As the end of January 2023 approaches we wanted to take a moment to reflect on the evolution of Women’s Football and how it has evolved in recent history, to celebrate this here are just a few of the key moments which have made it the great sport it is today:
- 1919 – Lily Parr began football career – She played for the most successful women’s team ever; Dick, Kerr Ladies. Netting an incredible 980 goals from outside-left wing during her 32-year career, she is thought of as many as the first ‘unofficial’ Lioness. But as a sign of the reality of the day, she is rumoured to have often “borrowed” the match ball to sell it. She has recently been honoured with a life-size bronze statue at the National Football Museum in Manchester.
- 1971 – FA finally lift ban on women’s football. After 50 years of banning women from playing on Football League grounds due to the belief that “…the game of football is quite unsuitable for females and ought not to be encouraged…”, the restrictions were finally lifted.
- 1998 – Hope Powell appointed first full-time coach for England Women’s International side. During her 15-years in charge she changed the face of the women’s game in this country, leading England to a World Cup quarter final in 2007 and to the final of the European Championships in 2009, being recognised in the Queen’s Birthday Honours List in 2002 and 2010
- 2018 – The men’s World Cup brought in a new era for former Arsenal and England international Alex Scott and opened the door to female pundits for the first time. Her incredible performances put many of her male colleagues to shame and rightly she became a regular on Sky Sports’ coverage of the Premier League and BBC’s flagship football show Match of the Day.
- 2018 – Women’s Super League (‘WSL’) enters fully professional era – the restructured one-tier 11-team WSL saw clubs providing a minimum of 16 contact hours per week so more could aspire to have a full time career in football.
- 2018 – Ada Hegerberg crowned inaugural winner of the women’s Ballon d’Or Award. Whilst the men’s game had celebrated the finest talents in it’s game since 1956, the first female winner was not for another 62 years.
- 2019 – Nike unveiled World Cup kits specifically designed for England Women’s team, after two years in the making. No longer did they have to wear baggy shorts and oversized shirts.
- 2022 – the Lionesses did what the men’s team could not and won Europe 2022. Enough said…
- 2022 – for the first time there were female referees at the men’s world Cup.
- 2023 – England striker Alessia Russo’s backheeled finish in England’s Euro 2022 semi-final win over Sweden was nominated for the Fifa Puskas award. It was one of three goals scored by women on the 11-player shortlist. England trio Leah Williamson, Beth Mead and Keira Walsh also joined Argentina’s World Cup-winning captain Lionel Messi as nominees for the 2022 Fifa Best Awards. Mead’s nomination comes in a year in which she was named player of the tournament at Euro 2022, shortlisted for the Ballon d’Or and won BBC Sport’s Personality of the Year.
Whilst we need to acknowledge the progress in the game itself and society’s attitude towards it, there is no getting away from the fact that there is still a long way to go. A great illustration of this is the recent postponement of the WSL match between Chelsea v Liverpool, after just six minutes. This simply would not happen in the men’s Premier League, so why did it happen here? The very fact that some of the above are significant (for example #9), simply re-iterates how far we still have to go. Why, for example, is it “Women’s Football” and not just “Football”? We all need to do more. More research also needs to be done to understand the differences between men and women, for example why do Anterior Cruciate Ligament (ACL) injuries appear more common in women playing football than men and what needs to be done to mitigate this and improve recovery time? Pay, conditions and attitude still need to improve significantly.
If you or your daughter is interested in being part of the Halliford Colts Community, for example, joining the Soccer School or one of Our Teams, please contact us today at [email protected] as we’d love to hear from you!