The Greatest Women's Soccer Team You've Never Heard Of
During WWI, as men left for the front, women stepped up to do all the things that needed to be done on the home front. They took care of the family, worked the farm, built the bombs, and some of them played soccer.
As men left to go fight the war, many women started working in factories. During breaks, they were encouraged to socialize and even play sports. One popular pastime was soccer. Many munitions factories had teams of women, “Munitionettes”, that would play pick up games at the factory on breaks against other teams of men and women, and would also play against teams from other factories. Many of these inter-factory games were arranged to raise money for charity.
Historically, The Dick, Kerr Company manufactured rail and tram equipment and during the war they started making munitions, airplanes, and locomotives for the war department. Like other companies, the women working at Dick, Kerr started playing soccer. According to an excerpt from DickKerrLadies.com, it started like this:
It was October 1917 and the lads football team had been having a run of bad results, losing several of their recent games. They had suffered quite a heavy defeat that weekend and the girls were giving the lads some stick in the works canteen saying that they could play better than them. The lads were having none of it so they challenged the girls to prove their skills in a proper match. Grace accepted immediately and said, 'come on girls, let's give it a go, it'll be a laugh', and the arrangements were made for it to take place in the Penwortham area, not too far from the factory. The result of the game is not known but the girls were soon to continue with their newly formed football team.
Shortly after that first game, the ladies were approached and asked to help with a fundraiser to help wounded soldiers. Originally they were asked to perform a choir concert, but the ladies decided it would be a better idea to hold a charity soccer match. On Christmas Day 1917 the Dick, Kerr Ladies football team played the Arundel Coulthard Foundry. Over 10,000 people came to watch and they raised over $65K (in today’s money) for wounded soldiers. The Dick, Kerr team won 4-0.
As impressive as that was, their 1920 Boxing Day game was even bigger. The Dick, Kerr Ladies took on the St. Helen’s Ladies in Goodison Park. Over 50,000 fans attended the game, and it is estimated that another 10,000 - 15,000 were turned away at the gate. To put that in perspective:
CPKC (The Kansas City Current) stadium holds 11,500 people
The Sporting KC stadium holds 18,457 people
And Arrowhead (home of the CHIEFS!) holds 76,416 people.
In 1920, this team could have almost filled Arrowhead. The attendance at this game set a record for the largest crowd to ever watch a women’s soccer game anywhere in the world. That record would hold for 92 years, only being beaten in 2012 when Team Great Britain defeated Brazil at the London Olympics. 70,584 fans attended that game. In fact, the 1920 Boxing Day game still holds the record for the largest crowd at a women’s domestic game in England with second place having 38,262 people in attendance. That game was Arsenal v Tottenham in 2019.
While still working their full-time factory jobs, the ladies played over 60 games in 1921. In February of that year, comedian Harry Weldon invited the Dick, Kerr Ladies to play a match against “the best of the rest”, a team of All-Stars from all over the UK. Over 25,000 people came to Liverpool's Anfield ground to watch the Dick, Kerr Ladies dominate 9-1.
Unfortunately on December 5, 1921, England’s Football Association banned women’s teams from using the men’s fields. This put quite a damper on their ability to play, but the women continued in parks and cricket fields. The ban would not be lifted until 50 years later, six years after the Ladies played their final game.
Why were they banned? The reasons are many, and not very convincing. Unofficially, people think that the women’s games were bringing in money for charity and the F.A. was upset that they had no control over which charities were supported. Officially, the F.A. expressed their concerns that the money was not being correctly accounted for, and of course, the fragility of women. Apparently it was “their strong opinion that the game of football is quite unsuitable for females and should not be encouraged.” But, yeah, cool. Women can still build bombs, and locomotives, and work the farm…
This move encouraged the Ladies to travel to Canada to play matches in that country. Unfortunately, they didn’t realize until they arrived that Canada had also banned women playing on their fields. They then came to America to play, but America had no established women’s teams at the time, so the Ladies took on the men. They played nine games. They won three, drew three, and lost three. Pretty even odds.
It is estimated that in their 48 years they raised around $13 million for charity (in today’s money). Over those 48 years they played 828 matches, lost only 24, and drew 46.
Many of the women who played for the Dick, Kerr Ladies and other “Munitionette” teams accomplished amazing things. Three of the most well known were:
Joan Whalley - Debuted at 15 years old. She was described as one of the two greatest right wingers in the world, the other being Tom Finney. She also made history in 1996 when she became the first British female soccer player to feature in a national ad campaign (for Nike) at the age of 74!
Val Walsh (Robinson) - Val was a gifted player and was once spotted by Manchester United’s Matt Busby. Busby said that she was the best player he had seen in his life and that, had she have been a man, he would have signed her on the spot. As good as she was at soccer, Val actually preferred a different sport and went on to quit soccer in favor or field hockey. As a field hockey star she played in 5 world championships and was the first Englishwoman to win 100 caps.
Lily Parr - Debuted at 14 years old. She played left wing and reportedly once broke the arm of a male keeper during a penalty shot. She scored 43 goals in her first season, and over 900 goals in her career. She was the only woman included in the inaugural class of the English Football Hall of Fame in 2002.
The Dick, Kerr Ladies played 828 matches and lost only 24. They raised millions for charity, filled some of the largest stadiums in Britain, and set attendance records that stood for decades. But if you ask the average sports fan about them today you will probably get a blank stare.
A hundred years later, women’s soccer is finally receiving the attention it deserves. And while the players on the field today have earned every bit of that success, they didn’t start the story. We owe part of that story to the ladies of the Dick, Kerr Company.
Sources:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dick,_Kerr_%26_Co.
https://www.dickkerrladies.com/
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Val_Robinson_(field_hockey)
https://www.thefa.com/womens-girls-football/heritage/kicking-down-barriers
https://www.sportingheritage.org.uk/content/news/features/dick-kerrs-ladies-2
https://www.history.com/articles/the-ww-i-era-womens-soccer-team-who-could-beat-the-men
https://spartacus-educational.com/Fdickkerrs.htm
https://www.theguardian.com/football/2022/jun/13/how-the-fa-banned-womens-football-in-1921-and-tried-to-justify-it
https://heswall.nub.news/news/local-features/rewind-a-strange-centenary-of-the-year-womens-football-was-banned
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