ABOUT LOUGHBOROUGH FOXES

Loughborough Foxes is a Women’s and Girl’s only club in the Leicestershire area, with 4 junior teams, an U18 team and a senior team. We have over 100 players across those age ranges as well as 20 female coaches and committee members helping to support the growth of women's sport and enhance the lives of young people in the area.

The club was originally formed after the death of Rachel Fox in 1999. Rachel died from a tragic accident at school and her parents formed a club in her honour. Initially Shepshed Foxes, and with only junior teams, the club became Loughborough Foxes in the early 2000s and then started to grow and in 2006/07 created its first adult women’s team.

The club continued to grow year on year with the addition of new players, coaches and committee members but Rachel’s legacy lives on and is the heartbeat and culture for everything it does. The juniors section continued to grow and switched between Nottinghamshire Girls leagues and Leicestershire girls’ leagues. The seniors had a rapid rise through the pyramid as they were runners up in the first two years as a team, gaining promotion in both seasons. Further progress in 2010/11 saw the team just missing out on a league and cup double as they were promoted to the East Midlands Premier League. A couple of seasons stabilising at this level then saw them win the Premier League in May 2014/15 and thus progress to Tier 3 of the women’s pyramid. Despite relegation in 2015/16 they bounced back 2 years later and maintained their position in the pyramid.

In what was hoped to a celebratory 20^th year in 2019, the club experienced more tragedy as Molly Webb died from Sepsis in January. Molly had played for the club since she was 12, had coached, been a fundraiser and key committee member as the club continued to grow from 2013 onwards. Following her funeral, several of her friends decided to set up a charity in her name. Molly’s Gift was formed later that year and now supports the development of young people through fundraising and grants.

In 2021 the Loughborough Foxes First and Development teams merged with the Loughborough University performance team to create a new Loughborough Lightning women's football team, with the aim of providing a sustainable pathway in Loughborough for women and girls.