On January 11th we had the honor of welcoming Dr. Jean WIlliams, Professor at Wolverhampton University to our class. She, as the world’s leading historian of women’s football, gave us a quick history of women’s football and disabused us of some of our common misconceptions.
Firstly she showed us this picture. What do you think it depicts and when do you think it is from?
This is an artist’s vision of a few upper-class women in China playing a very early form of football/soccer called cuju. This was painted during the Ming Dynasty period (1368-1644).
We were then shown an etching of some women playing many sports with them playing some form of football in the foreground. This etching was published in an 1869 edition of Harper’s Bazaar. This was at a time when women who were even riding their bicycles would be pushed off them to prevent them from achieving any freedom of movement.
This photo depicts a somewhat common occurrence at the time, men vs women games in the WWI years, this photo is dated to 1917. These games would be played between healthy women’s sides and men’s sides composed of injured war veterans, as a form of rehab, for physical, or more likely psychological injuries. These women would have moved into the factories because the men were away, and they formed their own teams. Although these women were paid half of what men were paid, this was still enough for them to gain some free time.
Women’s football was very popular around the turn of the 20th century, with the first known women’s match in 1894 gaining more than 10,000 spectators. The explosion in popularity was partially allowed for by the popularization of bifurcated garments like bloomers, allowing for more efficient athletic participation by women. There were around 150 teams in the years surrounding World War I. However, in 1921, the English Football Association (FA) banned women from competing in the stadiums of their member organizations, encompassing all of the largest soccer venues in the UK. This greatly hampered the development of women’s soccer in the UK and around the world.
In 1971 the first unofficial women’s world cup was held in Mexico, and the final had more than 110,000 spectators, the best attended women’s sporting event in history, sorry Nebraska volleyball. The Danes were champions. The first World Cup that FIFA organized and recognized was in China in 1991, it was very poorly publicized and viewed. It was a similar story in 1995, but in 1999, when the US hosted the WWC the exposure greatly increased.
This progress has generally continued with each subsequent WWC gaining more market share and more viewership. However, this hasn’t been uniform for all countries in the World Cup. Dr. Williams shared with us her pick for the most underrated player in women’s football history, and it is a current player, Marta. The Brazilian footballer, while magical, is still virtually unknown to the average US soccer fan despite winning 6 FIFA player-of-the-year awards.
Should you want to do any more research on Dr. Williams’ work we have added a few links below.
The History of Football podcast ft. Jean Williams: https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p07n8q35
How Does Sport Function In Times of Crisis? Ft. Jean Williams: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A3QVtEgpZAw
Twitter account: https://twitter.com/JeanMWilliams
JJ Heritage: https://jjheritage.com/jean-williams/
Along with her publications:
50 Women in Sport, 2022
A Game For Rough Girls: A History of Women’s Football in England, 2003
A Beautiful Game International Perspectives on Women’s Football, 2007
A Contemporary History of Women’s Sport, 2011
By Jocelyn, Declan, Briggs, and Kat (January 11)