A documentary has highlighted the role Liverpool Hope University played in establishing one of the city’s leading women’s football clubs.
FEDS tells the story of Liverpool Feds, who play in the FA Women's National League North – the third highest tier in the country.
The Club was formed in 1991 by a group of players who met at Liverpool Hope in the late 1980s, when the University was known as Liverpool Institute of Higher Education (LIHE).
The Feds name is a nod to the University’s origins, with the LIHE sports teams playing as a Federation of the St Katharine’s, Christ’s and Notre Dame Colleges – the University’s founding colleges.
Charting the Club’s rise from its humble beginnings at the University’s old sports ground, the film goes behind-the-scenes in the 2022/23 season, as the team compete in the third tier for the first time, where they face some of the biggest names in English Women’s football.
Produced by sports marketing agency, Creative Players, FEDS premiered at Liverpool’s Everyman Cinema on 16 August and shines a spotlight on the reality of the women’s game away from elite level seen with the Lionesses and Women’s Super League.
Feds founder and Liverpool Hope alumna, Janie Moore, stars in the film thanks to the integral role she has played in the Club’s rise up the women’s football pyramid.
Recalling those early days at Hope, she says: “I went to university in September 1988.
“I went to Hope and my door was locked and my key didn’t work and it just so happened that the first person I met on the corridor was a girl who turned up in a dirty football kit.
“She actually played for Manchester United at the time and she was my first friend I made. It went from there.
“There was a university team but it wasn’t anything serious and we just played the odd game.
“There were some good players there. It was kind of the perfect storm of the right people coming in at the right time.
“When we became Liverpool Feds in the regional league, that was when we could invite other players in [from outside of the university] and that’s when it all began.”
FEDS is available to watch now on YouTube.
If you are interested in being part of Liverpool Feds, as a player, supporter or sponsor, please email: liverpoolfedswfc@gmail.com