The first photograph ever taken of England women’s football team the Lionesses has been uncovered.
It was taken in 1918 during the First World War when Scotland played England in an international match. Another image of the Scotland team found by historian Steve Bolton has also never been seen before. He is now kindly donating them to the Scottish Football Museum.
The collection, based at Hampden Park, has only ever included memorabilia from 1965 – now it will date back almost half a century earlier.
Mr Bolton, who discovered postcards of the images online and paid “peanuts” for them, said: “This England team was the forerunner of the current Lionesses. I couldn’t believe it when I found these two photos – they really are part of football history. They are the first ever team photos of the England and Scotland teams. The match was played in Glasgow and they should be back in Scotland.”
A poster for the fundraising game proclaimed: “Ladies’ Football Match – Beardmore’s Effort for Infirmaries. Scotland v England. Celtic Park Saturday Mar 2 1918.” It added: “Wounded soldiers admitted free.”
Mr Bolton, 60, is a respected author and historian whose granny Lizzy Ashcroft was one of the great players of the 1920s. He was just a child when she died aged 68 in 1973. The wartime England players were all picked from women working at the Vickers shipbuilding and munitions complex in Barrow, Cumbria.
More than 1,200 women worked inside the giant factories – many of them teenagers – and they produced 6.8 million shells for use in battle. They won the match 4-0. The goalscorers were Dickenson with two and Bradley with one, while the other was an own goal.
Mr Bolton explained: “Women’s football became incredibly popular during World War One. By the end of the 1918 to 1919 season over 250 teams had played over 1,000 matches, raising a fortune in charity matches for the war effort.
“All of the major industrial centres from London to Glasgow, and Sheffield to Belfast had munitionette football teams and international fixtures took place. There were teams in many cities including Liverpool, Manchester, Coventry and Cardiff. Prior to WW1 most young women were in domestic service.
“The government realised that this valuable potential workforce was needed to help the war effort, and so women took up all sorts of roles that were previously reserved for men. The young women that went to work in the munitions factories became known as ‘munitionettes’. Exercise was encouraged and football became popular during their breaks.
“Soon, inter-department football matches started taking place and the craze spread. People needed convincing that this was a good idea and the government relied on national newspapers such as the Daily Mirror to spread the word, frequently featuring patriotic pictures of women playing against each other and against wounded soldiers.”
He added: “The young women often worked in dirty and dangerous conditions. They worked long hours, often a twelve hour shift, and then played football afterwards. I think that we owe a great deal of gratitude to these young women. For the last two years a wreath has been laid at the Cenotaph on November 11 to remember their sacrifices.”
Women’s football continued to be popular after the war. Teams played friendlies for charities, often in front of large crowds, but the FA banned matches at its members’ grounds in 1921 as “unsuitable for females”. The ban lasted for 50 years until 1971. Since then the Lionesses have won Euro 2022 and are playing to packed out stadiums around the world.
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