|
 Fortunately,
in this day and age, here in North America, women playing soccer
is taken for granted. But how many girls or women, were playing,
or even thinking of playing, 80 years ago?
Back in those
days, of the early 1920s, women were supposed to know their
place, and that was in the home, not out playing soccer or any
other sport. It took a brave woman to buck the trend, but
thankfully there were such women.
No doubt the
first World War played a part, particularly in Britain where
women were required to work in the factories, while the men went
off to war. It broke the pattern, a chance for women to enter a
man's world in many ways.
One of the
factories employing women to do war work was in Preston, in
Lancashire, in the north of England. There in a factory owned
and operated by two Scots, W.B. Dick and John Kerr, makers of
tramway and light railway equipment, women were employed
producing ammunition when the war started in 1914.
As is the custom
in Europe, and was in the United States in the 1920s, the
factory ran a soccer team and in October of 1917 it wasn't doing
very well. During their tea breaks and at lunch times, the girls
would often join in with the apprentices having a kick about in
the factory yard, and it wasn't long before the girls were
needling the guys saying that they could do better.
Naturally, as
boys will be boys, this didn't go over too well and soon they
were challenging the girls to a game. So the girls got together
and formed a team, and while history records that they played
against the men, it does not record the result.
However, the die
was cast, and Dick, Kerr Ladies soccer team was formed. It was a
team that was to remain in existence for over 48 years and send
shock waves through the male dominated world of British soccer.
Obviously at a time in history when women wore skirts down to
the ground, the sight of women playing soccer was a novelty and
it attracted a lot of attention. Soon other women's teams
followed the example of Dick, Kerr's and the teams played one
another, often in front of large crowds. The money raised from
these games went to charity, in particular to the families of
men killed during the war.
One of the most
famous of these games was played on Boxing Day in 1920, at
Goodison Park in Liverpool. There, on the hallowed turf of one
of England's greatest soccer grounds, Dick, Kerr Ladies, played
another Lancashire team, St. Helen's Ladies, before a crowd of
53,000 with another 10 to 15,000 fans locked out when the ground
was full.
This game, and in
particular the size of the crowd, set alarm bells ringing in the
headquarters of the austere Football Association in London.
Women's soccer was now seen as a threat to the professional
men's game and something had to be done. So in 1921, under
pressure, the all powerful governing body of the game in England
barred women from playing soccer for an incredible 50 years.
Part of the
resolution of the council "Complaints having been made as to
football being played by women, the council feel impelled to
express their strong opinion that the game of football is quite
unsuitable for females and ought not to be encouraged."
However, as you
might expect, women ignored the ban and went on playing, for
while the Football Association could bar women from playing
within the orbit of its jurisdiction, there was no law against
women playing soccer. But the Football Association was
successful in stopping women's teams from playing on the grounds
of the country's top teams.
But before that
time Dick, Kerr's had extended an invitation to a French Ladies
team to play four games in England. The French ladies accepted
and arrived in England on April 28, 1920. The tour opened in
Preston and a crowd of 25,000 looked on as Dick, Kerr's won 2-0.
In the second game played in Stockport Dick, Kerr's won 5-2, the
third game played in Manchester ended in a 1-1 tie before in the
final game played in London, the French Ladies won 2-1.
Later that same
year Dick, Kerr's returned the favour and played in France. The
team played in Paris, Roubaix, Havre and finally Rouen. One game
ended in a tie and Dick, Kerr's won the other three.
Next came an
invitation for the team to travel to North America to play in
Canada and the United States. The women set sail from Liverpool
in September of 1922, aboard the S.S. Montclare and arrived in
Quebec City on Friday September 22.
But at the annual
general meeting of the Dominion of Canada Football Association,
held in Winnipeg, in early September of 1922 the coming arrival
of Dick, Kerr Ladies was debated and a motion was passed to the
effect that "We do not approve of the proposal of Ladies
Football". The minutes of the meeting reflect the same bias
against the women's game as shown in England and consequently
the team was not allowed to play in Canada. So the women crossed
to border into the United States fully expecting to play against
women's teams, but it would seem that there were no women's
teams for them to play, and they ended up playing against men's
teams, not just ordinary mens teams but some of the top
professional teams in the American Soccer League.
The tour opened
in Paterson, New Jersey on September 24 and Dick, Kerr's were
beaten by 6 goals to 3. There followed games against J&P Coats
of Pawtucket, New York Centro-Hispano, Washington Stars, New
Bedford Whalers, New York Football Club, Fall River Marksmen,
and Baltimore Soccer Club. Eight games in all of which the
Ladies won three, against New Bedford, New York and Baltimore,
tried three against Coats, Washington and Fall River, and were
only defeated by Paterson and Centro-Hispano. Quite a record. As
you might expect the games in each city were looked upon as
something of a curiosity. According to the Fall River Herald
News, for the game there, a half section of the grand stand was
reserved for ladies, and ladies accompanied by gentlemen, with
the ladies being charged a special price of 25 cents to attend.
Newspaper
coverage of the games also make interesting reading. The account
of the game in the Fall River Globe begins as follows. "An
argument between men and women took place at Mark's Stadium in
Tiverton yesterday afternoon. The women did not win, neither did
the men." The report contains the following interesting
paragraphs. "The score in no way explains how well these English
lassies can play the national game of their homeland. Nor could
the fans at the game tell just exactly how expert are the women
tourists for the opposition was from a team of the best men
kickers in the country."
It continues:
"The bobbed headed and pretty Miss Redford, center forward,
scored the first goal at an early stage of the game. Mr. Duncan,
the Fall River goalie, deliberately let it go by him, and when
Miss Redford turned for the line up for another kick off she
seemed to show that she was aware of Duncan's kindness."
In fact Miss
Redford seemed to get a lot of attention for the story goes on
to say that "During the second half Jock Lindsay twice gave Miss
Redford a chance to score. The young lady passed it up however.
She indicated that what she wanted to get must be earned and not
received gratis."
One of the women,
Alice Mills, married and settled in Seekonk, Massachusetts. She
returned to Preston in 1992 for the teams reunion.
Unfortunately we
will never know how good this team was in comparison to today's
women's teams but we do know that Dick, Kerr Ladies were not a
flash in the pan for this team stayed in existence for 48 years
and played 828 games of which they won 758, tied 46 and lost
just 24. In the process they scored 3,500 goals.
A book "In a
League of Their Own" has been written about Dick, Kerr's and
this summer a film is being made about the teams first five
years and will be titled "Victory Girls".
Unfortunately
Dick, Kerr Ladies had virtually been forgotten about until Gail
Newsham's book was published in 1994. But this was a team and a
story that belongs in every book that is written about the
history of soccer. It is a story about a remarkable group of
women who defied all the odds and kept on playing the game that
they loved.
History by Colin
Welcome to
the "History by Colin Jose", who is North America's
preeminent soccer historian. In these columns, Colin will
give you an insight of soccer history that is not known by
the average soccer fan. Colin has been researching soccer
for over 50 years and has a real passion for the history of '
The Beautiful Game'.
|
