Charnelle Riggall is the ultimate professional, and on Sunday afternoon captained Lowestoft Town to the Norfolk Women and Girls Division One title in their first season since their re birth in 2025 and at the same time became a triple NWGFL title winning captain having also captained Bungay to the title in the previous two seasons.

Charnelle's footballing life encompasses everything from commitment, dedication, tragedy, recovery, achievement, accomplishment, care, support and so much more.

To win the title as a captain for three consecutive seasons is a remarkable achievement in itself. For Charnelle, it holds extra significance.

A near 10 year cycle of a Footballing journey to inspire all who have an interest in the game. Charnelle was part of the previous Lowestoft Town Ladies side who were playing Eastern Region Football 10 years ago in 2016.

A devastating 2017/2018 season saw Charnelle seriously injured in a tragic accident during a sports match on the campus of University of East Anglia, an incident which understandably still effects Charnelle today.

A recent Lowestoft Town visit for the match at UEA in February saw Charnelle visibly nervous just to be near the site of her injury some eight years later. Typical Charnelle got on with the job and put others before herself to captain the team to what was a vital 2-1 victory which played a huge part in shaping the advantage in the title race to Lowestoft.

Back to the journey and following the accident, for anyone else their football playing days may have been in doubt. Charnelle's who's love for the game is evident in the way she conducts herself week after week, paid out privately for ACL Reconstruction to try and get back doing what she loved as quickly as she possibly could. It was a long road with 2018 arguably being one of the darkest years of her life.

January 2019 came the long awaited news that Charnelle had been cleared to play Football again, on 6th February 2019 Charnelle played her first football match since the accident and in May of 2019 another landmark moment as Charnelle took part in the University of East Anglia's famous annual Derby Day in which her team ran out winners in the 2019 version of the famous occasion.

All the hard work and effort to come back was now bringing rewards, unfortunately the coronavirus pandemic then hit to delay Charnelle's football fightback further but on the other side of the lockdowns the upward momentum continued.

In August 2021 Charnelle had the honour of being named captain of Bungay Town, a role she was to continue for four seasons until her departure in May 2025. It was a period in Charnelle's football life that made her the name and player she is today.

Two building seasons both finishing 6th in Norfolk Division One, an influx of players and the coaching team of Darren Renwick and Iain Spoor helped put Bungay really on the map and establish it as a stable place where players wanted to come and play Football. May 2023 saw Charnelle captain Bungay in what would be the first of two Suffolk Women's Cup finals in three seasons, the first played at Colchester United where the team competed amicably but were beaten by Needham Market.

That final gave Bungay the platform to kick on and the 2023/2024 season brought the first of two back to back titles for Charnelle, finishing ahead of Sprowston and Caister with 16 wins from the 20 games, only being beaten once all season. The team returned in 2024/2025 and won the double, again winning 16 of their 20 matches to finish comfortably ahead of runners up Aylsham to retain the title, the team also beat Aylsham to win the League Cup. The season finished with Charnelle captaining the team at Portman Road in the Suffolk Women's Cup Final where the team again competed amicably but lost out to AFC Sudbury from three leagues higher.

Winning the double and playing her last Bungay game at Portman Road was a fitting way for Charnelle to sign off from wonderful service to Bungay Town. Charnelle, Iain Spoor and others wanted better for the squad and a club who supported ambitions to be promoted which saw Charnelle go full circle and return to Lowestoft with ambitions to get the club back to regional football which she was part of at Crown Meadow in 2016.

Charnelle being the wonderful player and person she is managed to convince virtually every player to leave Bungay and join her on this ambitious journey. It was a risk for both captain and club who hadn't had a female team for 8 seasons, but the Lowestoft Ladies return has been a huge success reaching two semi finals and clinching the title on Sunday with a dramatic 4-3 win at Aylsham. Winning 15 league games out of 15 to get to this stage.

Charnelle being the person and football lover she is will demand the squad continues their great work and do their best to make it 18 wins from 18 to complete an invincible season if they do it will add icing on top of an already extraordinary achievement.

Charnelle's ambition is to take Lowestoft higher and whilst it remains to be seen what league the Trawler Girls will play in next season, if Eastern Region Football was to return to Crown Meadow later in 2026 with Charnelle as captain, it would complete quite a remarkable 10 year journey in the game and add further gloss to the already incredible football life of our captain Charnelle Riggall.

That's to come in the future, for now we say thanks to our much loved captain as we can all agree Lowestoft Town and local football is a much better place for having Charnelle Riggall in it.

Up the Trawler Girls!

By Darrell Allen