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Quote:Women's Football- A Brief History

March 1895: The first women's football match recorded was held between a northern and a southern team. The north won the game 7-1.

April 1920: The first international game was held between two women's teams. Dick, Kerr's Ladies (a Preston-based team) invited a women's French representative team to play a series of games for charity. A crowd of 25,000 saw Dick, Kerr's Ladies win 2-0.

Boxing Day 1920: The biggest ever crowd recorded for a women's game in England took place when 53,000 people watched Dick Kerr's Ladies beat their closest rivals, St Helen's Ladies, 4-0.

December 1921: The Football Association banned women from playing on Football League grounds. Although there were discrepancies to be found in the accounts, the main reason was that: "Complaints have 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." Though the game continued there was a great decrease in interest.

November 1969: The Women's Football Association was formed with 44 member clubs.

July 1971: The FA Council lifted the ban which forbade women playing on the grounds of affiliated clubs.

May 1971: In the final of the inaugural WFA. Cup, Southampton beat Stewarton and Thistle 4-1 at Crystal Palace National Sports Centre, London.

November 1972: The first official women's international in Britain was played at Greenock. England beat Scotland 3-2. The first goal was scored by Sylvia Gore of Liverpool.

April 1983: The F.A. invites the WFA to affiliate on the same basis as County Football Associations.

September 1991: The WFA launched a national league. The league began with 24 clubs.

July 1993: The Football Association illustrated its commitment to the female game by establishing a Women's Football Committee and the post of Women's Football Coordinator. The committee's duties include dealing with all matters relating to the development and administration of female football. The Coordinator has the task of overseeing the development of girl's and women's football. At the same time, women's football was assimilated into existing FA departments, offering the women's game access to tremendous resources and expertise. The FA also took over the responsibility for the management and administration of the national squad.

1993/94: The WFA National Cup competition was brought under the control of The F.A. and became the F.A. Challenge Cup. One hundred and thirty-seven teams entered.

1994/95: The Football Association assumed responsibility for the organisation and the administration of the Women's National League and League Cup competition. The league changed its name to the Football Association Women's Premier League (FAWPL) and consisted of 30 teams, 10 in each division.

1997: The F.A. Talent Development Plan for Girls' and Women's Football is launched outlining plans to develop the women's game from grassroots to elite level.

On the Ball magazine is launched - the first English magazine on Women's football.

1998: The first 20 Centre of Excellence for girls are established. AXA announced the first ever sponsorship of the FAWPL and two national cup competitions. Nationwide announced as first ever sponsor of the three women's international sides.

June 1998: Hope Powell is appointed as the first ever full-time coach for the Women's international sides (senior, Under-18 and Under-16).

October 1998: The F.A. hosts the UEFA conference on Women and Football.

1999: The F.A. launches its commitment for women's football to be the top female sport in England in 5 years time.

June/July 1999: The USA hosts the Women's World Cup which sees sell out stadia and over 90,000 at the final. Members of the victorious US team become household names.

2002: The Football Association announces that football has become the top sport for girls and women in the country. This means that the 5-year plan started in 1999 has been achieved three years ahead of schedule.

2003: The FA announces that England will be hosts of the UEFA European Women's Championships in June 2005 and, as such, earn automatic qualification.

2004: The North-West stadia of Blackpool FC, Blackburn Rovers FC, Manchester City FC, Preston North End FC and Warrington Wolves RLFC are revealed as the staging venues of Euro 2005.

Hope Powell's team begin their preparation for the massive tournament with crucial build up games with Nigeria, Iceland, Russia, Holland and a fantastic 4-1 win over Italy.

2005: The 2005 UEFA Women's Championship arrives in England and it was a ground breaking fortnight for Women's Football, with the nation getting fully behind Hope Powell and her England team.

The opening match attracted an unprecedented 29,092 spectators, with a further 2.9m people watching live on BBC2, while the tournament overall entertained 115,816 fans at 15 matches.

England overcame Finland 3-2 in a thrilling opener, but unfortunately lost to Denmark and Sweden in their final two group games and failed to qualify for the knock out stage. Germany won the tournament for the fourth successive time.

England then began their World Cup Qualifying campaign for China 2007, with victorys over Holland and Austria and an all-time record win - 13-0 against Hungary.

2006: England remained on course for China 2007 keeping their position at the top of Group 5 with a 0-0 draw against France at Ewood Park.

In September England made it to the promised land of the World Cup with a heart-stopping draw in Rennes that saw the reward for their incredible run and they leave France with China in their hands.

A 1-1 draw is the short version of the story, but there was so much to a game that lived up to the build up and saw some amazingly dramatic moments.

England took the lead after 64 minutes through an own goal by Hoda Lattaf who was the unfortunate French player who diverted a Rachel Yankey free kick into her own net.

France hit back and levelled the scores with a minute still to play, there were some tense moments as the Three Lions stood their ground and made it to China next year.

Quote:From http://www.pinkfootball.com/app/showDoc....p_id=43772

A history of women's football in the UK

By Jane Gregg

Soccer played by women was attracting tens of thousands of fans almost 100 years ago, the first great woman's team rocketing to fame in 1917 during World War I when women were left to run the factories and farms while their men were fighting on the frontline.

Women working at a munitions factory in Preston, England called Dick, Kerr and Company, started kicking a football around the yard during their lunch and tea breaks. When they began teasing the men after their own team started losing games they soon found themselves challenged to a match. There doesn’t seem to be a record of who won but the Dick Kerr Ladies team was born, with the aim of organising games to raise money for war charities.

Other teams were formed at other factories and on Christmas Day 1917 ten thousand people turned up to watch the DK Ladies' first match raising £600 pounds for wounded soldiers. They won by four goals to nil wearing black and white striped jerseys.

While some argued that soccer was too physical for women, by 1920 the Dick Kerr Ladies had grown so popular that they attracted a crowd of 53,000
to a match at Everton apparently even turning away more than 10,000 at the gates. So many people were lining the streets before the game that the team needed a police escort to their dressing room.

The Dick Kerr Ladies went international that year and went to Paris to play a French side where they were welcomed by masses of autograph seekers, including thousands of British soldiers.

By 1921 the team had turned down 121 invitations to play. They played 67 matches that year on top of working full time in the factory. Many came from tough working class backgrounds like Lily Parr, a dark-haired six footer signed on as a 14 year-old who scored 43 goals in her first season. Famed for her agile footwork and accurate passing, as well as a huge appetite,she was responsible for most of the team's goals. One report suggests that when challenged by a professional male goal keeper during a particular match Lily blasted a shot at the man which broke his arm.

The Dick Kerr Ladies played on for about 48 years and their success came as a shock to the male-orientated world of soccer. During much of this period women wore heavy longskirts and stays and bloomers so the sight of women in football strips playing soccer would be quite a novelty.

Another famous game had been on Boxing Day in 1920, at Goodison Park in Liverpool where they played St. Helen's Ladies in front of a crowd of 53,000 with up to 15,000 fans locked out when the ground was full.

This game with its huge crowd caused much concern to the Football Association in London.Women's soccer was now seen as a threat to the men's game. So in 1921the all powerful governing body barred women from playing.

This is an extract from their resolution: '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.'

But women ignored the ban and went on playing. Although the FA could prevent women from playing within its jurisdiction, there was no law against women playing football. They were, however, unable to play on the grounds of the country's top teams.

The Dick Kerr Ladies were invited to play in Canada and the United States but at the AGM of the Dominion of Canada Football Association in 1922 a motion was passed disapproving of women’s football and consequently the team was not allowed to play. So they crossed to border into the USA hoping to play against American women's teams, but there were apparently no teams for them to play, and they ended up playing against men's teams - some of the top professional teams in the American Soccer League.

Press coverage of one of their tour matches reports: '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.'

During the 48 years that the clubexisted they played 828 games, won 758, drew 46 and lost just 24scoring a total of 3,500 goals.