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The Women’s FA Cup Final at 50: a thread 
Today marks the 50th anniversary of the very first final of the Women’s FA Cup, held on 9 May, 1971. The first match was between Southampton and the Scottish side Stewarton Thistle, played at Crystal Palace. Southampton won 4-1 #OTD
Today marks the 50th anniversary of the very first final of the Women’s FA Cup, held on 9 May, 1971. The first match was between Southampton and the Scottish side Stewarton Thistle, played at Crystal Palace. Southampton won 4-1 #OTD
Today is also another important anniversary: the 140th anniversary of probably the first ever recorded and official ladies football match in the UK – when Mrs Graham’s XI played at Edinburgh’s Easter Road Stadium on the 9 May 1881.
Mrs Graham in the BLFC in 1895, Wikipedia
Mrs Graham in the BLFC in 1895, Wikipedia
This early match was not a cause for celebration for everybody. Response to women playing football was often aggressive and matches were often called off due to pitch invasions. Many thought women should not be playing football.
© Mary Evans Picture Library Ltd
© Mary Evans Picture Library Ltd
British Ladies Football Club captain 'Nettie Honeyball' said: ‘Why not? Aren’t women as good as men? We ladies have too long borne the degradation of presumed inferiority to the other sex. The subject has been in my mind for years. If men can play football so can women’.
It would be another generation until women’s football kicked off again. In 1915 – with so many men away fighting in the First World War – the (men’s) FA suspended the men’s leagues and women’s matches surged in popularity in their absence.
It was a very successful era of women’s football. A large number of women’s teams had formed all over the UK and, reportedly, by 1921 every major town in England had a ladies’ team, with cities often having several and matches drew huge crowds.
https://www.mirror.co.uk/news/gallery/womens-football-most-beautiful-game-10927734
https://www.mirror.co.uk/news/gallery/womens-football-most-beautiful-game-10927734
However, in 1921, the FA banned women from playing and using league pitches and facilities.
They stated that “the game of football is quite unsuitable for females and should not be encouraged.”
FA Council minutes, 1921: from the FA Archive, @FootballMuseum
They stated that “the game of football is quite unsuitable for females and should not be encouraged.”
FA Council minutes, 1921: from the FA Archive, @FootballMuseum
The ban on English women’s football wasn’t lifted by the FA until 1971, by which time it had done severe damage to the sport which would take generations to unpick...
