England Women's Football:
A Pioneering Past
EARLY HISTORY
The beginning of the modern history of women's football.
Women’s football in England can be most accurately traced back to the formation of the British Ladies’ Football Club. Forming in London, 1884, the club comprised of women from all over the city. It also included several non-playing members that perceived the club as paramount to the wider social changes involving women’s rights that were pursued at the end of the 19th century.
President of the BLFC, Lady Florence Dixie, was a strong advocate for women’s rights, as well as a writer. She played a significant role in the style of the women’s game, pushing for players to wear more suitable attire. One newspaper clipping recorded:
“The members of the club do not play in fashion’s dress, but in knickers and blouses. They actually (says Lady Florence) allow the calves of their legs to be seen, and wear caps and football boots!”
Alongside Lady Florence was Nettie Honeyball, who similarly encouraged the growth of the women’s game. Club secretary and later captain, Honeyball worked hard to advertise the club long before their first official match in 1895. In 1894, Honeyball had already started to look to the press for opportunities to promote the newly formed BLFC’s fixture.
Nettie Honeyball featured in The Sketch from February 6th 1895.
On the 23rd of March 1895, the BLFC match between North and South drew over 10,000 spectators, with much thanks to Honeyball’s astute media attention. It was played at Crouch End Athletic ground in Hornsey and was considered a financial success for the women’s game by many.
Yet, there were still a few spectators that were not impressed with the game. Four days after the head-to-head, a reporter for The Sketch wrote the following:
“It would be idle to attempt any description of the play. The first few minutes were sufficient to show that football by women, if the British Ladies be taken as a criterion, is totally out of the question. A footballer requires speed, judgement, skill, and pluck. Not one of these four qualities were apparent on Saturday. For the most part, the ladies wandered aimlessly over the field at an ungraceful jog-trot. A smaller ball than usual is utilised, but the strongest among them could propel it no further than a few yards. The most elementary rules of the game were unknown, and the referee, Mr C. Squires, spent a most agonising time.”
Poster advertising the BLFC's first fixture - National Football Museum
Although Honeyball and Lady Florence tried their hardest to establish women’s football in the country, they were incapable of creating a permanent base for all women’s football clubs. This was largely down to the recent changes in the status of women. Successive Married Women’s Property Acts that enabled women to retain their own earnings in 1870, and later manage their own property in 1882, proved a long task for women, most of whom were still unable to access their own property by the late 19th century. Therefore, buying land and erecting sporting clubs was out of the question for women in football. From that point on, it would define the sport as having no permanent base.