first set-up of its kind in that a top professional club was willing to accommodate and support a women’s team.
"I was born and bred in Islington. I started attending a girls’ football session at the JVC sports centre, adjacent to Arsenal Stadium, when Vic invited me and Sarah Ryan to a training session for a women’s team that he was trying to introduce at the club."
During these early stages, there were no professional contracts or salaries, and 90% of the team worked full-time during the week. Training would be reserved for late weekday evenings with matchdays on Sundays.
"In 1989, the local government wanted to introduce a Youth Training Scheme (YTS) in partnership with the club and Islington council. I was now 16 and leaving school and was lucky enough to be offered the first position in the scheme as a trainee, earning just £35 per week!
"We attracted players from all over the country and our success grew, as we started to win leagues and our first FA Cup in 92/93. The whole journey was amazing. I went on to make my England debut at 19 in Belgium with the senior team and travelled to some fantastic places, doing something I loved so much, not for the money but for the love of the game."
I loved being part of the first-ever Arsenal ladies’ team. The whole journey was amazing - doing something I loved, not for the money but for the love of the game.
- Michelle Curley
It was the commitment of Vic Akers and community colleagues like Alicia that laid the foundation of what was to come, at a time when many were shocked that so much of their time was being devoted to women’s football, let alone on top of their other commitments.
For Arsenal, this was not only an opportunity but an obligation that many across the club felt to help young women and girls discover and fall in love with the game.
Our group walked along Regent’s Canal and Upper Street, up to Highbury Fields where the Outrage! Plaque was unveiled in 2000.
The plaque commemorates Highbury Fields as the location of the first public demonstration for LGBTQ+ rights held in the UK, organised by the London Gay Liberation Front to protest police harassment of the gay community.
Cllr Sheila Chapman, Islington Council’s Executive Member for Equalities, Communities and Inclusion, said: “Throughout the decades, the way Islington has stood proudly with the LGBTQ+ community has been one of our borough's defining characteristics and something I'm really proud of.
"Britain’s first gay rights march took place on Highbury Fields back in the ‘70s. In the 80s we elected the country’s first openly gay MP. In the 2010s the borough elected one of the first transgender councillors in the country and in 2014, two of my friends were the first same-sex couple to get married in the UK, right here in Islington Town Hall. So, we've always been a borough that has led the way in terms of pushing for equality and celebrating diversity.
"The Highbury Fields outrage plaque is a powerful reminder both of our history and of the progress we’ve made. It's also a reminder that we need to keep being outraged and to keep taking a stand against inequality and prejudice wherever we find it.
"Last summer I joined colleagues and friends to march under Islington Council's banner at London Pride. It was a great day, and I remember that we bumped into the Gay Gooners - Arsenal Football Club's official supporters' group for LGBTQ+ supporters.
"Arsenal plays a significant role in uniting our community, serving as a beacon of diversity and acceptance, and the collaboration with Dykes Who Hike is just one example of that.
"The partnership between Arsenal and the local community is something that we as a council are extremely proud of – exemplifying how sport can bridge divides and foster a sense of belonging for all.”
"The Highbury Fields outrage plaque is a powerful reminder both of our history and of the progress we’ve made. It's also a reminder that we need to keep being outraged and to keep taking a stand against inequality and prejudice wherever we find it."
- Councillor Sheila Chapman
Arsenal Women is a story about the power of inclusion – about the power of giving young girls a voice and a space where they feel like they belong, so they can reclaim a space that should have always been theirs.
Championing and supporting those communities and each other remains a core value of our club. We not only want to lift the voices of those groups that have had the courage to fight for inclusion throughout the history of our home borough of Islington, but play our part in creating a home here where everyone feels like they belong.
Selena Chambers, Co-Chair of GayGooners, has followed Arsenal Women home and away for a number of years. GayGooners was set up in February 2013, and is the UK’s first and world’s biggest LGBTQ+ supporter group.
Speaking with Anita in front of the plaque, she recalled her first interaction with GayGooners: “I first got involved around their 10th anniversary, where they held a massive Pride event with the club.
“It was such a lovely event to meet other people and other Gooners that are part of the community, and just to see the love the club has for us.”
“I’ve seen so many people around me who have come to their first match, and be on their own and nervous. I’ve seen them find a home here and grow, which is like my journey.
“What makes me proud about Arsenal is the authenticity of how they are with us. It’s never for show, they care for us, they want to make us feel safe and included, and it’s great to work with them to create an environment where people in the LGBTQ+ community can really feel like they belong”.
Our journey took us even further into the past of Arsenal Women, before the club was established and to our old home of Highbury Stadium.
Here was where Arsenal in the Community was first established 40 years ago this year, and where sessions were delivered out of the old JVC Centre.
In the 1980s, we were one of the first clubs to run dedicated girls-only football sessions at the Centre. These were part of work-skills programmes, which offered apprenticeships to young girls in north London through our community team.
The motivation for these programmes was never on football outcomes – we viewed it as offering young girls the same opportunities that young boys had at the time.
Freddie Hudson, Head of Arsenal in the Community today, spoke to our group at Highbury Square about the challenges young girls faced in that era.
“When I started here in the late 1980s, we pushed for young girls to have the same access to play football as boys. For us, that was never about seeking football outcomes – it was about inclusion for girls at a time when many rejected the idea girls should be playing football.
“The community pitch at the old JVC Centre in Highbury was a welcoming space – where trust was built, role models were created and opportunities were given. What we saw was empowerment in the young girls – support for each other and a sense of belonging that was really special to us.
“Out of those programmes came Rachel Yankey, Ellen Maggs and many other courageous players who smashed down brick walls in football.
“We’re proud to call them Arsenal legends who have paved the way for generations of young girls.”
Those actions of inclusion, and creating a safe space for girls to play the game we love, laid the foundation for 38 years of growth in our women’s team and the game as whole.
Today, Arsenal in the Community continues to deliver many programmes for girls and women of all ages designed to give them the confidence to play, and keep that love for the game alive.
Our Vice-Captain, Leah Williamson, visited one such session earlier in 2025, where she underlines the importance of young girls staying in the game.
“It’s important that we show up for young girls, especially in schools in London where access to pitches can often be so limited. Becoming a young woman is hard, because this is the age everything starts to change. I just hope they stay in the game because it brings us joy and that’s all that matters.
“We [Arsenal Women] were invested in early and given the safe space to do what we wanted to do. We’re a product of that and look how it’s turned out. The fact we offer this opportunity for young girls today makes me proud.”
The 1990s and 2000s were years of unrivalled success for Arsenal Women, and the era in which the early years of investment and commitment delivered silverware.
The team lifted the Premier League Cup in 1992 and achieved the Premier League and FA Cup double the following season.
By the turn of the century, we had 13 major honours to our name. That was followed by nine league titles in a row between 2004 and 2012, losing just five games in that entire run, and four complete seasons, between 2004/05 and 2007/08, undefeated in the league.
Within that run was a historic campaign in 2006/07 in which we won the quadruple, becoming the first and so far only British team to win the Champions League.
Anita was part of that illustrious team which became cemented in our club’s fabric when our new stadium artwork was installed in 2023.
Speaking in front of the Invincible artwork in which she features, Anita said: “This incredible artwork commemorates our Invincibles season, and so many role models and heroes on that journey.”
“The artwork also shows the One Club approach at Arsenal – making sure that the women’s and men’s teams have the same facilities, support, and standards – and the impact of that.”
Today, we have 63 major honours to our name.
Our walk finished pitchside at Emirates Stadium, which is now the home of the European Champions once more. We hosted a record 13 matches there during the 2024/25 season and will now play all home Women's Super League matches in N5 for the first time in our history.
Arsenal Women's very first Emirates Stadium game took place 18 years ago, just weeks after our squad had become European Champions for the first time. The penultimate game of a perfect 2006/07 season ended as a late 3-2 win over Everton, with legends Kelly Smith and Lianne Sanderson on the scoresheet.
Since then, Emirates Stadium has been a beacon of progress in the game, selling out three times and reaching an average attendance of 52,000 across six games in the 2023/24 season. The existing WSL record of 60,160 was set here against Manchester United in February 2024.
It was also at this fixture where that quadruple-winning squad were welcomed back together for a special reunion, allowing us to pay tribute to the pioneers of our women’s team and never forget those who have paved the way for where we are today.
Making Emirates Stadium our women’s team home is the latest chapter in this unfinished 38-year journey.
There is always more progress to be made, and we’ve got to this point by being open and agile in our approach to women’s matches.
But we’re also here because our women’s team is a safe and inclusive home to many different and diverse communities, who find their own sense of belonging here – much like young girls did back in the 1980s.
Just as our historic victory in Lisbon was only the start of a new era on the pitch, new connections are forged off the pitch every day within our community. As our main home, Emirates Stadium continues to symbolise that place to belong.
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